Microsoft just updated its Translator app for iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire devices to support new optimised language packs that are (allegedly) up to 23 per cent better at helping you figure out how to say "where is the bathroom" on your next vacation. They also eat up around half as much space on your phone when you download them -- a wise move, since you don't want to be stuck without the ability to ask for directions if you're lost on your travels.

When you're planning an epic holiday, you want to be sure you're headed somewhere incredible in more ways than one. You want fascinating culture and history, eye-popping beauty, and, of course, incredible food. You want a location that millions of travellers can recommend.

I wish I left my computer on when I was on holiday. But when I came back from a week-long, cross-country trip to Lifehacker HQ late on a Saturday night, I made a fatal error. When I got home, I unpacked my bags, brushed my teeth, and fed my cat. I didn't think to flip on my desktop PC and let it chug through a sea of updates overnight, which would have saved me a ton of time.

Every time I go on holiday, I'm surrounded by people taking phone pics. But I only recently realised that this holiday annoyance could be useful: Before you book a hotel, campground, restaurant table or museum tickets, look up the place on Instagram. Not the place's official account, but all the photos taken at that location. (Just run a search within Instagram and click the result with the map pin icon.)

Travelling really takes it out of you - except when it comes to poop. That can stay with you for days, making your holiday a lot less enjoyable. Here's what causes that constipation frustration, and what you can do to keep that from happening.

Is there anything better than digging your toes into the warm sand on some beautiful, exotic beach? Well there is if that beach is riddled with hookworms that hope to burrow into your feet and make their way to your small intestine. If you do a lot of travelling to warm, humid locales, here's how you can avoid these nasty little things.

Even if you've had a holiday filled with rest and relaxation, the trip coming home is often enough to wipe you out and get you disoriented. The next time you plan a holiday, give yourself an extra day to bounce back and get ready for your return to work.

Life is competition, and it's especially easy to feel like you're losing if your coworkers are always taking bomb-arse holidays while you sit at home using a Netflix account you split with four other people.

I know, you're busy and you have work to do, but you also need to take some time off to recharge those batteries. So, should you plan one big holiday for the year? Or should you sparse out your days for multiple holidays throughout? Quantity can sometimes beat quality.

Hostels are an inexpensive option when you want to stretch your travel budget and don't mind sharing space with strangers (who might even become your friends). The downside is that if you want to hang your clothes or towels up to dry, you're fighting for the same common drying spots with everyone else in the hostel. Toss a couple of small magnets in your bag and you have this problem solved!

Over the past two years, two of my close friends have gone on three one to two-week vacations to Italy. At first glance, their multiple European vacations made it look like they must have suddenly come into piles cash. As it turns out, the key was when they were travelling: during the off-season.

Missing a connecting flight is one of the most stressful and frustrating things that can happen to you when flying. If you want to avoid it, you need to give yourself ample time between flights, and do a little homework before you fly.

Sometimes a quick holiday is better than nothing, but if you can swing it, try for at least eight days. Research suggests you need at least that much time to truly unwind and feel refreshed.

Super hurricane Irma is causing a ton of cruise and flight cancellations in addition to delays and course changes. But your travel insurance should cover all that, right? Maybe. Maybe not.

Sharing a holiday rental with friends is a great way to cut down on accommodations costs and have a space to relax together after a long day sightseeing. But splitting a holiday rental doesn't always go smoothly -- we've all had that one friend who hogs the bathroom getting ready, spews their stuff all over the couch, or tries to skirt paying their fair share.

Travel should be fun and exciting, but that nagging feeling that you're forgetting something can add undue stress to your preparations. If you want to banish that feeling from the time you start packing to when you walk out the door with your suitcase, you're going to need this checklist.

So you took a trip somewhere cool, snapped a bunch of photos, and now you have no idea what to do with them all. Don't worry, editing your holiday photos isn't as tough or technical as it sounds.

The first thing I did on my 18th birthday was go play a few hands of blackjack, and I've been playing ever since. I'm no high roller, but I know my way around a casino. If you're not sure where to begin, let me help.

We've all seen unfortunate holiday-gone-wrong stories about someone who went on holiday and had something bad happen to them, from getting stuck in the wilderness alone to being taken in by a scam. For instance, there's the recent one about Iceland residents getting fed up with tourists who come unprepared for the nation's rugged terrain, putting themselves and risk and creating serious hassles for the locals. Some of these incidents are plain bad luck, but often, they could have been easily avoidable with a little advanced planning.