Originally Posted by christmasoompa (Post 11960035)

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

Originally Posted by haggis88 (Post 11960190)

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

Originally Posted by christmasoompa (Post 11960033)

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.

Originally Posted by weewifey (Post 11955482)

Hello! I am quite new to the site and have never posted before but thought our recent experience may help shed some light on a few things if you are thinking about moving to the Calgary area. We visited this area on holiday and loved it so worked really hard for 2 years to set up a job for my husband who is a mechanic and finally moved here a month ago from Scotland.

The place is lovely however we are finding everything so expensive! The cost of food is crazy, especially milk and cheese! Weekly papers provide details of the special offers in all of the local stores but who has time to shop in 5 different stores just to save some pennies!

Childcare is extortionate! We have 2 young kids and so far all of the enquiries we have made show that it is the norm for mum to stay home and look after the kids or for both parents to work all the hours to pay for a private nanny which can be about $2000 a month! Some childcare day homes have really long waiting lists and most pre-schools which would be the equivalent to nursery at home only provide 7 and a half hours care per week for $150-$200 a month.

We were under the impression that the working culture here allowed for a lot of family time however our experience so far shows that it's live to work here not work to live! I am aware that we have only been here a short time however it was apparent really quickly that we were much better off at home and we underestimated the support and childcare we had nearby.

Obviously this is a personal experience and we are fortunate enough to be in the position to go home.

Originally Posted by foreigngirl (Post 11962303)

I haven't read any of the comments, but I'm a bit surprised that you didn't know any of this before coming here. Did you really not research the prices of groceries and especially of childcare?

Originally Posted by weewifey (Post 11955598)

Thank you for your reply plastic. We are not suffering from homesickness and did carry out lots of research prior to coming out here. We have friends and family here who enjoy living here but they are happy to have one parent stay at home with the kids until they attend school. I'm afraid I enjoy working and would like to continue being a working mother however the childcare options are very limited, and expensive.

Originally Posted by Bucks_Family (Post 11962316)

"did carry out lots of research"

Originally Posted by Shakyuk (Post 11962757)

I'd have thought research priority number 1 if you have children would be 'how am I going to care for my children and how much will this cost?'

Originally Posted by BristolUK (Post 11962824)

As someone once said, you don't know what you've got till it's gone. :)

Originally Posted by haggis88 (Post 11959956)

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

Originally Posted by pacepeter (Post 11964444)

Low crime, less violent to,less drugs, better environment to gringo the kids up in you are right money isn't everything
My kids been safe is

Originally Posted by haggis88 (Post 11965938)

LOL, just keep telling yourself that

Originally Posted by christmasoompa (Post 11965977)

I thought pacepeter meant the UK?!

Originally Posted by BristolUK (Post 11966210)

How does one gringo kids anyway? :lol:

Originally Posted by Canuck74 (Post 11966802)

I have been living in the UK for 4 years. The standard of living compared Canada is low. There is far more violent crime here compared to Canada. The UK is a dump! :lol: LOL