The dates have now been arranged, the hotels and flights are now booked along with car rental.

We fly out on Sunday 20th July to Calgary, on Wednesday 23rd July we set off to Edmonton and back in Calgary on Saturday 26th July then on Sunday 3rd August we will be back on a flight to the UK.

Updated 4th July 2008

I am currently getting together a list of all the things that we need to look into when we are on our recce trip these include:

Doctors, Dentists, Vets, Supermarket/Shopping Malls, Job for myself, Houses, Bank accounts, SIN cards, Car, Household and Health Care Insurance, Gas/Electric Providers, Internet Providers and Car.  I am sure this list will get longer over the next few weeks.

If anyone wants to meet up please PM me.

As well as British Expats this has been my bible.

Updated 15th July

Well we have 5 days to go before we board the plane to Calgary.  How am I feeling today.  To be honest very nervous and excited a very mixed bag of emotions.  All the planning has turned  into a realistic goal which kind of freaks you out.  I am getting worried that I have forgotten to look into something but I am sure everything will be fine.

Updated 17th July

I have received a schedule from the company with interview dates and realtor dates for both Edmonton and Calgary.  We have also been invited to dinner/tea/lunch by some of the people at the company which is so nice of them and they have also offered to show us around.

We are getting quite excited about everything now, our luggage is out and ready for packing tomorrow.  We have our currency just need to get travel insurance sorted as that is one thing I have forgotten and hopefully the only thing.  Neil's suits have been to the dry cleaners and ready to impress for the interviews.

Updated 19th July 2008

Well the bags are packed, hand luggage contains all the boredom free stuff for keeping me entertained on the flight, I'm worse than a child.

This time tomorrow we will be flying high in the skies and over one hour into our journey time which is a 8 hour 55min flight apparently (I thought it was shorter than that).

I'm getting pretty excited about it again now not sure how Neil feels, he pretty much takes everything in his stride.

On the drive to the Airport, is it a sign.

Updated 21st July 2008

Well we landed and we are safe and well.  The flight across on Air Transat was quite a good flight, good leg room, good food (for a change) and leather seats (don't laugh).  There was something that happened to the bags as they were delayed for quite some time.  We hired a car for two weeks with thrifty which we picked up from the airport a nice silver dodge avenger and I quite like it.  The total cost of the car with both Neil and I was $1,473.05 (£718.52 approx).

Neil had his interview today I am not sure how that went but I'm sure it would have gone well.  I went to Calgary down town on my own today which wasn't too bad, I was a little nervous about it at first but in the end it was ok.  I went to the down town shops and also had a look at the pretty Devonian Gardens I couldn't believe it when someone informed me that Sears had closed down, not sure if it is just a refurb though.

I also took a walk down to Eau Claire Market and then across to the very pretty Prince's Island Park and then I made my way back home to Shawnessy.

I am now sat in a copy center on the internet blogging to anyone that can be bothered to read it.

 The hire car a Dodge, Avenger

Updated 22nd July 2008

We decided to drive around the Midnapore area and have a walk around the boundaries of Midnapore Lake.

We also drove round Sundance and stopped at Heron flats which is a big green space that has cycle routes through and walks very pretty.  We then had lunch at the Cattle Baron back near the hotel their Beef Baron Philly was great.

We then met up with Julie Parry to look round some areas and houses.  I now now that Shawnessy isn't the area for us and we might need to go a bit out, I can't remember the area at hand that she showed us but I will update more details when I get back to the UK.

 Taking some time out at Fish Creek, Calgary.

23rd July 2008

We set off from Calgray at 7am and headed for Edmonton as Neil also has to consider here.  I have already noticed the difference between the two and to be honest I do prefer Calgary.  It seems more laid back and you can even see the difference in driving.  I drove us all the way to Edmonton, I was a little nervous but I managed.

We had a meal at Chop which was very nice then after lunch we got ready to go for Neil's interview.  We struggled to figure out where it was and I started to panic Cassie style which got Neil a little annoyed.  It is so hot here at the moment which isn't helping.  We finally found the office with 10 mins to spare.

I looked around the stores, Home Depot, Best Buy, Home Outfitters to name just a few.  Just to get an idea of tvs, washers and dryers and all the house hold types of girly things.

I am now typing this at the hotel (for free this time) sipping on a Cherry Milkshake from McDonalds.  

 West Edmonton Mall, believe it or not it is a shopping centre

Updated 24th July

Neil had another day with the company today, he had to go on a typical site meeting with his possible employer and I had arranged to meet up with the girls from the office that I had been arranging the recce trip with we went to Chop the same place that I went to with Neil.

I went to the shops again to do more research on housing items like dinning room tables etc.  Its 3.10pm and Neil isn't due back until 4:30pm so I thought I might as well update the blog.

Later on one of the employees at the company took us out with his wife to Taste of Edmonton.  It is quite a good idea, you buy a bulk amount of tickets then you walk round lots of stalls that are offering food for ex amount of tickets.  There is all sorts of food on offer and it was a good night.  They also took us on a little tour of the area in their car which was very nice of them.

