Since you're familiar with Corel, use that primarily, but one thought is to give the Xara Xtreme trial download a try, if I remember right it is a 14 day free trial (fully functional). As a previous Micrografx user (similar to Corel), I found Xara quickly usable and vastly superior, despite its lower price (much lower than Corel as well), though I use the Pro version which is comparably priced.

For mapping the non-pro version is just fine (I think its $49 to $70).

Then you could actually try my tutorials offered here!

GP