I'm one of those paraniod nuts that does a bit of recon in new places. For instance, I'm taking night classes at a different campus than before. So, last weekend I did a dry run to figure out a few things. Things like:
How many roads in and out of the campus itself?
What stores, fast food joints, etc are around?
Where's the campus police station?
Where my classroom and how many ways in or out?
I feel like I learned a lot in that one trip, things that some students won't figure out in the whole semester. If the SHTF, I will have at least a clue and be able to act and not just react.