ChrisCDN

The only place in Canada that is even remotely like New York is Toronto.... and it's still nowhere near as good as NYC IMO.

You'll be sorely disappointed if you come over with the wrong expectations.

george82

No I know it's not the same. But the lifestyle must be similar compared to what I have here in glasgow.

Jingsamichty

What is "the lifestyle" that you are looking for? I know people in Glasgow who have a great lifestyle, and folks in Canada who have terrible lifestyles.

Or are you just looking for somewhere different?

george82

Well here in glasgow I'm a plumber / heating engineer which to be honest any kind of manual labour job here is deemed shitty and everyone tries to undercut everyone driving down the price. Don't get me wrong I do ok here but I have 2 kids whom I would like to great things and this country is so greedy it's hard to become anything. Some nice weather would also be great. And to not pay 20%tax on everything I buy would also be nice

bats

Market forces apply everywhere surely?

Ontario has 13% HST compared to your VAT. There is a 5% tax on childrens clothes and shoes compared to 0% in the UK. You get more from the govt for those taxes though so you end up paying out for prescription meds, dental, over the counter meds cost more too. f you were employed full time you would very probably have medical as a benefit but you still have to pay a percentage.

In my experience people here work longer hours and have fewer days vacation.

As Jings says what is it about the lifestyle that you want?

The weather is better though!

Dave n Ailsa

As a fellow Glaswegian, I will try and answer a couple of your questions as I know what you're coming from...

We have been here for 4 months now, and loving every second. You mention spending time in NY, is that holiday time, or actual inhabiting time? Huge difference.

But I have a few friends around the USA, and I would say that yes, it's broadly similar lifestyle to where we are in Ontario.

Apart from the last two weeks, as you know, Glasgow is generally grey and miserable. I have just returned from a week trip to Troon and the sun shone every day, lol. But, it STILL isn't a proper summer. You just know that the grey is just arround the corner. So I returned two days ago, landing at Toronto in 31 degrees and the wall of heat you walk into as you leave the airport is just amazing, I love it.

Sitting out on our deck in the evening in shorts and not much else, looking up at the stars, feeling sorry for the poor souls I've left behind, lol. AND, knowing that I have a couple of months of this to look forward to every year from now on, is just mind blowing.

Even after a couple of days back in Glasgow, I could feel the depression trying to take hold of me again, but as I was driving my old Ford pick-up around my new home-town in Canada today, I was exstatic to be back.

Sorry, went off on a tangent there...

We have two kids, 12 and 14, and they are loving it. The schooling is quite different, and will seem a bit laid back at first, but it's just that we are used to our kids being pushed so hard in the UK, by both teachers and fellow students. They are definitely allowed to be kids for much longer over here. My youngest is out all the time, and after many years of sitting in his room playing Xbox, admitted the other day that he would gladly get rid of his console now.

My oldest protested the move for two years, vowing to return to Scotland when he reached 18. Yeah, that's not going to happen now, lol, he loves it here too.

And yes, plenty of sports for the kids, not just bloody football!! There's Hockey (ice Hockey), baseball, basketball, Soccer, Football (the one with the rugby ball ) , tennis,cycling, running, you name it, it's all here. But it will be expensive finding out which one they want to stick with, lol.

It's easy for me to go on and on about how great Canada is, but that's partly because we planned and prepared for the move, like you are intending to do. Of course there are loads of potential hurdles, but they won't be a problem if you know how to deal with them.

If you have Facebook, add me as a friend (link below) and you can see how we have been living since we got here :-)

Good luck with the process.

Dave.

george82

Hi thanks for the reply this is the exact reasons for wanting to move I don't think people understand when you say summer is Scotland is about 2 weeks lol.the time I have spent in Fairfield has mostly been holiday time but I have been over to graft as my brother has a house and needed work done. That heat of 31 sounds a bit much for me but I'm sure my Missis and kids would love it. My brother works very hard but he is rewarded well for what he does (soccer coach for NOGA). Can I ask what it is you do and do you find you get more quality time with your family because that is one of my main reasons for the move. Can I also ask how is your standard of living in comparison. Thanks for the replies so far guys great stuff here.

Dave n Ailsa

Hey, 31 is too hot for most normal humans, lol, but remember, we have AC everywhere here. (Except in my truck, it's broken, lol). My house is ice cold, I had to step out to the deck just there to warm up (it's 2am ;-) )

Our financial situation, like everyone else, will be different to everyone else. In our case in Glasgow, we were stuck in a cycle of paying the mortgage, no spare cash, and all our house equity tied up. No point selling as we would need all the money to buy another house.

Over here, we came with the house sale profit, not that much, but enough to put a decent deposit down on our new house. We chose a great area over a huge house. Our house is perfect for us (for now) and twice the size of what we had in Glasgow, plus we have a full basement that I can add another couple of rooms and a bathroom.

My wife is the earner, I cook the food and wash the cars, but I have options to make some money on the side if needs be. She earns far more here for doing the same job in Glasgow (engineering systems something or other)

She does work very hard though, and I wouldn't say she has any more time with the family than she did in Glasgow, but the big difference is, we can go outside and enjoy the sunshine together, instead of sitting at the dinner table on a soggy sunday afternoon forcing everyone to play Monopoly, lol.

george82

Your life in Canada looks amazing. Honestly if I could just get up and leave and go right now I would. Did you deal with the whole process yourself or did you use an agent. Part of the reason were waiting is so we can sell our house at the moment we are equal on what it's worth to what it can sell for. So if I wait ill have some cash to bring over.

Dave n Ailsa

We didn't use an agent, we did it ourselves, with a lot of help from this great forum's members.

But we did have help with the actual move, as Ailsa was given a relocation package. If we had to pay everything ourselves, we would have done it WAY cheaper than what it must have cost her company. You mentioned you don't plan on bringing much, so that will save a lot of expense and hassle.

We sold our house to the first offer we got, as we just wanted to get the hell out of there and start afresh over here. We don't regret that decision at all, so don't hang on too long expecting to make fortunes on your house sale, time is just ticking away.

I should point out at this time, that I generally don't report on the bad stuff, lol. There's plenty of other folk on here that will be happy to burst your bubbles ;-)

george82

I know there will be downsides to this but all I'm really wanting is 1.better weather 2.better quality of life 3.better options for my kids when older. I think all of these are achievable in Canada.

christmasoompa

But (bubble burster alert!), all of those things can also be achieved by moving within the UK. Don't get me wrong, I love Canada and think it's a great country, but it would be better to move because you love it too, not because you think it can offer you a better life.

Or you may just find yourself there cursing the unbearable humidity, the 10 days holiday and the £25k you've spent to get there.

Move for the positives of a country, not for the perceived negatives of the one you're leaving behind - as most find that the same problems are everywhere unfortunately!

george82

Sorry mate but have you been in the uk recently there is nothing but junkies and drunks I wouldn't move to England because I'm Scottish.

christmasoompa

So you wouldn't move to England because you're Scottish, but you'd happily move to Canada?! LOL. OK, so forget England (although that won't help with the weather side of things), is everywhere in Scotland full of junkies and drunks then?

BTW, I'm in England, and not a junkie, drunk or yob in sight. Actually, not a human being in sight, but that's because I live in the middle of nowhere.

All of the things you've mentioned won't be solved by moving to Canada, that's all I'm saying. Funnily enough, they have tax there too, and drunks (actually, drugs are far more of a problem there than alcohol), and crap weather, and etc etc.

Go for it if you love Canada, but I'm just saying don't go with unrealistic expectations.

bats

I'll stop trying to help. I am English so you wouldn't want it.