Over the past several months, my family and I have been doing a mix of both: small road trips, local staycations, and a little international travel sprinkled in. Along the way, I’ve picked up a handful of practical tips and discoveries that made our trips easier, cheaper, and more memorable.

Here are five things I’ve learned from recent travels.

1. Hotel lounges are like “all-inclusives.”

As with basically everything recently, the cost of travel has risen by 23%, according to the U.S. Travel Association. Thankfully there’s a hotel hack that can dramatically reduce your food budget while traveling.

They’re known as club, concierge, or “executive” lounges, and business travelers have been using them for years to score free breakfast, all day drinks and snacks, and even light dinners. When used properly, these VIP lounges turn almost any participating hotel (usually nicer downtown ones that business travelers frequent) into a virtual “all-inclusive” stay.

My family has done this on several vacations, most recently while staying at the wonderful Provo Marriott Hotel over a holiday weekend. Their lounge is so good, my family actively looked forward to the generous daily breakfast, afternoon snacks, and fancy salads, hors d’oeuvres, charcuterie boards, and desserts they served on weeknights.

The only catch is you need hotel status to get access to these rooms. But you might unknowingly already have access, and oftentimes hotels will gift access for special occasions or requests if you ask nicely.

2. eSIMs are cheaper and easier to stay connected.

International roaming used to be one of the most annoying parts of traveling. Either you paid ridiculous roaming fees to your carrier, hunted down a local SIM card at the airport, or simply lived without reliable data.

Thankfully, eSIM technology has quietly solved most of that headache.

If your phone supports eSIM (most modern iPhones and many Android phones do), you can download an international data plan before you even leave home. Once you land, your phone simply connects to local networks automatically. No swapping tiny SIM cards. No standing in airport kiosks. No worrying about surprise $200 roaming bills when you get home.

Better yet, it’s cheap. Many plans through roamic.com, for example, cost $2-$10 depending on how much data you need and how long you’re traveling. Maps, messaging, ride apps, and restaurant searches all work on eSIMs like they do at home. Nice!

3. Deer Valley pulled off the biggest ski expansion in North America.

Skiers in Utah already know how special Deer Valley is. But this year the resort did something unprecedented: it doubled in size.

The new East Village base area and surrounding terrain represent the largest ski expansion in North American history. When fully completed, Deer Valley will have more than 200 runs and dramatically expanded lift access across thousands of new acres.

Even better, the expansion spreads skiers out. One of Deer Valley’s biggest advantages has always been its uncrowded feel. With all the new terrain, that advantage becomes even stronger. I experienced that first hand this winter and loved the new terrain, which reminds me of the Canyons side of Park City (i.e. less crowded and quieter).

Bonus points that you get to bypass Park City traffic right off Highway 189. That alone is a welcome improvement.

4. Di Napoli is the best Italian food this side of New York.

Thanks to our high concentration of returned missionaries and sometimes gluttonous love of food, Utah is filled with amazing restaurants and diverse cuisine from all over the world. But few are better than the family-owned Di Napoli, with locations in Orem, Sandy, and Midvale.

What started as a successful high-quality chain in New York has since worked its way west, and I’m so glad they did. Fresh house-made pasta, schiacciata bread, paninis, salads, and Italian desserts like cannoli and Italian cream cake do not disappoint. Neither does the fast service.

It’s basically a full-service kitchen hiding inside a fast-casual storefront. You order at the counter, grab a table, and within minutes food that tastes like it came from a sit-down Italian restaurant and arrives piping hot.

The pasta is legitimately fresh. The bread is dangerously addictive. And the portions are generous without being over-the-top.

5. Asher Adams is the most impressive new hotel in Salt Lake City.

If you haven’t stepped inside the new Asher Adams yet, do yourself a favor and walk through the lobby.

Built inside the historic Union Pacific Depot building next to Salt Lake Central Station, the hotel blends old-world architecture with modern luxury in a way that feels both grand and welcoming.

The lobby ceilings soar. Massive original stonework and wood beams frame the room. Pioneer-era artwork lines the walls. It feels less like a typical hotel check-in desk and more like stepping into a restored piece of Western history.

Upstairs, the rooms are unusually large for a city hotel and continue the historic theme without feeling dated. It’s clear the developers leaned into the building’s story instead of trying to hide it.

Salt Lake has added several new hotels in recent years, but this one stands apart. It’s distinctive, memorable, and rooted in local history.

Blake Snow contributes to fancy publications and Fortune 500 companies as a bodacious writer-for-hire and seasoned travel journalist to all seven continents. He lives in Provo, Utah with his wife, five children, and one ferocious chihuahua.