jessica1980

Hi,

My husband and I are going over to Alberta for a holiday / Recce mission in July.. Can anyone provide us with info on both sights to see and also advised routes to take?.. Should we hire a car, use trains, buses etc?..
Can anyone suggest any nice hotels, or any type of accommodation?

We're flying into Calgary, flying home from Edmonton with 13days in between..
I have been offered a job in Wetaskiwin, so would like to check out areas around there (Leduc etc, where we are thinking of renting when we move over later in the year)

Any help, advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Almost Canadian

From Calgary take the TransCanada Highway to Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise etc, then take the Icefields Parkway to Jasper, staying as long at each destination as you feel appropriate. Then go from Jasper to Edmonton for interviews etc, and purge yourself at West Edmonton Mall. Calgary to Jasper will thrill you, West Edmonton Mall etc., will allow you to see what your new life will really be like

Steve&Tanya

You will definitely need a car to get from Calgary to Edmonton and be able to take in the sights recommended by Almost Canadian. Be aware though you will get charged a premuim for picking up a hire car at one location and dropping it off at another.
Depending on when in July you are over, you can check out the Calgary Stampede (July 03 -12 this year) With that in mind if you are over in Calgary for Stampede BOOK YOUR HOTEL NOW! It get's pretty busy, although not sure if the current economic situation may mean it will be easier to book, personally I wouldn't take the chance in leaving it much longer just in case
In Calgary it is quite easy to get around on the C-train, buses etc and if staying downtown you can avoid paying for parking, but at Stampede time, especially at peak times the c-train can be near impossible to get on if you are not at the end of the line!

pollyb

Hello

We arrived in Edmonton in January 09 and my OH works on south outskirts of Edmonton. We looked round area and acutally found town of Devon to be lovely. Everyone has been so lovely and if you want a name of a good B & B I can give you it. PM me if you want it. Also not been here long but let me know if you have any questions.

Piff Poff

I would suggest the above itinery too. You can extend the journey's to cover more ground but as you already know where your going then I think the suggested route will work wonders. We used a motorhome for our reccy but a car and motels/hotels would do the trick just as well.

As for things to do, remember that you will likely have visitors to your new life in the next few years so don't use up all the attractions in one go - i.e. the icefields and various gondolas I remember feeling a little pee'd at seeing Lake Louise and going up the Calgary tower for the 5th time in a year when there was so much else I wanted to see (not that I would ever get bored of seeing Lake Louise).

As for Accomodations, we do like the Falcon Crest Lodge in Canmore. The Delta at kananaskis is looking a little tired for it's money these days. Pyramid Lake resort is nice but the cabins can be noisy if you have elephants in the cabin above you. I wouldn't recommend the Bear Hill Lodge (Jasper) - the cabins we got were a lot like a garden shed and mega expensive in comparison the other accomodations we had used. This place looks interesting http://www.sundancelodges.com/about.html I think it would be cool to stay in a teepee. For a special night, the Num Ti Jah Lodge on Bow Lake is lovely if a bit rustic http://www.num-ti-jah.com/ We also stayed at some other cabins by Banff and I can't for the life of me remember which ones, could have been Castle Mountain chalets, they were nice too.

There a lots of hikes along the way, so lots of places to stop and stretch your legs, Johnston Canyon is a nice one, we haven't done too many as our visitors so far have had limited mobility.

Cassie 10000

Hire a car, no kidding its a must here.

Hotel in Calgary I reccomend is: http://www.wingatebywyndhamcalgary.com/

Hotel in Edmonton (West Ed) I reccomend is: http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com/en...Y24QCSGBIVMVCQ

Kaye.

Hi PP would you mind telling me what company you used for your motorhome, and how did you find it? Just had a quick look on a site and it stated anyone under 25 just has to pay a higher security deposit. I don't see how we'll manage a recce without a car, considering we have a 4 yr old and baby.

Thanks
K.

Piff Poff

We used Canadian Affair and booked the motorhome through them - the company was Fraserway.

Kaye.

Cheers for that...
What made you go for a motorhome instead of car hire/hotel?

Piff Poff

We didn't have a final destination already sorted out and we hadn't ever been to this part of Canada so we wanted to tour around as much as possible - and my god did we cover a lot of ground

We started in Calgary and headed towards BC along the Crowsnest Pass then upto Nelson (sounded nice in the guidebooks) then onto Revelstoke, then we found out about a car swap meet in Okotoks - so off we went to there and then we went to Drumheller and on the way back we stopped at Red Deer and that's where the job offer happened. It was far to much to do in 2 weeks.

Kaye.

Gosh you really did travel about!! I think we'll go with the hotel/hire car option as we know we will need to settle in Alberta, and ideally around the Calgary area... so a motorhome isn't really needed. Thanks for all your help

Piff Poff

From your first post I see you have been offered work in Wetaskiwin - so you want to be nearer Edmonton than Calgary. You should take a look in Red Deer, that is halfway between Edmonton and Calgary and 40 mins or so to Wetaskiwin.

triumphguy

At risk of being a pariah I'm going to ask - why waste so much money on a recce?

It's not really going to show much of any use, and may put some familes into debt at a time when they need as much money as possible.

Doing a tour of the Britsh isles doesn't really show a newcomer what it's like to live, commute, pay bills and shop in Solihull (for example).

Canada is beautiful - but you can't bank the view.
Canada is cold in winter and hot in summer - you will handle it - or not.
Canada is big - you will handle it - or not.
Canada is different - you will handle it - or not.

A trip through scenary in an RV is not going to show you whether you can or can't handle it.

You need a reason to leave and a reason to come.

In my opinion a tour won't give you that.

Bottom line - emmigrating is more about your family, and what your family needs or wants, it's got very little to do with Canada.

Don't waste your money.

Or just be honest and come for a holiday.

Now if you are coming to start a business at least it would be a tax write off!

Steve_P

The fault with the above thinking is it doesn't acknowledge that a reccie also includes stops to see prospective employment locations and potential employers face to face.

It apparently is very difficult to get responses from potential employers using standard mail and email so coming over and talking face to face is sometimes the only way to get your foot in the door.

Considering the best way to get to Canada these days is via a TWP I believe a well thought out reccie is very important in most cases.

It also makes for a great holiday.

Cassie 10000

Our reccie was two weeks one in Calgary and another in Edmonton we were very busy with two interviews for Neil.

Looking at houses, going into banks, looking around supermarkets etc etc.

I only think we managed about three days out for playtime.