Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

Arc1 here again,

Thanks for all advice we have had already. It is early days for us still - but the info we are getting from BE is priceless, I am sure most of you would agree!!!

Got another couple of questions for you all....

In trying to narrow down areas to go to we are definately thinking Calgary, Red Deer, Vancouver or (Victoria?) for BC, and more recently Kamloops/ Kelowna?

Most of our research comes of the internet, or suggestions from people we know who have travelled in Canada.

Keeping in mind my husband works in the construction management/architecture fields, are we thinking of suitable areas for jobs/quality of life???

Need to do a trip out there we know - but may be virtually impossible experience all these places in one reccie?!!

Any advice appreciated - hope I am not being too long-winded here but NI is so tiny compared to Canada!!! Perhaps too many options is making it difficult to aim for something concrete so give me any pros or cons! I think I can handle it :unsure:

(have actually been reading the 'moving back to uk' forums in an attempt to balance my thoughts out abit!)

Thanks...

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

From a general just really liking a place and wanting to live there, it has to be Victoria on Vancouver Island.

It's the first place i've ever been to that i've totally loved and not wanted to come home from.

Will also be where we shall be heading when we, 'hopefully', get our PR :)

Job wise, i've no clue :confused:

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

I know what you mean - Victoria looks beautiful!!

I feel like the chances of jobs there might be lower, perhaps if commuting to Vancouver is possible - though I read somewhere its not really an ideal commute...

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

Thanks Gibsonslanding! :thumbsup:

Its great to hear others opinions, got to get a trip organised - know it will be the only way to decide.

Whereabouts in Vancouver you aiming for - if you dont mind my asking? We have a three year old son, feel its important to keep the benefits for him at the top of our list too and you mentioned family life....

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

I would agree with WendyS's assessment. If one didn't have to think about jobs, money, etc., Victoria would be my hands down favourite amongst the places you've mentioned.

If you're in the construction industry, you're dependent on the health of the regional economy.

Alberta has been experiencing an incredible energy industry boom in the last few years, and this has resulted in an incredible building boom. Although everyone says this oil boom will be different (that is, more sustained over a long period of time), Alberta is subject to boom-bust cycles that I personally have experienced.

There are little hints that this boom may have softened just a bit. There is a highrise building under construction at the intersection of 4th Street and 10th Avenue SW, in the Beltline district, just outside of downtown Calgary. I seem to recall that at least half (or more) of the condominium apartments in it had been pre-sold. Yet, for some reason the developers thought it wouldn't be viable and stopped construction just recently.

The area around Vancouver has been experiencing a building boom because of the 2010 Winter Olympics. I'm not sure what will happen after the Olympics.

Both the Okanagan Valley and Vancouver Island are popular with retirees. But these areas do experience a spill over effect from other regional economies, to some extent. For example, Victoria had been popular with American retirees who had lived there for half of the year. However, the real estate crash in the USA has had a trickle down effect, and some Victoria properties have been on the market for months and months without moving.

Both the Okanagan Valley and Vancouver Island, which are popular with retirees, have what someone around here referred to as the "sunshine tax" the other day. The sunshine tax is not an official phenomenon. It's just the expression that's used to describe resort areas that have a lot of low paying jobs in the hospitality industry (sometimes called McJobs). In effect, one has to pay a type of premium for the privilege of living in those areas. Real estate prices are inflated by well heeled retirees from elsewhere, but most of the local jobs don't really support that lifestyle.

Without a crystal ball, it's really hard to give advice about the future.

If you think you'd like a dry, four-season climate, you'd like Alberta. If you like skiing, you'd enjoy the proximity that the Calgary area would give you to the mountains.

I personally think the Okanagan Valley and Kamloops have a lot going for them. They have a four-season climate, but their summers are longer and their winters are shorter than those of Alberta. They do get some snow, but for a lot of time the snow stays where it belongs, on the surrounding mountains (that's a popular saying in British Columbia). They too have skiing nearby. But be warned that the summers are very hot (although it's a dry heat, which helps).

