Loraine 1

Hi guys,


Well you may have seen that after years of trying we are finally moving to NS. We always thought we'd be going on hubbies visa as he's better educated and cleverer than me, but as it happens I found and he's going on mine he he.


I'm proper excited and can't wait to get over there, but I'm also terrified. Is this normal?
We've got soooo much to do to get the house ready for sale it's mind blowing. Then there's questions like - Where do we live? What do we get rid off/take? How long does the AIPP process take? How much notice to I give work? How am I going to feel when I actually move away from my family who I'm proper close to? I'm sure you've all been there and it would be great to get a bit of feedback and know I'm not going crazy!!

Howefamily

This is completely normal as its most certainly a leap of faith. To get past it we agreed to give it 2 years and then revisit the decision but we were not going to allow ourselves to not take the opportunity.
I also allowed myself 5 minutes to panic on the plane when we emigrated. Its hard to deliberately panic I found


For now, I would pack what you can into plastic boxes (for us those things were christmas decorations as we were moving in March), so pick what you dont plan to use between now and moving.
Get your moving quotes.
Decide on your strategy for the first 3 months on what type of accom - rent, airbnb, etc etc...
Sign up with a trading house like Halo Financial, they will advise on how to move money and start telling you their view on FX rates, I found that part both fun and interesting and its not too soon.
Decide what you are doing re pets and get that info in hand. We moved our cat on the same flight as us, DIY style, and it saved a ton of money. You need to know what restrictions airlines may have on this (time of year etc) their website usually is helpful.
Plan what you are taking as carry on as you will overtake your stuff on the ocean in its container.
Start getting your family used to the idea if they dont already know. It may well be a shock to them.


Thats what springs to mind right now, and dont forget we are here, waiting for you, and you have support

Loraine 1

Ahh will you be my Canadian bestie?!


I started this weekend getting rid of rubbish we've been storing for no apparent reason and that's not worth anything. Only about 6 bin liners! Hubby is still decorating which is a bit frustrating!


I've been telling family daily that it's happening and keep talking about 'when I go'. I think it's starting to sink in, but it'll still be hard.


Airbnb is booked Jan-Feb to give us chance to figure where we want to live, bringing over pussy cats etc..


Unfortunately, the exchange rate at the moment is rubbish. Will look into Halo, but it's not looking in our favour.

Howefamily

Oh and I told my boss in October that I was moving in March. That was because we had enough from immigration at that point that it was actually going to happen.
Also, he was a decent boss and I knew I wouldnt regret it, and I didnt.


We also put our house up for sale and sold it in a week so we stayed with friends for two weeks.
We booked flights with Air Canada without confirming them until we exchanged contracts on the house. I didnt want to leave it too late so the fares went up and I didnt want to confirm in case the house fell through so I recall shouting down the phone at my solicitor that we needed a completion date and to exchange so that I could confirm my flights. I think now, I would have booked flex tickets
Air Canada charged us just GBP100 for our cat on the same flight, hence we chose them.


We sold our electrical goods to friends (Dyson, DVD player etc). Left white goods as part of the house sale and took our laptops. Car was sold to a friend for the same price as "we buy any car.com" offered us. She still has it

Howefamily

Damn straight! You brough me Mr Kipling!!!

Engineer_abroad

Its hard but try to adopt the attitude that no matter what you do there will always be a better time to move the money. I.e. if you waited a year you may of have a better exchange rate. Don't try to predict the market too much, and move the money when you have an exchange rate you can live with, rather than hold out hoping for a better one (unless of course you don't need to move the money).

glendem4

Departure To Do List (UK to Canada) : British Expat Wiki provides a great checklist

glendem4

As far as transferring money.....I did the following.

Got a Debit car with Revolut

This card allows you to front load in £ and spend in $ at the Bank rate with no currency conversion charges.

To transfer large sums use Transferwise https://transferwise.com when you have a Canadian Bank account.

Example : For a small sum of £300, the cost is £2.16, on a large amount of £1000, the cost is £5.28

Pulaski

The last couple of days were like a weird out-of-body experience, like I was watching myself on TV, especially as I walked though the airport, boarded the plane, and sat awaiting take-off It was a very odd feeling.

Engineer_abroad

bank rates have the charges built in, they are not the same as market rates

Novocastrian

I'd go further. Don't sweat it about exchange rates. They're completely unpredictable so just do it. Don't worry, be happy. <slits wrists>

Pulaski

This is absolutely true! People can make vague predictions, either up or down, and half the predictions will be correct, .... but so would be uninformed guesses, or rolling dice to make a prediction.

In truth if the banks had even a fairly good idea of what the exchange rates will be next week they could consistently make a killing by trading currencies. In practice banks, despite their teams of economists and experts, have been unable to consistently turn a profit trading currencies, and in fact most banks stopped trying to make money by investing their own money in the years ahead of the introduction of the Euro, so around 20 years ago, confining themselves to buying and selling currency for their customers, and charging a fee or taking a spread for doing so.

Think of it like selling baked beans - you can buy and sell them between wholesalers, which isn't going to make you much, but occasionally supply might fall and prices spike so you get a windfall, or you can buy them to sell to retail customers where you make a steady profit margin.

Paul_Shepherd

Thats just how I felt too. It was though I was watching someone else. Odd indeed.

Loraine 1

Cheers guys for all your responses. I've got a lot to go through.


I've already handed in my notice at work (which felt great! ) and I leave end of November. My new start date is 8th Jan so all being well I'll be in NS 5th Jan.


It's totally bizarre going to work and carrying on as normal when you know in a matter of months you'll be somewhere totally different. How is not a big deal to everyone else! I'm sure people are getting sick of me talking about it and stressing about what needs to be done and things I need to look into.

Howefamily

Not at all, we have all been there. I recall I had 5 months at work when I knew I was leaving and when I felt stressed with a task there I would think "dont worry about it. You just dont care enough. You are leaving here anyway" - it kept me so calm at work which made me much better at my job wierdly.
Each lunchtime I would be on www.viewpoint.ca just checking out houses and emailing links to my husband. Every day I would listen to a local radio station on line. In the end I lost all ability to distinguish what song was popular in what country