Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

What’s Porter’s record for on-time flights?

When I looked a few weeks ago iirc they were just slightly above Westjet

[Ironhorse]

Where is best place to buy Pesos in Calgary? Bank? AMA?

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by csnarpy

Porter's slogan should be "the way it used to and should be"


love that airline.

Originally Posted by sa226

Except for the price of course *wink emoji

Prices today are likely much lower than in the past , adjusted for inflation.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Where is best place to buy Pesos in Calgary? Bank? AMA?

I rely mostly on my Wise account/card these days. But when I used to buy physical Euros and Pounds, I would go to Calforex.

AMA does have that Peso and USD machine, though I’m not sure how competitive the rates are.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Wormius

For everybody that pays for a foreign SIM instead of roaming, do you have to just accept that text messages sent to your regular phone number disappear while you've got your home SIM removed, or is there something that you can do for that? I have found it really annoying that I come back home, put my regular SIM back in and I have no idea if there were any text messages I missed.

I just deactivate my regular SIM, and activate my eSIM once I land. I don't receive calls or text on my eSIM, but if I wanted to I can just call and text through WhatsApp anyways.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Muta

I just deactivate my regular SIM, and activate my eSIM once I land. I don't receive calls or text on my eSIM, but if I wanted to I can just call and text through WhatsApp anyways.

How does that fix the problem of incoming texts to your regular phone number getting dropped while you’re using a different SIM? You mean you don’t have any contacts that send you regular text messages?

[PepsiFree]

I keep both sims on and just turn data roaming off the home one.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I keep both sims on and just turn data roaming off the home one.

Yeah, I wasn’t aware you could still receive messages and not be dinged for roaming while abroad.

[chedder]

So if you get an esim and use it for data, you turn off your Canadian sim data roaming and mobile data but leave on phone and SMS?

This allows you to see when someone is phoning or texting your Canadian number but as long as you don't answer the call or respond to the text it shouldn't cost anything or trigger the easy roaming?

[PepsiFree]

That’s how it has worked for me and I’m in the US fairly often (and have avoided the roaming fees). As long as you don’t actually send a text or make a call, you should be good and should still see who is trying to reach you.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Wormius

How does that fix the problem of incoming texts to your regular phone number getting dropped while you’re using a different SIM? You mean you don’t have any contacts that send you regular text messages?

Actually I don't - everyone I stay in contact with (outside of work) mainly uses WhatsApp or Instagram to message (and sometimes call), so I just use those. To be fair I a) barely text or call much anymore in general, and b) don't really do so through traditional means (re: data) anymore, so it's likely you may have different preferences than me on that front. As Pepsi said, keep your home SIM on too, since you can receive messages (I had no idea that was a thing, which is super cool). At the end of the day, maybe just pay for the roaming. For me, I find it's half the price with an eSIM, but I don't need to call or text through data when I'm traveling.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by chedder

So if you get an esim and use it for data, you turn off your Canadian sim data roaming and mobile data but leave on phone and SMS?

This allows you to see when someone is phoning or texting your Canadian number but as long as you don't answer the call or respond to the text it shouldn't cost anything or trigger the easy roaming?

That's correct. When I was in Italy last summer, both my wife and I did this and it worked out well.

I also have an app called Fongo, which is an app that gives you a free VOIP Canadian phone number that you can use to make calls back to Canada for free. You can buy a texting add-on for a few bucks, but usually I don't bother. My company also has a Voip app, so I could technically call back with that as well. WhatsApp also does voice calls if you want to.

So if someone calls - ignore it and call them back on Fongo, work line, or WhatsApp. If someone texts, reply with WhatsApp, Messenger, etc.

I found that there was nobody that I could not reply to, one way or another. But I'm also not that popular or important to receive a lot of calls or text while I'm away.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I keep both sims on and just turn data roaming off the home one.

Originally Posted by Wormius

Yeah, I wasn’t aware you could still receive messages and not be dinged for roaming while abroad.

Originally Posted by chedder

So if you get an esim and use it for data, you turn off your Canadian sim data roaming and mobile data but leave on phone and SMS?

This allows you to see when someone is phoning or texting your Canadian number but as long as you don't answer the call or respond to the text it shouldn't cost anything or trigger the easy roaming?

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

That’s how it has worked for me and I’m in the US fairly often (and have avoided the roaming fees). As long as you don’t actually send a text or make a call, you should be good and should still see who is trying to reach you.

Well you learn something new every day on CP. I also was not aware this would work. Good to know for my upcoming trip.

[Jimmy Stang]

Another tip for iPhone users - turn off the setting that sends your message as SMS if it can't deliver it by iMessage. I'd rather get a failure notice than having it go as SMS, especially when travelling. One text will trigger a day of "rip off roaming" from your provider.

And obviously data roaming always off on your Canadian sim before you leave. If you do it when you land and come out of airplane mode, it might already be too late. One measly byte of data in the background and you'll get dinged.

[chedder]

Just trying to load up an esim with airalo. It says make sure device is network unlocked before proceeding to buy. My phone is on Telus and can't imagine it's unlocked? Any advice?

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by chedder

Just trying to load up an esim with airalo. It says make sure device is network unlocked before proceeding to buy. My phone is on Telus and can't imagine it's unlocked? Any advice?

As far as I'm aware, all phones in Canada these days are unlocked. It should be fine.

EDIT: https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-telev...ckingfees.html

[Johnny199r]

If your employers offered unpaid time off, up to a month in total, how many of you would apply?

I get 5 weeks off a year but am very temped to apply for another 2 weeks off in order to travel more. I don't have a family or any financial pressures and don't think I'll wish that I worked an extra 2 weeks 20 years from now instead of travelling to another continent.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

If your employers offered unpaid time off, up to a month in total, how many of you would apply?

I get 5 weeks off a year but am very temped to apply for another 2 weeks off in order to travel more. I don't have a family or any financial pressures and don't think I'll wish that I worked an extra 2 weeks 20 years from now instead of travelling to another continent.

I’ve worked at places where you could “buy” two extra weeks. Some years I did some I didn’t. Depends what I had planned. It’s easy to trade 4% for more time off in my mind.

[chedder]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

As far as I'm aware, all phones in Canada these days are unlocked. It should be fine.

EDIT: https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-telev...ckingfees.html

Seems to have worked. Telus and esim showing. I guess I'll know for sure once down south.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

If your employers offered unpaid time off, up to a month in total, how many of you would apply?

I get 5 weeks off a year but am very temped to apply for another 2 weeks off in order to travel more. I don't have a family or any financial pressures and don't think I'll wish that I worked an extra 2 weeks 20 years from now instead of travelling to another continent.

My longest held job offered the option to buy 2 extra weeks of vacation at 2% of salary deducted per week. I did that every year and it made a huge difference in the amount of travel I was able to do while I had the job.