Know the currency and ask the price first

A couple of things I'll try to keep in mind when traveling are to always ask the price and to be able to understand the answer.

One story was a group of people (who will remain nameless) were traveling in Rome and decided that they wanted to stop for some gelato. They found a quiet place and ordered 5 gelato's and a beer for the group. They didn't look at any menu's, they just picked stuff through the counter. I believe that the bill was 78 euros which today works out to ~ 125 $. Always ask the price before ordering.

Another story from another friend where they were traveling and many times their flight would make stops in Dubai. While waiting for their connecting flight, they'd make a stop at starbucks and get a coffee and some cake. Since this was never a destination, they'd never have any of the local currency or understand the conversion so they would always just pay with their credit card. This recent time they must gone to a different starbucks that didn't take credit cards. Thankfully the starbucks took canadian dollars. The staff did the conversion and it worked out to 25$. The friend was astounded how much they had been paying coffee and cake all this time. Knowing the price isn't any good if you don't understand it.