Questions from USA visitor (rental car, rental, credit card)

[fordlover]

Hello All

I'll be in Edmonton for a few weeks (for work) and this is the first time I'll be spending more than a few hours in Canada. I'd previously only spent a few hours in Vancouver, BC.

The plan is to fly into Edmonton, pick up a rental car, head to my hotel. I'll be working most of the time I'm there, but will probably spend one weekend sightseeing and checking out museams, etc. and I'll have the rental for those purposes.

Few questions.

1. I'm planning on using my US Credit card for everything, as my company will reimburse all my expenses, this will make tracking them easy. Is this practical?

2. Should I expect to find free parking across the city, or does everything require meters being fed or something similar? IE. require coins or canadian currency?

3. I have an AT&T cell phone, I'm going to check with ATT to see what roaming charges I might get, but does AT&T have good coverage in the city?

Any other hints/thoughts/suggestions?


Any suggestions for cool places to check out while I'm there?

Thanks in advance

[Rids78]

Your US credit card will be fine.

Parking will depend on where you need to work from but perhaps your company can give you more insight in this situation.

Finally to your cell phone plan will need to be adjusted. Not sure about AT&T but we get great coverage on our Verizon phones and they have an international calling plan that saves some of the roaming costs. We've done well to arrange for international TXT plans and then have whichever one of us is still in the States call direct to the hotel. Cheaper to reach out with long distance US to Canada than from Canada to US.

[mikeyyc]

AT&T will roam on Telus, so coverage will be fine, however as Rids said, make sure you get an international plan. Canadian carriers will charge you out the wazoo.

You'll need some Canadian money for incedentals. US cash is fairly widely accepted, but you'll get hosed on the exchange. Best case they may take it at par. You can use your US bank card at pretty much any Canadian bank ATM. Check with your local bank and see if they have any reciprocal agreements like Bank of America does with ScotiaBank to avoid fees.

US credit card will work fine, but you'll find everyone wondering why you don't have a chip.

[Rids78]

Yes I forgot about the chip thing! I had a waitress nearly refuse to swipe our cards last year because they didn't have a chip.

[marc3565]

AT&T has a canada plan you can add on for the trip. Will reduce the cost a bit.. but be REALLY careful about DATA. If you use smart phone apps or maps it will really add up. I pay more for data in Canada then when i went to Malaysia..

[tarp]

Bank of America cardholders no longer avoid fees when using the Scotiabank ATM. They are charged a ripoff 3% transaction fee, which ends up costing more than the regular ATM charges if you're withdrawing more than $150.

[marc3565]

Originally Posted by tarp

Bank of America cardholders no longer avoid fees when using the Scotiabank ATM. They are charged a ripoff 3% transaction fee, which ends up costing more than the regular ATM charges if you're withdrawing more than $150.

Yeah.. but if you use your BoA card at any bank other then Scotiabank in Canada you will pay the 3% and a fee from BOA and a fee from the canadian bank..

I've gone back to switching my money at the duty free tho.

[fordlover]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I'm in the last few days of my trip, and I'm ready to get back home to my family.

FYI, I went and saw Canada Olymic park in Calgary, Fort Edmonton park, and the West Edmonton Mall on my days off. Enjoyed the sights.

Again thanks for the tips and such, they helped a bunch.