Vancouver is situated in a lovely setting. It usually has beautiful, sunny summers. It has mild (although very rainy) winters. Again, there is snow (and therefore skiing) on nearby mountains. But, to be honest, there are large tracts of suburban Vancouver (that are away from the mountains and away from the sea) that are very ordinary. If you want charm (mountains, ocean or whatever), you have to pay for them.

Victoria, as I said before, is my hands down favourite of all the places you've mentioned. It's at the seaside, it has the same mild climate as Vancouver (from a temperature point of view), but it's in a rain shadow that means it has much less rain than Vancouver (although it still has grey, cloudy winters).

I also like Nanaimo, to which I have just moved after having spent most of the last 31 years in Calgary. But it's one of those places that has a sunshine tax, from what I can tell. I'm semi retired. I'll probably putter around and do some sort of work here, but won't be relying on work as my sole source of income. If I was relying on the local economy to provide a well paying job, I think I'd be up the creek without a paddle.

Another place that is very nice, if one can find a well paying job there, is the Courtney-Comox area, a bit north of Nanaimo. It's on the coast, but has easy access to skiing at Mount Washington.

It would indeed be feasible to visit the south western part of Alberta and the southern part of BC in one recce trip. You could fly into Calgary, rent a car, drive to Vancouver, and fly out of Vancouver (or you could do it in the reverse direction). The only downside of flying into one airport and out of another is that you would be charged a one-way drop off fee for your rental car. If you fly open jaws (into one airport and out of another), check the air fares and car rental rates in both directions, as there sometimes can be a substantial cost difference. You also could do a circular trip (flying into and out of the same airport), as gibsonslanding has mentioned.

I have driven from Calgary to Vancouver in one day several times. Okay, if you do it in one day, it is a hard day's drive, and you certainly could not do a recce in that style. But when I moved from Calgary to Nanaimo a few days ago, I did the drive over two days, and I found that to be a leisurely pace. I'm 56 years old, and I had no one to share the driving.

It would be more than possible to do that trip at the slower pace that would be required for a recce. Okay, you may not be able to explore each city and town in great depth, have job interviews in each place, and so on. But you certainly would be able to get a sense of what each city and town was like.

I think it would be imprudent of you to move to this part of the world without doing that recce trip.

There is something that I think you should be aware of when it comes to cities and towns in Alberta and BC. Many of them have an ugly strip of car dealerships, fast food restaurants, motels, etc., along the highway that cuts through the town or skirts around the edge of the town. If that's all you see of the town, you'd think it was horribly ugly. Yet, if you get off the highway and into the town, you find some very nice residential areas.

Nanaimo, where I live, is just like that. It's also very true of Kamloops and Kelowna. It's true of some of Vancouver's suburbs. It's true of Calgary. It's true of Red Deer. I could go on.

Hope that helps.
x

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

Thanks judy,

Have seen some of your other posts online and you seem to know your stuff! Great to get a reply from you and you have given us a lot of info there!

We will of course be heading out on a trip and I think it is important to see as much as we can in that time. Its both exciting and daunting, but til we do that I feel like I am up against a brick wall.

Do you or any of the others know why so many brits head to Okotoks, it does seem to keep coming up on my searches, and is it another area to include in our trip??

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

Hot - yesiree 36 degrees for 6 weeks this year.
Deserty - kind of, not technically a desert but a semi arid environment. Demonstrated by the amount of wrinkly uptight old people living here.
Lots of water activity - yes, retarded people from AB running cigar boats up and down the lake. Real peaceful scene.
Bears - only higher up the elevations, coming down spring and fall for a feed. Most of the time - even out in the bush - you'd rarely see one.
Spiders - yeah shitlaods of black widows. Get over it. Rattlesnakes and angry charging moose too. Stay the hell away. Things could kill you.
Canadians - yeah there are some here and we also are famous for attracting hordes of young, and old, retarded "vacationers" each summer long. Most of them drive trucks. Badly. And fill up the restaurants and bars with their bloated oversized big mouthed self important selves. Loads of 'gangsta rapper/wigga' types.

