Mobile access to the Internet on international travel

Hi,
Despite my 65 years, I am a total newbie to many many things! Please go easy on my ignorance! :)
I have a Palm Lifedrive which I use for astronomy, digital setting circles on my scope etc. It is reasonably fast now that I have upgraded to a flash drive.
My wife and I are travelling to the USA and Canada starting April 2010, and I'm interested to know how I can use my Lifedrive to access the Internet while we are travelling. Most, if not all, of the hotels we will be staying at will provide internet access, but I would like to also have some independence from them.
I have Palm Blazer v4.3 installed on my Lifedrive, should I update to the Pro version?
Would I be able to attach photographs to emails generated on my Lifedrive?
I have never used a WiFi connection so what does it involve?
I understand that I need to set WiFi to 'On' in Preferences on the Lifedrive. Does it affect my Lifedrive battery to leave that setting on? Are there security concerns?
Do I have to set up an account with an internet provider?
My IP in Australia has a service called 'Global Roamimg', is this the account I need to have enabled? I don't actually use my IP for email or anything so do I really need to upgrade that account? I only need access to Gmail for myself and Yahoo for my wife's email.
I'm fortunate to live in rural Australian location, but that means there are no WiFi networks within 100km in order to test things out.
All these questions! I obviousely need some sort of tutorial! Any links to such information, particularly from an Australian perspective would be appreciated.
We haven't travelled outside Australia in 30 years, so we have no insight on how today's technology impacts travel and how we can make the best use of it.
All advice and travelling tips would be very much appreciated!
Thank you
Chris

Hi Chris,

Im new to this site just registered yesterday. Yup you're right turning the wifi on would really drain the battery. I guess it would be better to turn it on once you're on a hotspot area for wifi connection....