Appearing on National Geographic Adventure's latest list of "50 Best Places to Live: The Next Great Adventure Towns" is Lihu'e, Kaua'i.

Here's what NGA's travel gurus had to say about their No. 3 pick:

"Visitors come for Lihu'e's heavenly Kalapaki Beach — perpetually ranked as one of the world's finest stretches of white sand. But residents in this commercial hub (there's even a Costco) have ample time to explore the 3,000-foot-deep, jungle-fringed Waimea Canyon, too."

See the full list in the September issue of National Geographic Adventure and at www.adventure.nationalgeographic.com.

OUT OF COUNTRY

CHATTY, THRIFTY TRAVELERS RENT SIM CARDS FOR THEIR CELL PHONES

If you're traveling overseas but like to keep your cell phone handy — and that phone runs on AT&T Wireless or T-Mobile — you can cut calling costs by renting a SIM (subscriber identity module) card once you arrive. Pop this thumbnail-size card into the phone in place of your usual SIM card, and you'll have a local phone number and pay about the same rates as any local user, avoiding the $1-a-minute roaming fees you'd otherwise incur. (To use your normal phone number, you'd swap the rented SIM for your own.)

The only catch is that before leaving, you must ask your carrier to unlock your phone to accept another carrier's SIM. T-Mobile will do so once you're 90 days into a contract, Sidekick users excepted; AT&T will unlock a phone once you're out of a contract, iPhone users excepted. Use Verizon, Sprint or another carrier that doesn't employ SIM cards? Look into renting a phone after you touch down.

TRAVEL GUIDES

DIGITAL EDITIONS OF FROMMER'S AVAILABLE FOR IPOD, IPHONE USERS

Frommer's travel guides are now available for iPhone and iPod Touch with digital editions of Frommer's 2008 guides to New York, San Francisco, London and Paris. Once the books are loaded, users can browse ad-free content without an Internet connection. The format also offers interactive maps and Web and phone links through the touchscreen interface. View a demo at www.frommers.com/go/mobile. The books are $9.99 each from Apple.com via the new Apple App Store and from iTunes. More Frommer's guides will be available for downloading later this year.