Know Security and Know No Pain!

And the research continues…… We had to find a secure way to navigate the internet while travelling. Almost every day you read about internet security lapses or breaches of personal information. Since we will be connecting mostly on public Wi-Fi networks, we wanted to find a way to keep our information secure at all times. We think it’s important to ensure that your data is encrypted in order to protect your credit card numbers, passwords, and usernames on public Wi-Fi networks. Public Wi-fi networks are always vulnerable. There are several VPN providers offering this service which can be free or have a monthly fee. After reading the good and bad on a free service, we opted to pay for the service to make sure that our data will be safe, and that the VPN will be effective in as many locations as possible. When choosing our VPN provider, we also looked for a service that could be used on all of our devices at the same time and accessible in most countries.

Now that we are secure, how are we going to communicate with our phone? We all know that the international roaming charges with our Canadian cell phone providers are prohibitive especially for such a long trip. We needed to find an alternative. We found 2 options, the first being the purchase of a prepaid phone in each country we visit or keeping our current phone and purchasing a SIM card in each country. We chose the second option in which we will buy unlimited access to data and phone for a very reasonable price. A very important note – you need to make sure that your current service provider unlocks your phone before you leave. This is the only way you will be able to use another SIM card. BTW – our VPN connection also covers our phones.

Now another important question? Money…….. I would recommend that you go to a currency exchange office in your country before departure and get money in the currency of the first country you will be landing in. You will have enough to worry about once landed in finding your transportation to get to your hotel that you won’t need to worry about the local currency. Thailand uses the Thai baht and you can also exchange money once you arrive at the airport. In our case, since we will be arriving around midnight after travelling almost 24 hours, we decided to get Thai baht in Montreal.

In Laos, the currency is called Kip (LAK) but the US dollar is accepted and often preferred. Note that you cannot exchange Kip outside of Laos so spend it all before you leave. (I’m sure we won’t have any problem doing that) Vietnam’s currency is the Dong and the US dollar. Both currencies are used which may be confusing at times when you are asking for a price. In Cambodia, the currency is called Riel, but the US dollar is broadly accepted and as a matter of fact, the ATM machines dispense US dollars or local currency. Also, make sure that the local currencies you receive are not torn or damaged as these might not be accepted by local businesspeople.

Stay tuned for our luggage and packing challenges……..

~Travel like nobody's watching~