Gozit

Yep, this... I saw your post (Stinky) below about having a workforce, but in order to build the business high enough to be able to afford to hire workers you need to put time in yourself, which brings you to square one with less or no holiday time in the initial 2-5 years it takes to get the business live. And there ain't no way i'm going even 2 years without a holiday

Yeah, definitely. For me I.T. is in demand everywhere and UK pay seems to be equal or greater to Canadian pay for the usual roles, with better holiday and benefits due to better UK H&S regs than Canada. I don't agree with that advice - if one of your passions is travelling like mine is, you need good holiday time to fulfill that. If I was moving UK->Canada, the 8 days loss from your holiday would be acceptable. What isn't acceptable is the usually starting 10 days as per Ontario law, and they only have to give you that after your 1st year, so technically you are supposed to go 1 year without taking leave. That and the atrocious weather in the wintertime have provoked me to decide to leave Canada. The UK is looking like a nice prospect so long as it stays in the EU...

+1...

haggis88

My points with Air Canada just got me and her Business class flights back to the UK for cheaper than the price of an economy seat #WINNING

BristolUK

So flying Business Class (or any class) for work isn't all about the hardships referred to then. There are benefits too.

dbd33

It's all about career advancement, you do it because it leads to more money.

The advantages are that you see lots of places (you can make them all look the same by seeing only airport-hotel-office or, maybe, you can tack on a few days to each trip and develop a strong knowledge of what solitary visits to national parks are like). If you so desire, the airline will then make it possible for you to spend your leisure time in an aeroplane just as if you were at work. I thought it interesting, btw, that the loyalty points schemes were so slow to latch on to the idea that, having spent 100 nights in Holiday Inns, the last thing one would want was another night in a Holiday Inn. I was thrilled at the option to take a bicycle instead.

The other big advantage is that the frequent traveler is divorced from his or her family, there's no need to attend children's sports fixtures or drama/ballet recitals as one is away. It makes having a child at "home" like adopting one of those charity children in Africa, one can write "family man" on one's linkedin profile without having to actually engage with any children.

Oh, and there's the thrill of walking into a chain hotel in, say, suburban Cincinnati, and being greeted by name, knowing that the same thing will happen in suburban Amsterdam and on the outskirts of Laramie, it's uplifting when desk clerks know who you are.

BristolUK

As long as it's for the right reasons and not infamy.

I had that dbd33 in the back of the cab once...

pacepeter

It took us two years and kept telling ourselves what we would be going back to in the UK all the negatives
Here in Calgary my wife earns three time more than UK and I earn twice as much so that more than pays for the higher cost of living

haggis88

I earn about 2.5x what i was earning in the UK, but it's not all about the money brother

Aviator

How does one determine a cost of living comparison,

How much money left at the end of the month, or
Comparing prices in the UK to prices in Canada?

We find ourselves way better off than when we were in the UK and the cost of living is way cheaper here than the UK.

christmasoompa

Not necessarily. In the past 2 years I've been running my own business on my own, and I've had plenty of holidays in that time, including 2.5 weeks in California over the Easter break, just got back last month. Depends on the business.

christmasoompa

My husband doesn't actually fly business class when he goes away for work, not sure why you assume *everybody* does?!?

R I C H

This is the case of course. I work seasonally 4-5 months straight, no days off, followed by a 6-8 week break.


Previously as a director level employee I never had the choice to fly business class, and often had multiple-leg long haul journeys. The employer collected the rewards/flight points too.

Atlantic Xpat

Quite.

I fly quite a lot - 8 or so trips a year, primarily to UK. None of those are in business class as a) it's too short a flight to qualify under our travel policy and b) Air Canada now charges a co-pay in addition to upgrade credits (which one earns through frequent travel) & I'm not paying that myself. On those (now rare) occasions when I need to travel long haul (Last trip in 2014 was St Johns-Toronto-Vancouver-Sydney(Oz)-Singapore-HongKong-Toronto-St John's in about 2.5 weeks) I get to fly biz class and am very grateful for the enlighted attitude of my employer as it applies to employee health on long haul travel. I've done Asia in economy before and it sucks the big one.

I collect Aeropesos both through travel and through a credit card. They are marginally useful for domestic Canadian travel but less useful for transatlantic as the taxes AC impose mean that one burns 60k aeroplan points and $600 for a $900 transatlantic ticket which doesn't seem terribly good value. But, yes, they are a benefit, a perk like hotel reward points. I consider them part of the compensation for spending time away from my family and cramming myself into uncomfortable aircraft seats for hours on end.

At the end of the day though business travel is generally a soulless and lonely affair despite it's perceived glamour. Attached photograph sums it up reasonably well.

dbd33

It's always cheaper to pay the whole fare from Buffalo than it is to take a "free" AC ticket from Toronto. And, if you drive to Buffalo, you don't have to fly on AC.

JamesM

There is no general determinant.

Everyone has a different basket of goods that they require each month for their life style.

They then have to hustle for an income based on their actual and embellished achievements. Alternately they can run the risk of entrepreneurship which isn't easy in any country but can bring optimum rewards financially.

After that they must ask themselves if they are happy based on their surroundings, influences, goals and how they spend their days.

I think I'd probably be financially ahead in the the UK and also I'm fairly certain I'd have more left over each month.

Probably though I'd have longer, more congested commutes (by about an hour a day) , be fatter and have less conversations with people. I'd rather have 20 hours a month to invest in exercise than sitting on a train than the money although I have the luxury of being childless.

I've not read much of this thread so forgive me if I'm re-hashing.

haggis88

You can now use points to cover the whole thing, including taxes!