Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

Maple Ridge is definitely a place of 2 halves. First one being ok within cutter cookie sub divisions. They tend to be the "nicer" neighborhoods. The other is really shit. Dirty, dodgy, and pretty ugly. If you're moving from a fairly low end area of the UK, Maple Ridge will be just fine.

I did the commute from there this morning funnily enough and from MR to Downtown it was about 1hr 15mins.

Personally if i were just moving over and didn't want the city (Vancouver isn't really a city, it's a large town) i'd go live in the leafy streets of the West End near the beach and Stanley Park. Alternatively i'd look at the waterfront area of New Westminster or the eastern side of North Vancouver. Failing those, try Port Moody. Just my opinion of course.

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

Genuinely curious, which route to downtown is quicker that H1 from Maple Ridge in rush hour?

westcoast express is fine if you work very rigid hours that're inline with its limited schedule. Shame they don't open that up more.

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

Barnet Highway and straight down Hastings is usually quicker than Highway 1

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

From Maple Ridge? I've only done that once or twice before and it was longer but that was a number of years ago.

If i have to do it again i'll give that route a try.

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

Pretty much the same distance, highway one takes about 20 mins less than Barnett and Hastings. #1 or Barnett, I would go down McGill and Powell to downtown rather than Hastings.

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

Glad to see most people not too bothered with commute I am used to British traffic which is never nice I found driving in Canada much less aggressive prob wider roads help.

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

Most people put up with the commute. I don't know anybody who isn't bothered by it though. It's not a pleasant one every day.

As for nicer? Vancouver drivers are arsehats. You'll notice a difference after a short while commuting.

I drove from downtown to Maple Ridge tonight and it took a little over 2hrs+ because of roadworks and a ****ing idiot driving into the central barrier.

i see the tent village in Maple Ridge is coming along nicely. About 5 police cars at one of the trailer parks I drove by too. Looks like the residents were having fun.

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

Sounds dreamy! I saw a heron.

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

That's the route I take in from Coquitlam. Much more reliable

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

I saw an osprey and her young'un

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

I have never found anywhere in the UK for a family of four - £40!! Unless you are dining in Pizza Hut! Even then that's a push perhaps one course and a drink!
If we go to somewhere such as nandos, Frankie and bennies for four 3 courses £70!

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

Never been to Pizza Hut so I've no idea on their prices.

Nandos we quite like, usually £30/35 bill for the 4 of us (kids meals £5 there iirc, and they love it with the free unlimited frozen yoghurt for pudding). Particularly with the regular discount codes that pop up, we tend to check those before going out to eat as places like Prezzo/Zizzi etc often have a 25% off all food deals etc. I'd never pay full price to eat in a bog standard chain restaurant.

We tend to only have 2 courses and a coffee (not the kids obviously - they get their 3 courses and 'babycino' or whatever it is for the £6), as we're not really pudding people, but £70 would be a really good pub meal for us. With all the discounts around I can't imagine spending that much at somewhere like Frankie & Bennys.

Still an awful lot cheaper than eating out in Canada IME though, we couldn't do it as often there.

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

My husband eats a lot I suppose lol! I found a site where you can compare costs of living between UK towns and and Ca provinces and it seems on there that meals out are cheaper but groceries are more expensive. It's good to know actual facts on eating out there as this something we enjoy doing as a family and here in the UK we don't go out to dinner as often as we would like

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

Where about do you live then if you dislike maple ridge so much. I've not heard alot of positive comments from you so far I'd like to hear some positives aswell as negatives

Re: finally moving to vancouver after years of wanting to
 

Its not Abbotsford.