TL;DR
As I was traveling to CAST2016 in Vancouver, and roaming cost for 1MB of data traffic using my Croatian operator is 10 US$, I decided to use Google maps in offline mode.
Why you did not buy Canadian sim card with data plan? I investigated that option, and I could not find on web simple explanation how to do that. Also, doing business in Croatia is rather complicated, and putting that expense on my company account would be very complicated. So I decided to go with Google maps offline option, and using wi-fi where possible.
Day before travel day, I downloaded Vancouver map. In iOS Google map application, you need to search for Vancouver, and select in main menu offline areas. Touch big blue plus sign, and hit download.
Offline content is valid for one month.
First surprise is that route feature is only available for Cars option, bus and walk is not available. My heuristics is that this is because of security implications for walk option. Google only wants to guide you for walking using up to date information. For example, you do not want to go through some riots area.
Bus option is not available because bus timetables need to be up to date all the time to have the most accurate routing.
My current location works in offline mode, but only when airplane mode is off.
And one interesting scenario (BBST scenario testing) happened. On Paris airport, I enabled data roaming, because those prices are acceptable (Croatia is part of EU). On plain I switched on airplane mode on, with data roaming enabled. Next stop, Toronto, Canada. And guess what, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO TURN OFF DATA ROAMING WHEN AIRPLANE MODE IS ON.
I was afraid that I will get some data traffic after I turn airplane mode off. But, luckily, my phone was not able to connect to any of Canadian mobile networks, so I could turn off mobile data roaming without any cost.
Scenario testing is very important part of professional testing activity. It is unfairly called manual testing, giving the impression that it is low skill activity.
