Thread Archive > STAR 2016

Riding after STAR

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DirtFlier:
Make sure your GPS has the maps for Canada.  When we rode to Nova Scotia my Nuvi 500 didn't so it went completely stupid about a mile after crossing into New Brunswick!

HawkGTRider:
Everyone has their own experience, but I found a wide variety of mosquitoes in Alaska when I was there a couple of years ago. It's not that they were big, but in lots of areas they were just so thick that you could hardly breathe without sucking them in. A mosquito head net was invaluable for me. Once in a while we were in a area where there were remarkably few mosquitoes. Someone posited that it depended on when the little monsters hatched.
In Wiseman, just north of Coldfoot, I woke one morning about 4:00 a.m. In the middle of the summer, the sun was shining brightly and the temperatures were moderate. It was stunningly beautiful...except that the mosquitoes were so thick that someone not used to them (me) found it to be almost impossible to stay outside.

Regarding Canadian maps for your GPS, I agree with DirtFlier...don't leave home without them. My old GPS is somewhat limited in its capacity for holding the current map sets, so I'll have to load the eastern half of the US and Canada or some other partial option. Then again, maybe that's another reason to have multiple GPS units...I can have different map sets loaded on each one.

Brick:
What time of the year were you there?


--- Quote from: qman8 on February 09, 2016, 07:24:24 am ---Regarding mosquito nets...if you spend ANY time outdoors near dusk, you will be glad you have one.   For example, We found a place that served up quick food thru a window on the east side of Cape Breton, and while waiting we actually had to put back on our helmets and gloves.  They will bleed you dry quicker than a bad lawyer.

Also, if you don't have the "reversing falls" on your list, that might be something you could be interested in seeing.

--- End quote ---

qman8:
First week of July.
Which reminds me....July 1 is CANADA DAY!....so beware that there will be extra tourist traffic that weekend....but less commercial traffic that day....I would guess. 
Also to note:
Passport is required,
 Cell phone will go to roaming charges without a prior plan, even if they pick up a Canadian tower before you cross the border.   I received a hefty bill of OVER $1000.00 when I got back home....our good friends at Verizon charged me for calls in CHINA instead of CANADA!  Took me weeks to get that ironed out.  Even with a dedicated plan, I find they will screw you every time I leave the country...so I normally just leave the phone off the entire trip now.

Many Credit cards will charge a "foreign transaction fee" for every transaction in Canada....cash might be a better option.

TN2Wheeler:
Re cell phones in other countries:

We are going to Costa Rica soon and our phones are Verizon also. We spoke with their international calls unit and arranged for our Android phones to work there. However, it will be somewhat expensive at around $2 per minute for voice and $2 per megabyte for data.

So, instead of using the Verizon towers we are going to use a smartphone application called Viber which provides VOIP phone calls and text messaging over Wi-Fi. We will have Wi-Fi access at our hotels in the evenings. Viber provides FREE calling or texting to any other Viber user ANYWHERE in the world. It connects to landlines and non-Viber mobiles for a very modest fee which varies by country. From Costa Rica calls to landlines in the USA are only $0.06 per minute - much better than the $2 that Verizon would charge for calls over their towers. Viber integrates with your existing contact list which means you do not have to maintain a separate list of Viber users and supports video calling if your Wi-Fi connection has adequate bandwidth. It's really a very cool app!

We will be able to make or receive cellular calls IF NEEDED but we intend to use Viber for most of our communications with friends and family back home.

One important thing to note is that if you have to pay for data and you use text messaging,  Facebook or any other kind of data sychcronization with web-based servers you will want to turn off your phone's cellular data access before leaving the country, or even riding along the border where you might be picked up by the towers across the border.

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