I know that some of you have been looking forward to a new post each day, which is generally my modus operandi on my US travels. I knew I would have a different challenge spending a solid two weeks in Canada, and I thought I had prepared for that by purchasing a temporary global plan for my cellphone account. Wrong.

The global plan I purchased provided 100 minutes and 100 text messages plus 100 mb of data for $15. While the minutes and texts are well beyond my normal use even while at home, the 100 mb of data lasted for about 100 minutes. By the end of that first day I’d already received a friendly text message from Verizon telling me that I’d gone over that limit and would be a charged another $10 for another 100 mb of data. And just about every day, I’ve received the same thoughtful reminder.

So this is what I’ve learned:

1) If you’re traveling outside the US, it’s a good time to try to go without cellular data. Nada. Zilch. Drop out of sight and off the planet. Alas, for me it was like cold turkey withdrawal from any addictive drug, and I sadly admit I find it impossible. Especially when you’re trying to keep up a daily blog. But if you want to try it, just go into Cellular Data in Settings and turn it off. Poof, you’re gone.

2) If you can’t withdraw (like me), you can diminish your use of your own cellular data, by turning off cellular data for all the apps you have permitted to use cellular data in the US, and only leave on for the critical minimum, like Mail and Google and Messages. Again, go into Cellular Data under Settings, and instead of turning Cellular Data off, scroll down and turn off individually each of the apps you don’t want to be eating up your data. It takes a few minutes if you have a lot of apps, but it’s time well spent.

3) The next alternative is to use someone else’s data as much as possible. Both Starbucks and Tim Horton’s are pretty dependable for always having free wireless available. I’m sure there are others, and the concept is the same. The one place I thought I could depend on for a free wireless signal would be our campgrounds, but those prove to be the most chancy. They say they offer wireless (some even charge for it) but whether or not you can actually connect is a gamble. I’m writing this post sitting at a campground in Woodstock, New Brunswick, and I’m doubtful that it will really work long enough for me to publish this post when I’m finished. So scout our vendors that seem to be consistently available and patronize them. For us, it requires a shift in our travel style, i.e. to set aside time each day to sit in a Starbucks or Tim Horton’s, but we’re getting used to it (and drinking a lot more coffee.)

4) Last lesson learned: download as much as possible of the apps or books or documents you think you’ll need BEFORE leaving the country. When I called Verizon to try to figure out what I was doing wrong, I learned that ALL the data I was using were incurring roaming charges, which is why they’re so expensive. This afternoon we stopped in Edmundston, New Brunswick to look at Madawaska, Maine, across the St. John’s River. I stared longingly at that side of the river, knowing I still had a good 9 GB of data available to me there, all of it paid for. That’s like 9,000 MB, which at $10/100 MB…well, you do the math. Aaaargh!

I’ve made peace with the fact that I’ll likely incur close to $100 of data charges I hadn’t anticipated. And I’ve leaned not to check Google with EVERY question that arises as we travel along. Fortunately I bought a Michelin’s Canada before I left, and it’s amazing how much information it has. And I’ve also realized that I won’t necessarily be able to add posts to this blog as often as I’d like to. So if I’ve learned to be patient, I hope you can too. If you have a problem with that, you can always text me. I’ve still got at least 90 free texts that I’d like to use up.