Independent Traveler.com has an article about must-have items from real travelers.  There’s always those little things that can make your trip go so much more smoothly.

If you’re traveling to a destination to meet up with friends who live there, I highly recommend bringing a mobile phone and buying a local SIM card as soon as you land.  As soon as I install a new SIM card, the first phone numbers I store are my own and my hostel’s.

This can be a huge benefit if you need to call your hostel to talk to a taxi driver or if you’ve been locked out.  If your local friends are busy working and studying, they can call you up when they’re free to hang out.  It’s a huge convenience to have a local cell number that your friends can call you at.

This Thorn Tree thread about choosing a cell phone has useful technical info. Just make sure you get a cell phone that can accept a variety of SIM cards.