Sleeping on the cheap. We like hostels if we plan on cooking otherwise they can be overpriced when compared to the above. Many large cities have their airports located some distance from the city center which would cost a minor fortune by cab. In such cases, their is usually a subsidized public bus or van system which will deposit you neatly in the center of town. The really slick operations have a train or underground system connecting the airport to the city center.
Guidebooks are great but take up a lot of precious space.
We made things more manageable by tearing out the sections that we were interested in and in this way decreased the content by two-thirds. In these instances, tourist info centers are great. Besides, you can always find Lonely Planet guidebooks almost anywhere in the world. A quote from a taxi driver in Singapore that is very true. We have been frustrated by the fact that some of our clothes and my backpack have either worn out or fallen apart completely.