Are you planning a trip? Whether you are traveling to an exotic, international destination or just heading off to your neighboring state, Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern," offers the following tips to spice up your travel plans:

The plane ticket is suddenly not where it should be, a debit card gets eaten by a foreign ATM machine, or perhaps the traveler's checks and passport are effortlessly lifted from your pocket - and suddenly a standard business trip becomes a bureaucratic nightmare.

The experts at the non-profit National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) remind motorists that getting their vehicles serviced for cold-weather driving should be high on their list of things to do during autumn's milder weather. Breakdowns in winter storms can be deadly.

"Pay particular attention to engine performance problems such as hard starts, rough idling, stalling, or diminished power," notes Martin Lawson, ASE's editorial director. "Cold weather will make existing problems worse." Other tips from ASE:

The sight of your breath just after leaving your house is usually a good sign to head back and get a hat to protect yourself from the cold. Similarly, when cold weather hits and you start seeing harmless, steamy, white exhaust from your car, it's usually a smoky sign that you should protect your car from the cold as well.

While it's true lightning may not strike twice in the same place, it's not the biggest electrical hazard facing RV owners. There's a hidden danger to your RV lurking at every campground. It doesn't matter if it's a seedy, unkempt trailer park or the best-tended motorhome resort; the chance of doing thousands of dollars of damage to the electronic equipment in your rig is there.

Safety&Security Sub-Section