maps

If you plan on being someplace for more than a handful of days, splurge on a pocket map if a decent free one isn’t available to tourists. (Some cities, like Reykjavik, offer many free maps that are available to tourists in hostel/hotel lobbies, or else in tourist centers.) If you are only staying a day or two and have money to spare, pick up a map anyway because it will be very useful. Relying on my map in my Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring and a free map that sucks with many unnamed streets sucks–when I’m seeking a smaller street, they’re often unnamed, and I’m often lost.