The SIM card guy always knows where to eat

Here's the thing. When you land somewhere new, you need a SIM card. Find the phone repair stall. Not the official carrier kiosk. The stall. Run by a local kid, nineteen, twenty years old. Get your SIM. Then ask him one question. [pause] Not where tourists eat. Not where expats eat. Where does he eat. Specifically him. Today. [pause] I've done this in Tbilisi. In Skopje. In a small town in southern Uzbekistan I will not name on the internet because I'd like it to still exist. It has never failed. Not once. [pause] The Lonely Planet has a research budget and a publication cycle. The kid with the SIM cards ate lunch three hours ago. He knows things the guidebook will never know. [chuckles] The teenager always knows. The Lonely Planet never does.