Other stuff ?

A retarded population reliant on the profits of weed, real estate, and trust funds to survive (harsh life for the trustafarians). And an economy that's reliant on tourism and not much else. Lots of crappy low paying jobs. Really poor customer service. Construction/real estate as an economic backbone is fading fast. Kids are educated out of UBC then they move on to better things, so we have a real brain drain, which makes it worse when 90% of the population are already functionally illiterate. Uptight angry people, evidenced by the bible bashing tubthumping types who protest at the hospital (pro life Alabama redneck types). Lots of snobby angry I is better'n'you type of people. Lots of "bad money".

Apart from all that business, life here is great if you appreciate the leisure pursuits available to you. Apart from that, if you have a higher purpose in life than taking time out, extreme sports or strong organic weed (I don't, right now, as I reflect on life and figure out the dynamics of where I'm heading longer term) then move on, nothing to see here.

Perhaps you'll now understand why it is so transient here.

R.

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

[QUOTE=Rich_007;6806361]Hot - yesiree 36 degrees for 6 weeks this year.
Deserty - kind of, not technically a desert but a semi arid environment. Demonstrated by the amount of wrinkly uptight old people living here.
Lots of water activity - yes, retarded people from AB running cigar boats up and down the lake. Real peaceful scene.
Bears - only higher up the elevations, coming down spring and fall for a feed. Most of the time - even out in the bush - you'd rarely see one.
Spiders - yeah shitlaods of black widows. Get over it. Rattlesnakes and angry charging moose too. Stay the hell away. Things could kill you.
Canadians - yeah there are some here and we also are famous for attracting hordes of young, and old, retarded "vacationers" each summer long. Most of them drive trucks. Badly. And fill up the restaurants and bars with their bloated oversized big mouthed self important selves. Loads of 'gangsta rapper/wigga' types.


Thanks for that I guess - but not sure whether to include Kelowna on our trip now or not - perhaps we should sounds fascinating when you put it like that :sneaky:

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

Both Cochrane and Okotoks are popular with people who want to live in a smaller town outside of Calgary. They like the idea of a quieter, more laid back lifestyle on weekends (even if they pay for it with a longer commute if they work in Calgary).

Frankly, I don't get it. On a residential street in either of those towns, you feel as if you're on a residential street in Calgary.

Neither town has any public transportation to speak of that connects the town with Calgary. Yes, they do have buses, but they only operate during rush hour on week days. If you have teenagers, you more or less are forced to buy cars for them or spend all your free time ferrying them around, because there's no transit. (But I guess you're a long way off from having to think about teenagers.)

I can think of at least one member of this forum who moved from Okotoks to Calgary because the inconvenience of the longer commute bothered her family.

If you like skiing, it's true that Cochrane is closer to the mountains. (Cochrane is situated to the northwest of Calgary.) But you could accomplish a similar objective if you lived in the northwest quadrant of Calgary.

There are several members of this forum who live in Okotoks and Cochrane and who love their respective towns.

I might add that a handful of the people who love Okotoks and Cochrane actually work in those towns and do not commute to Calgary. I could certainly visualize that working out very well. That is, if I worked in Okotoks or Cochrane, I certainly would want to live there too.

I think it comes down to a very individual choice. It's not a decision that someone else can make for you.

If I were you, I would not bother investigating Okotoks or Cochrane in any great detail while I was in Calgary. Yes, if you could arrange your drive in such a way that you would pass through one or other of these towns, fine. But don't go out of your way.

I would explore these towns in some depth if I'd decided that Calgary was my destination.

It would be the same thing with Vancouver. What would be the point of agonizing over North Vancouver versus Maple Ridge if you hadn't even decided that you were moving to Vancouver?