 Neil and I at the Planetarium

25th July 2008

We had a day with the Edmonton Realtor and he showed us around a few areas of Edmonton but we ended up liking a house in Sudder Green which isn't too far away from Edmonton Mall.  He took us around St Alberts as well but we did like the house in that other area.

We went back to West Edmonton Mall in the evening to watch the new X Files movie, I would reccomend only watching it if you are a true X files fan to appreciate it more.

26th July 2008

We went to the Water Park in West Edmonton Mall and it was great fun, there were lots of slides about 10, I went on this purple one at first and wish I hadn't it was very long and bumpy and you kind of left the slide as you went down. 

Neil tried out all the slides there was one that was just a steep drop (red slide) and another that gets the nick name washing machine you go down a short steep slide and then you end up in a big circle drum going round and round until you drop in some very deep water.  It was fun and we were there for about three hours, there was also a wave machine in the pool. 

One of the things that is odd, I wanted some long shorts because I didn't want to hurt my backside the shorts came to $40.00 round about and I got free admission to the waterpark because they were a full price item so Neil decided to get some new shorts.  (this is one thing to bare in mind when you go, get a new outfit!)

After the waterpark we went to the Science museum which was very good and worth a visit, we watched an I-Max Film about the human body and we went to look at the obserbatory but just our luck it started to rain and it was closed up.

We went for another drive round the city and back to near the hotel for tea then back to the hotel to bed.

The Water Park

27th July 2008

I am up early typing this (well 7:16am) as we are heading back to Calgary today, when we get there we are going to see the realtor again some time and try to catch up with a few people in Calgary from BE I hope.  I am also going to arrange to see a bank manager about a mortage.  I'm not sure how up to date I can keep the blog going in Calgary but I will try. 

We drove back to Calgary today but got back too early for check in so we decided to have a look at the area in Calgary that we would like to live. We went back to look at the outside of the house that we liked and also the surrounding area.

We took advantage of speaking to some of the locals along the way. We also had a look around some show homes, one of them was $1.6 million, it had the WOW factor but obviously wasn't within our budget. We have had a look at a few houses now and we are pretty much decided in what style and price range we would like to live. We can see walking our dog in the area and being very happy living here.

After we checked in we went to the Chinook Centre which is a big shopping Mall in the hope of catching Dark Knight on I-Max but it was fully booked so we have arranged to see it tomorrow. We had tea while we were there at an Asian Resturant but it wasn't too good. In the need of desert we went to Safeway on the way back to the hotel.

28th July 2008

We headed back to Calgary City to talk to some banks, but we feel a whole chicken and egg situation coming on. You can't arrange a mortgage until you have a firm contract etc etc etc. Also the contract must not say probation period other wise you can't get a good deal so to speak. We see Julie the Realtor again tomorrow so hopefully she can enlighten us further.

Julie reccomended that we see a Mortage broker tomorrow and have a word.

We went back to the Chinook Centre later on in the afternoon to watch Dark Knight I thought I wasn't going to enjoy it but I was wrong.  You have to go an watch it it's one of the best films I've seen in a while.

We later had a meal at the Cattle Barron which I would reccomend to anyone, very nice place.

29th July 2008

We went to look around areas again with the realtor we know now what area we would like to live in if all goes well.

Julie arranged for us to meet up with a mortage broker and her name was Dar.  Dar was able to show us a very good manageable mortage exapmle for us which was great.  It was based on a 25% deposit.

We met up with a couple that we know, in fact Neil used to work with him in a company a few years ago, funny how small the world can be at times.  I met his wife on Expats and thats how we had learnt that they are now living in Calgary.

We got a picnic from Safeway for our trip at the mountains tomorrow.

View of the City from Prince's Island Park

30th July 2008

We got up early and set off after breakfast for our trip to the mountains.

We went round most of the Banff National Park along the way we stopped to look at, Castle Cliffs, Castle mountain, Eisenhoweir Peak, Lake Louise, Crows Foot, and turned around at Saskatchewan Crossing on the way back we went to Bow Pass (Bow Summit) and looked at Payto Lake viewpoint.

We drove back to Banff and stopped at my favorite resturant the Saltlik.

When we reached Calgary again we stopped at the Cheesecake Cafe and then headed back to the hotel.

Peyto Lake

Thursday 31st July

Neil went back to the company to spend a couple of hours with them again.  He was informed that the placement and offer would be coming from Edmonton.

I was a little down about the fact that we wouldn't be moving to Calgary after all but whilst we were in Edmonton it did have some potential.

We will still be in Alberta after all.

Friday 1st August 2008

We went to Calgary Zoo and had a fun day out.  It was so hot.

It took ages to get this shot.

Saturday 2nd August

It was our last full day in Canada so we decided to go for another drive out to the mountains.

We drove through Okotoks, through Black Diamond, Passed Nakiska Ski Slope and went on a gravel track which took us back to Calgary.

It was a fun day out but also sad because we had to fly back to the UK.

Sunday 3rd August 2008

Went to the airport and back to the UK.

Me at the Airport