You know how it is: big city = overwhelming choices! You want a friend, a local to show you around. Luckily for us, author Gigi Griffis has a WHOLE series of travel guides, where locals share their best tips (we've shared her Italy guide here). Her newest, released today, is a guide to New York City, one of the most intimidating cities to travel to, for there are TOO MANY CHOICES for what to see, do, explore!

I love Lonely Planet: Istanbul. When I was in Istanbul, Turkey this May, with Turkish Airlines and our White House Travel Bloggers group, it provided great inspiration, airplane reading, and help navigating the big city.