Travel guides

You miss a lot if you travel without a guide, and the paper sort are a bargain compared to the human kind. Much useful travel info can be found free online, of course, but when you're on the hoof there's nothing like consulting a sheaf of print-outs in a breeze to make you grateful for a book. Many of the best guidebooks, however, weigh too much to be hauled around. Hence useful new mini-sized versions. Borders (00 917 4 341 5758) in Dubai is worth a detour. And the world's biggest and best travel bookshop - Stanfords, in London, set up in 1853 - delivers worldwide (www.stanfords.co.uk ; 00 44 207 836 1321).