Oink

To get a sense of the best place then. What kinds of things do you like to do when not working? You said you don't like clubbing, I agree with you there, but what about pub crawls, nice restaurants? Do you want to go fishing, hunting, skiing or sailing or do you have specific hobbies you want to pursue?

luvmeboys

funny

luvmeboys

for the past month its rained constantly here! Bc has seasons, last June was colloquially called "Junuary" here cos it was so miserable!! you will meet miserable people here too, and although the landscape is beautiful, if you're sad, you'll still be sad!!

AbbieClements

That is true yes...

All I want to do is to start a new life afresh so I don't think I will be sad. Every time I put money away every month and scrape together pennies to live off otherwise, I get more and more excited about starting a new life. Yes it may be miserable, there may be crime, and it may be just like the UK in some ways, but it is such a vast country I don't doubt for a second that there will be somewhere that is 100% better and perfect for me.

Really helping to hear people's opinions!

bats

A colleague eats there often. Maybe we should give Kingston a second chance.

bats

I think you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Too high expectations of what a new life can do for you. Your mental baggage will go wherever you do.

Howefamily

hey everyone I know whos in Halifax is working....and I would say 90% of them have the jobs they want and are happy

Oink

I don't mean to seem factitious but have you thought about buying a shed and brewing our own cider instead?

caretaker

[QUOTE=AbbieClements;1058276/ as I am not good with very hot weather'[/QUOTE
Well that lets Oliver out then as it gets very warm in summer.

Alan2005

I think you should temper your romanticism with a modicum of realism.

Alan2005

I'm thinking of brewing my own beer again. I haven't done it for nearly 20 years now, but as you can buy all the stuff you need in the supermarket so it might be worth a go.

Oink

You have the space for it. I have to be content with smuggling the stuff over the border.

iaink

You dont need to move 3500miles and leave all security and familiarity of your family and friends behind to start a new chapter in your life.

Sometime the move just makes the bad things worse.

Flossie and Jim

it's same old $h1t, different bucket

I thought that when I moved to Calgary just over five years ago I would become an outdoor-loving skiing whizz. In reality, I am stuck indoors with two rambunctious kids and haven't even managed to get a sniff near a ski hill, and in the mean time my knee caps are degenerating at an alarming rate.....

Having said that, Calgary will give you good access to the outdoors, blue skies even in winter when it's cold, bearable weather all year round (chinooks that give you respite from the cold in winter, not too humid in the summers), a few months of pesky mozzies, and reasonably good employment opportunities. If you like the ocean then head further west to the Okanagan (mountains AND lakes) or even further west to the BC coast.

As some others have suggested, do the ice visa first - you can get two times one year visas and with one year of qualifying work experience you could then apply for permanent residence under the Canadian experience class. Remember when you come over on holiday that if you end up living here you will not be swanning about all the time in lovely hotels and tootling round the nice tourist honeypots. You'll be commuting to work (hopefully) in a minus thirty windchill, the bus/train will be delayed, your boss may be a complete tosspot, you'll be complaining about the price of cheese/booze/availability of marmite like the rest of us

shunter1977

Alberta is beautiful, plenty of work some lovely smaller cities. Red Deer where we are isn't overly exciting as a city because it's only small but there are lovely trails and parks, great cross country skiing i'm told, ski canyon 5 mins up the road if you fancy trying down hill before you go into the mountains, lots of lakes close by, 2 hour drive and you're into Banff National Park. An amazing place I would recommend to anyone

And as a bonus......although there is a lot of snow and it can get pretty cold the blue skies and sun shine almost all year round make it well worth a little cold.