Kiami

Hi, the thread is pretty much what it says in the name - has anybody moved without going on a recce trip first and what was your experience? Did it work out fine or did you regret not doing a recce trip first?
Or for people that did the recce trip, do you think you could've moved without it?

pacepeter

yes moved here without coming first went to an expo in leeds both got offered jobs in calgary, took a while to settle in but ok now. its been about 21 month now still waiting for PR
peter

Kiami

it's good to know we wouldn't be the only one's to think this way! We planned to do the recce trip in april at first, as we should get PR soon, but then my work was funny about giving me extra 4 days off upaid leave (as we have set holidays we have to painfully ask if we need extra time off on some other times), so we had a major re-think and decided to save the money we would use for recce trip and use it to pay for expensess to live in Canada (we plan to move to Calgary too! ) for some time before we start work to get to know the place. In meantime we plan the move and look for job, online and going to expo too, hoping to move for good at beginning of August. If it doesn't work (can't find job/tie loose ends here) by then we'll make trip in August to activate visa and then we might as well do the recce trip.

pacepeter

what sort of jobs are you both looking for?

jericho

We came over for interviews, but we didnt get chance to do a recce.
Worked out fine for us.

Nikki Ian

we did not do a recce, however my wife had a extenable 1 yr contract, we figured 1yr living here would give us a good recce, if we did not like it we could leave, still here 2 1/2 yrs on

Kiami

I'm a chef and my partner is mechanical engineer.

Lorry1

We didn't do a recce first.
The main reason for this was because we were originally going to move to Ontario and I had been before (at 13 years old) and hubby had been on previous holidays too so we kind of knew it.
After going to an exhibition in London we found out about Nova Scotia and did alot of research into the province.
We then decided to give it a try although neither of us had been there. We just thought we would come, try and if we didn't like we would move on to Ontario.
We took a leap of faith with 2 kids (a 5 year old and a 13 year old).
Turns out we did like and stayed.

I think a recce is just like a holiday and you don't actually get a feel for living in a place. Everything and everywhere looks good when you're on holiday. Once you live, work and pay bills somewhere it can be very different.

I guess recce's can be good to start networking, look at a few houses etc...

MarylandNed

My wife and I moved from the UK twice without a recce trip.

We moved from Manchester to Toronto in 1989. Had no kids at the time and we moved because my wife got offered a job at a Toronto hospital through a hospital recruitment fair in the UK. I was very naive as I thought my visa meant that I could just show up, find a job and start work. I was offered a job at my first interview but I was shocked to find out that I had to obtain my own work permit! Luckily my employer had been advertising for over a year, could prove that he couldn't find a Canadian to fill the position, and was able to help me get a work permit - and we ended up staying in Toronto for 7 years. Although we didn't do a recce trip to Toronto, we had both been to Canada before (Niagara Falls and New Brunswick with brief bus stops in Toronto and Montreal on the way).

After a couple of years back in the UK, we moved again without a recce trip - this time to the US with 3 kids. I actually went out to Arizona for a job interview and recce trip but while there I was interviewed on the phone by an expat who was working for a company in Maryland. He convinced me that Arizona was too hot and full of snakes and scorpions and that I should move to Maryland instead! So we did despite having never been in Maryland or anywhere near it before (I think the closest we'd ever been previoulsy was New York City). However, we had been to the US many times before that - just not Maryland.

Looking back, I don't know if recce trips to Toronto and Maryland would have made much difference because I immediately liked both places as soon as we got there. However, I'm very glad that I did the recce trip to Arizona because it convinced me that Tucson was perhaps not the place I wanted to be. I like some greenery and everything there was dust and sand.

KeithSonja

My husband had interviews lined up in Ontario, Saskatchewan and BC - we decided to do a recce in Ontario and he flew to the other interviews for just 6/7 hours while we were based in Toronto for the two weeks.

The job he deceided to take was in Sask, not in Ontario - he has only been there for one day and the kids and I have never been!

We hope to land in the next month or so - fingers crossed that we will love it!

It will be a challenge and I love a good challenge - anything in life is what you make it!

Lorna_D

Arrived in Saskatoon with a suitcase each, lived in a hotel for 4 weeks. Came to Regina Beach to look at a rental, took it. 9 months later bought our cottage and have been here just over 3 years in total. Would like to travel and see more of Canada but are completely settled at this time.

Who says what can happen in the future.

bex1

I personally wouldn't do it, but then we have kids to consider.

We did a recce to Calgary and although it was great for the skiing, we considered it too remote from other major towns and it did not support my husbands profession. We did another recce and have now decided on Ottawa, hopefully moving this summer.

There was a member on here that moved without a recce to Calgary, 6 weeks later they were back Sold everything in the UK and had to rebuild their life after a very expensive holiday!

Only you can make the decision, good luck

Frank'n Sense

It was interesting to read other people's experiences. At relocation2bc we encourage people to research where they're intending to go and particularly to come out and have a look.

Having said that I have seen people come here (Vancouver/BC in general) with little or no preparation. Sadly that is usually a bad move unless you are one of those people who is very adaptable and positive in outlook (as many previous posters are).

The opposite is also true - being prepared but not adaptable can lead to you holding out for something that is not possible and then returning "home" having not really given Canada a fair go. My recommendation is to do your research and find out what you can before you go, and when you get here, adapt to the circumstances that arise. (Eg take a job that isn't quite what you wanted but leads you in the right direction). As long as your new life is close enough to what you wanted you should be ok.

Hope that helps.

Warmly,

Frank

YoshiPal2010

Yes, came to Calgary in January 1998 -- no recce trip! Been here for 13 years, and although we had our ups-and-downs, we have remained employed the whole time, although I am now doing something completely different from my original occupation, and we have become pretty settled -- although the winter weather is still a bit of a trial. Would I do again without a recce? No, probably not, but even if you come to look over things over, there will be still be problems when you come to live here, that may or may not send you running. No amount of pre-viewing can prepare you for whatever life may throw at you, but then everything happens for a reason.

canadian_critic

I'm not sure a recce trip is of any use other than to build the hype and excitement. One exception is that it's good to see geographic areas first hand. There are a lot of places with the same names as in Britain, yet very different to their counterparts across t'pond. Without a visit one would not only not know, but in fact could become biased toward a place based on a name alone.

Recce trips tend to be a bit like going into a car showroom to get a balanced view on buying a Merc, a Beemer or whatever. It ain't happening. On the other hand it can't do too much harm either. But it won't let you know whether you might like it here. You really take a chance with that by living in the place. And that's a big risk so you have to ask yourself whether you're prepared to find out you don't like it. That's difficult to come to terms with when you have burned all your bridges, although that leads me to some free advice - don't burn any bridges!

Good luck