scrubbedexpat133

Its a slightly belated post as I am not on here as much as I used to be. It was 7 years here in the Moncton area on 25th April.

It certainly has been an interesting and challenging 7 years here. There are many nice things about life here and some not so nice. I arrived here with 5k, two suitcases and a ton of ambition. I feel have achieved most of what I set out to do over the years and some things that I could never have done in the UK. First amongst which is owning my own house.

The first four and half years I spent trucking all over N America. I wasn't really living in Moncton more just staying here for a few days a month. Its a perfectly nice small city with some beautiful countryside around it. There is nothing really wrong with the place as small Canadian cities go.
I got a day job and bought a house in 2014 with a view to settling down a bit more here. As time has gone on I have realised that the slower pace and smaller city isn't really for me after all. Part of the problem is that you are a very long way from any larger urban areas. I don't really count Halifax as its more a medium sized city. I now feel like I have lived here for too long and have been yearning to move for some time....

After 7 years I am itching and Itching so New Brunswick your time is up!

Today we listed our house and are moving to SW Ontario A New Chapter and a New adventure for us

We decided last year that we do not want to have children after all and that instead of the big family wedding that we had been planning that we would elope instead I was truly shocked when my OH said that's what she really wanted to do as she is Acadian and family is very important to them. However she likens here family to My Big Fat Greek Wedding
I was over the moon with the idea so we are going to do just that!
We couldn't be happier together and are looking forward to our new life in ON.

raindropsandroses

Congratulations and good luck! I wanted to elope but my husband wasn't keen. I am avidly reading all I can from those in NB and NS as looks like that's where we are heading instead now.
Seven years is a long time, I'm a serial expat but now staying put in Canada but my itchy feet tend to kick in after seven months

Howefamily

congrats and good luck! Hope your new adventures are fun and exciting and keep us up to date please. Love hearing of peoples adventures.

Piff Poff

Congrats and good luck with the next adventure!

BristolUK

Best of luck to you.

Do you want to be more specific about where headed or do you want to stop them putting up house prices there?

scilly

Congratulations, and good luck with the next adventure

cxx

Congratulations on surviving Moncton that long, eloping and escaping. Hope all goes well with the move.

pennyhp

Snap!

We have been in Moncton (well rural Riverview) for 10 years this month and we are moving province too. SW Ontario is also our choice of destination. I would love to hear why that is where you have decided on?
For us it us the grandkids. When we came 10 years ago our boys very quickly decided the maritimes wasn't for them. They have both tried living back here at some stage and quickly returned to Ontario.
We love it here in many ways and we have built up a really good and profitable cleaning business from scratch. Using only kijiji and word of mouth.
We also live in a house with 20 acres overlooking the Peticodiac river which is only 10 minutes from town.
But it's a 16 hour drive from our sons and grandchildren and that is simply too much. Planes are expensive. Driving takes us 2 days each way. So that's it. Our farm is listed and we are off too.
We are not looking to go too far east. We are thinking Around London.
We will be about 2 hours from the kids and that sure as heck beats 16!
But it does feel a bit like emigration all over again. We will have to start again from the ground up.
We have almost gotten to this point before. But living where we do and having good work made us think again.Its daunting in many ways but we are determined to do it this time.

Hope your house sells quickly. Nothing worse than being ready to go and having to wait for ever on a sale.

scrubbedexpat133

We are heading to the Windsor area so about as SW Ontario as you can be

The housing market there is mental and the complete opposite of here. We went down there 2 weekends ago. We looked at various properties. They are going on the market and within a few days selling over asking. We actually put an offer in on one of the properties that we saw. Ours was second best out of three and we had offered over the asking price That place went on the market on the Thursday. We viewed it Friday. Sold Monday!

Our house went on the market Tuesday so we will have to wait and see. We will sell up and move down there and just find a short term rental until we can find somewhere to buy.

scrubbedexpat133

We flirted briefly with the idea of going to Halifax NS first but neither of us really fancied it. I have always liked SW ON. We were looking at a few possibilities. Greater Toronto area and Kitch Cam Wat area would be too expensive for us and have no intention of being house poor. (Great benefit of Atlantic Canada). We thought about London but its never really grabbed me as a city nice though it is. I have been to Windsor a couple of times and there is just something about the place that I like. Its hard to describe but I just like it My GF also really liked Windsor and the feel of it too. Worse case scenario if it does not work out we can always move on.

Windsor is experiencing a renaissance at the moment economically and there is a ton of work going for Class One drivers. So good job prospects. My GF might have an opportunity in Detroit too. The house prices are going up at a rate of knots. If we leave it too long we could be priced out of the market. Its still affordable at this point.

A major plus point is location. Across the river to Detroit. So big city stuff etc. Cheap US flights. 3 hours ish to Toronto and Chicago. After 7 years here I can honestly say that I never want to put up with another Maritime winter The snowfall is significantly less than here and the temps are a lot milder in winter.

I am also in Riverview. I am just over the bridge from the City centre. We are optimistic about our house selling within a reasonable amount of time. Next door changed hands last autumn and was only on the market for 29 days so fingers crossed.

Thank you and good luck with your move too!!

BristolUK

Throw the coffee machine into the deal

scrubbedexpat133

I am not sure the locals would know what to do with it, I once read that Moncton has more Tim Hortons per capita than anywhere else in Canada.

I am already having to come to terms with leaving my beloved Washing Machine and Tumble dryer behind. I am not sure I am emotionally stable enough to let the coffee machine go too

tracys

Congratulations and good luck in Ontario!

MillieF

I too wish you absolutely every success Alex. Please keep us informed of what like off the East Coast has to offer! We will miss you most sincerely

Very best of luck.

geoff52

Welcome to Ontario.
I moved to Great Toronto Area (GTA) over two decades ago from London (UK) and I love the big city feel.
We bought our properties before the house prices started shooting up. I am sad this has happened because it prevents people moving to GTA from other parts of Canada.