This is The Savvy Traveler and I'm Diana Nyad.

If someone approached you at a foreign airport and asked if you needed a fixer, what would you think? Are they offering you a hitman? A handyman? Maybe a bookie? Fixers are hired by the day or the week to make contacts or translate, or obtain permits, or buy goods or services they couldn't find as a tourist.

The fixer's kind of like an underground agent -- he's connected. Fixers have helped our reporter Jeff Tyler get by in the war zone of Pakistan and Afghanistan over the last few months. As Jeff tells it, the fixer often goes beyond day-to-day practical help. The fixer can serve as your window into a foreign culture.