To answer your original question regarding the popularity of Okotoks. Frankly, I think there is a "Little Britain" phenomenon in Okotoks. The town acquired a core of British expats who recommended the town to subsequent British expats who recommended it to still later arrivals and so on.
x

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

you're very welcome.....

we have been to vancouver three times in the past two years (just came back, three weeks ago.....signed job contract....yipeeeee) and what can i say! it's one of those places, that the more you go to, you fall in love with......

it's not the official 'best place in the world to live' for no good reason....surrounded by snow topped mountains, beautiful scenerey, beaches, good weather, plenty of 'micro-systems', tropical in parts, good work ethics, it's amazingly clean/fresh.....ski in the morning/pinic in the beach for lunch/watch the beautiful sunsets........the quality of life is great becuase of these reasons but the price to pay for that is 'money'.......it's not cheap!!!!.....property is expensive compared to other parts of canada but as mentioned before, the further out from 'down town', the cheaper it gets......

there has been plenty of threads on BE about parts of vancouver over others but after our return recently, we have decided to move to the north shore! it has a 'good sense of community', i like the fact that some of it is not on the 'grid-system', so there are lots of twists and turns.....it's very well established and there are some very beautiful and interesting homes, dating from the 50's/60's and older!!!!.....quite rare in a 'new city'.......there are some very good schools in this area (we are looking at handsworth high in the edgemont area or argyll over in lynn valley - we have one high school age child and one who's going to uni).......

personally, i'm not keen on west van or british properties (a little too 'plastic' for me - ohhhh!!!! now i know i'm in trouble! sorry again to all those who live there and i know i'm off the party list!!!!).......the district/city of north van is cheaper (but catching up!!) with the aforementioned....lynn valley is cheaper than capillano/edgemont and gets expensive again towards deep cove (google these places, plenty of info)........i love the lonsdale area too, very vibrant, great/famous market..........

for family life and affordability, north van:thumbsup::thumbsup: tell you what, i'll come with you on your recce and show you the sights.......any excuse and november can not come quick enough!!!!:thumbsup:

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

Wow that almost sells it!!! Except we havent been there yet!!

LOL :D when telling my husband you would reccie with us - it must be pretty amazing!!

Wish we were at your stage - know what you want and when...

My hubby has applied for jobs all over - so I guess its just a waiting game to see who we hear from and that will prob be the deciding factor in reality...

Has applied for mainly Vancouver or Calgary/Edmonton - so it could well be Vancouver here we come!!!!

Really want to visit sooner than later i guess - all excited now, thanks for that...

Off to do some North Shore Googling then I guess!

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

In terms of coming over for a recce. My husband and I came over on a two-week holiday a few years ago. We arrived in Vancouver - drove to Jasper, via Whistler etc (took 2 days i think). Then drove down to Banff (1 day drive), then headed towards Calgary, but cut up to Edmonton (1 day drive), then after a couple of days in Edmonton visiting family, drove back to Vancouver via Jasper and Kamloops (2 day drive). Then had 4 or 5 nights in Vancouver. So it is concievable that you could visit Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver in one trip - geography not up to telling you where Kelowna is on that though!

If I didn't have to worry about working and earning money, my choice of location would be Jasper - I just completely fell in love with it, what a beautiful small town - would probably hate the tourists in the summer though!

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

so it is possible - good to know!

Might have to add Jasper to my list though, googled it and looks gorgeous, oh to leave the NI rain behind and live in the snow instead!!??! Can't imagine...:huh:

Re: Decisions, decisions...? Help!!
 

Forget Jasper as somewhere to live. It sure is stunning (but no better than where we live ;)) but property is extortionate and you're only allowed to purchase it if you actually work in Jasper, which is unlikely in your husband's line of work. Plus it's full of tourists, which I guess isn't a problem when you're one too, but gets a bit much if you live there year round. The family we bought our place from (we live 1hr from Jasper) moved to Jasper and they are counting the days until they can sell up all their assets/interests in Jasper and move somewhere where they can leave their daughters' bedroom windows open in the summertime, again, without them being woken by the loud, foul-mouthed drunks staggering back to their hotels in the middle of the night... :(