Save three routes for different purposes
Save airport-to-home, home-to-campus and campus-to-everyday-shopping routes separately. The first accounts for luggage and arrival time, the second tests early and late class, and the third serves daily life. One city map cannot replace those three conditions.
Build a first-week list from the school’s written information
Put reporting time, campus address, contact, placement, housing check-in and emergency phone into an offline list. Confirm required accounts for the course platform, activities and coursework before departure; do not leave day-one essentials to a last-minute network search.
Check intercity tools against a real weekend
Canadian city distances are large. Compare actual operator timetables for rail, coach or flight total time, luggage and change terms before planning a weekend; straight-line distance on a map does not establish feasibility.
Keep safety information in a private place
Store passport copy, insurance and school and housing emergency contacts encrypted, with a paper backup. App permissions, public Wi-Fi and group chats can expose data, so full identity and itinerary pages should not be forwarded casually.