Voyager970

Cannot believe that its been 3 years since I joined and started on BE

Where has the time gone and look at the Voyager family, Maw, Paw and the three rugrats, all in Canada and all settled

Still the same commited guys on here, Willmore, Iaink, Rich, dbd to name but a few, sorry for missing out the long term guys but you all deserve a big pat on the back and not forgetting our committed mods for keeping the site clean and informative, one of of whom has gone through the big move as well, ( Aw right Biiiiink )

A big to all of you on the BE Canada forum for your input, your words of wisdom and of course your free and invaluable advice and the great support network the site provides, without this most of us would have struggled getting to our chosen destination, and of course a load of new guys on the BE forum, who all have one common goal, getting to Canada.

Who would have known in Feb 2004 what my circumstances would have been 3 years later.

There has been a lot of water under the bridge, some good, some bad and of course some very sad. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eddie

Cookie

Touché!

In only 5 months I have picked up so much information and tips on here which I know have definitely helped us with our move. So thanks everyone

Rich_007

Thanks for those words Eddie.

Now what of that lifestyle, how has it changed ? It would be helpful for those planning major life changes to know - it is possible and it can & does happen. But what is the reality ?

Rich.

Elsimmo

I hear you, it's almost five years since we arrived, and we have a lifestyle we could not have achieved in the UK. Such impactive change has a tendency to attract more 'dynamic' aspects of life, and we have gone through the mill although our prime motive for moving - to give our kids a healthier, happier life- has been an overrriding consideration, and we have never once considered returning to 'Blighty'. We live in a beautiful part of a wonderful country, and while I could talk for hours on the subject, i simply want to put this out there - don't think about it - DO IT!

crusheduk

i'm trying...I'm trying

julius smith

hi, elsimmo! good to hear you are real happy there!
whereabouts in bc are you? reason i ask is i am looking to move there myself but not sure where at present!

Cookie

Hey I've only been here for 4 weeks and one of my old mottos has already changed for the better.

from:

"Life's to short to iron pyjamas"

to:

"Life's too short to iron"

Am lovin' Canada

Butch Cassidy

Ah now I've been here for 10 months and my version is simply

Life's too short.

crusheduk

ahh..I am envious....I want to move out but as things are right now it is going to be a few years off.

any how....I'll move towards it now. Wife says she will give it ago.

Elsimmo

Hey Julius;

We live in the Fraser Valley East of Vancouver - the further East you go, the better are the house prices and the scenery is quite beautiful too. Vancouver is very expensive and the prices are going up all over in sympathy. The positive side of that is that we have made some good money on our house. We decided against buying a house straight away (remember your UK credit history means nothing over here umless you are loaded!) and rented a house over the internet, which I wouldn't advise you to do - we got lucky but only just - decent house but not the best neighbours...! We bought a house after 14 months building up a decent credit history and here we still are. If we go north from our house for five minutes there is nothing but wilderness between us and the North Pole - difficult to imagine I know, but true! Obviously most of the available work is concentrated in Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby but the job market is very healthy right now and opportunities exist across the region. If you choose to go north you will find fewer choices available - mostly logging, mining and service industries the further north you go, although the NE corner of the province is pimarily agricultural. Alberta is booming (oil) but BC is not so far behind (everything else), and we wouldn't consider living anywhere else other than this most beautiful part of the world. I would say that there are no 'bad' places to choose to settle, the only limiting factor being work availability.

Elsimmo

Hey Crushed...if you move out and don't like it you can always go back 'home'...out here it's called the $50,000 mistake (cuz they always come back to Canada in the end)...

Hope it works out for you! When you get here you can look me up and buy me a beer!

julius smith

couldn't stop quietly smiling to myself reading about your "$50 000 mistake" !!
we probably ended up wasting that much and more when we moved back to the uk!
this time, its gonna be the be-all end-all, no coming back. besides, i'm getting nearer the big five-o in age and it aint the right thing to do this late!
by the way, i'll take a look at the area you are mentioning-- who knows, we may meet up for a wee dram sometime!

Elsimmo

Look East of Maple Ridge - Mission, Abbotsford (although this is a very traditional Christian city not renowned for its fun factor), Agassiz, Chilliwack...

Rich_007

Murder capital of Canada ? Not much fun then.

Rich.

Elsimmo

Well as far I can tell I've never been murdered there so I couldn't comment...