Hi all, with a few weeks to go I am getting very excited, nervous and sad at the thought of leaving family behind.Any hints and tips to make this time a bit easier?

Sorry no tips as nowhere near moving yet, just wanted to wish you luck with the move!!
Hope it all goes well.....
x

Thank you , the paperwork and practicalities are going very well.Cant say the same for the emotional side.Thanks anyway!

Alas no tips from me either, wishing you the best

Look on the bright side. You're leaving Teeside

Best of luck

Are all your family Skype enabled ?

You'll be amazed how far a video call with a decent webcam goes towards easing the pain

Yes we have all been skyped, so hopefully that will help.

As for leaving Teeside ,I agree, but if I turn the other way I have the beach and North Yorkshire Moors.Now these I will miss.

Hi. Good luck with the move. No real easy way of dealing with the goodbyes. We had a big leaving party a few days before we left so lots of tears all round. I agree, having Skype does help, plus Facebook etc - good for sharing photos of your new life etc!

We decided to have no family or friends come to the airport when we left. We felt we'd done all our goodbyes at the weekend and wanted to leave for the airport happy and excited with no more goodbyes to go through.

Best of luck!

I decided too no loonnngg goodbyes.Thank you for all the well wishes.

I found the leaving party was good for me

-- I also made a memento book, where my goodbye-party guests could paste a photo and leave me some words. Everyone was happy to contribute, and I found it helped, a bit.

Friends and family too far away to attend the farewell could mail contributions to the book.

making a list of things and activities you look forward to in your new home helps, too.

Good luck with it all!

Hey, we are also fron Teeside!!!!
Moved from Redcar to Alberta ( a small town called Granum to be exact) we are 1 hour from Calgary. Been here 4 years now and love it. Saying goodbye is very hard. my dad passed away 4 weeks befre we came here so even harder! All i can tell you is that once you get on that plane it is much easier. You kind of know that your old life is behind you and a new one waaits. where are you moving to?
Do you have a house sorted?
We always have family here also, we never seem to get rid of them. The first time they leave is very hard, you want to be going with them and question everything you have done. After a couple of days, life returns back to normal and so do you.
Do you have kids?
we have Callum 11 and emily 7.
They have never missed UK and love it here. We were just back to Redcar in March. My mam has cancer so we decided to come over. Realized we had done the best thing and dont miss it ( maybe the fish and chips ).
anything else you wanna know just send us an email, will help you any way we can.
Good luck with everything! will be thinking of you.

Keep focusing on the reasons why you applied to emigrate in the first place. Make a list of pros and cons if you have to.
Also don't forget that you're not a prisoner in Canada and if it got unbearable you can always reverse your journey. A lot of extra cost and planning, but believe it's possible to do whatever you want.