Special Merchant Adventure Awards
One feature of the three worlds in the Sims 3 World Adventures expansion pack is the Special Merchant. There's one in each world, a local NPC who roams around and lives a regular life. Sometimes Special Merchants die, but they are quickly replaced. (How the game chooses a new Special Merchant is a mystery. I was with a Special Merchant once who died of old age. I switched to Map View a few minutes later and found a new adult Special Merchant had already been selected.)
To find the Special Merchant, switch to Map View and look for the tag. It will be pinkish, with a small picture of the merchant's face.
The Special Merchant sells special items, which you can only buy with the gold coins you find during your travels. The items are also limited by visa level, meaning that there are many items you can only buy with visa level 2 or 3.
Frankly, I think most of the Adventure Awards really aren't worth the money and trouble. There are few items that do things you can't do some other way, or find some other way.
For example, don't waste your money buying the special grapes from the merchant in France - each of the Adventure Awards varieties can be harvested somewhere else in France. Pemmican? May as well just buy more of those food morsels. Escape Dust? Learn to Zeneport. Potion of Liquid Courage? Moodlet Manager.
There are a few exceptions, items that are worth it:
Certificate of Partnership: Visa level 3, price varies by world
If you want to spend a lot of time in a particular world, then the Certificate of Partnership will grant you dispensation to stay longer: 18 days per visit. (Of course, by the time you get to visa level 3 you may already be sick of that world!)
Skeleton Keystone: Visa level 2, 400 coins
OH MY GOD HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO HAVE TO FIND ALL THOSE SHAPED KEYSTONES? I'm currently being driven mad trying to find enough star keystones. My question is, can you re-use the skeleton keystone? Better buy a few, just in case you can't.
Tear of Horus: Visa level 2, 1,600 coins
Similar to the Map to the Stars and the Collection Helper, the Tear of Horus pins a map tag to indicate the location of relics and dig sites. This one only works in Al Simhara, but if you're determined to collect all the things, it will really save you a lot of time!