Given a travel related situation, and given a specific question about the situation, summarize the question into a title

Input: Consider Input: I'm an American traveling to Central America for the first time this summer. I'll be entering Costa Rica and Panama.

My Spanish is pretty good, but not native, and I wouldn't mind using it, but as a general rule, should I try to address the border officer in their language when I can or should I stick to English?

How it went: I transited Costa Rica without being asked any questions at all, but I entered remote Bocas del Toro using only Spanish (and let me tell you, it was much smoother for me than for my English-only traveling companions) and exited Bocas in English (different officer).

All in all, I followed the advice here, and answered in the language I was addressed in.

Output: In what language should I address foreign customs and immigration?

Input: Consider Input: I went to the Italian consulate in Washington, DC today and they would not accept my visa application because they said my US visa stamp cannot expire less than 3 months after the end of my trip to Italy. Here's my relevant visa and trip info:

US visa stamp expires on 16 Dec 2015
I-797 valid until 3 Mar 2017
Trip to Italy is from 15 Oct to 25 Oct 2015

Is it true that my visa stamp needs to be valid for 3 months after my trip, even though I can legally stay in the US until 2017? Does anyone have any suggestions for getting a Schengen visa in my situation?

Output: Schengen visa application rejected because my US visa stamp expires in December. What are my options?

Input: Consider Input: I am planning a trip to northern Italy. I will start it with two days of Giro d'Italia in and around Genoa and then I will move on to Verona for a javascript conference. I was thinking that flying to Milan (from Sweden) would be the best option and then get around by train. However I just now realized that although Genoa is an hour or so from Milan by train - Verona is more like 4 hours and a stop in Bologna.

Are there any obvious better way to do this than flying to Milan?

UPDATE: I had it wrong about train from Verona to Milan - it is also 1-2 hours. Still it is a bit cumbersome to travel like this.
Output: Airport options for trip to Genoa and Verona