Travel planning that starts with the unglamorous questions

Most trips don't go wrong at the destination. They go wrong three weeks earlier, when a flight got booked before the rental car, the hotel turned out to be 40 minutes from everything, or nobody checked whether the museum closes on Mondays. This section is about that earlier stage.

We cover the order to book things in, how to build a budget that includes the costs people forget (parking, resort fees, baggage, tolls), when travel insurance is worth it, and the checklists that save you from a 6 a.m. panic at the airport. We also write about the trips that go sideways, because knowing what could go wrong is part of planning well.

Upcoming stories will tackle the most common travel planning mistakes and where beginners should start. For now, the newest story below looks at a rare but costly problem: an arrest on vacation, and why the case doesn't end when you drive home.