Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

The recipe for success in Canada is to get a job that a) pays the bills and b) you like. Most other things are secondary to that.

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

I now work in a salon, where the girls a great. When I first came, I got a job in a beauty supplier where I was layed off after 6 months. Started my own business with another hairdresser. She did a runner after 3 months leaving me in debt(long story)so life was hell for a while. You wont find you have to try hard to fit in. Most Canadians, like most countries, are respectful of you and will help you out any time. They seem to love our accents and wit, and I now have the life style that I was looking for all along.
Long gone are the days when Oh and I would say Bloody Canadians.

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

No offence, but I haven't posted much about my return to the UK as I am not really after advice. But thanks for the thought.

If my family and friends all move to NS then maybe I would consider it ;)

Canada works for a lot of people. Best of luck with your move.

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

Not even a recce trip?

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

Wise words, and that is from personal experience.

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

I agree. All the worry about car insurance, healthcare or whatever, though understandable, is, IMO the least of the immigration issues. Canadian's make a living here working in professional and menial jobs, so a reasonably educated well informed European can survive too.

It's the less tangible things that make immigration a success or not - creating friendships, not feeling isolated, getting a job, finding an area that you like and feel at home in. No matter how many recce trips, holidays, forums, books etc that you've invested time in, until you're actually here and trying to make a living, they only scratch the surface of reality.

I think forums like this can sometimes be unhelpful - it's too easy to stop thinking and researching for yourself, and rely on anecdotes, vague generalities and misinformation (all given in good faith, no doubt). Ultimately someone else's life is not your life, and you need to be able to weigh up pros and cons for yourself.

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

When I visited it was to visit my then fiance, not to recce per se. BUt he also visited me in Oz/NZ. I ended up here because between the two of us, my skills were more transferable as the industry he's in is much much smaller in oz/nz. Inititally we didn't plan to stay here, but best laid plans and all that...

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

+1.

One of the advantages to being woefully ill prepared, is, I think, being totally open to whatever comes. When i see people trying to pick an area from the UK - and often they are trying to find similar-to-UK-village-life or the opposite of what they have the in the UK cos they don't like it there... I kinda want them to stop and try not to analyze so much. It's just so very different here.

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

Probably the best thread I've read on here. Our dream is a simple one, the house we would love to buy is unaffordable in the UK but affordable in Canada. That's a very simplified version of the dream so as not to bore you but the house on a big lake/river is the nucleus of the dream, the rest is down to us.

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

Why do you think that is? Could it be that Canada is not as good as it was when others arrived? (I arrived in 1998 and somedays I would still happily get on the first plane back to the UK).

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

Hope you can speak Polish and other eastern european languages then.

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

So what makes you think you won't find the same immigrants here?

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

Hope you can speak Chinese and Punjabi then. ;)

Waaaaay higher percentage of immigrants in Canada than in the UK, so if that bothers you, you're moving to the wrong country!

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

I really think you've misunderstood my reply to the OP, I was trying to be supportive by suggesting, if by any chance you fail with your emigration plans, not feel bad about it. I was simply trying to give the OP a virtual hug to say it was all okay.

As for the issue of my other posts, I think you need to read them more carefully. I find life in the city of Vancouver, while a little dull in the winter, very pleasing. I like the mixture of urban and ocean that the city has to offer. I think the misunderstanding comes from the fact I'm little more sophisticated and cosmopolitan that most so the thought of living in a slightly impoverished small Canadian town, where mono-cultural parochialism mixed with drug and alcohol abuse is rampant doesn't fill me with a sense of joyousness.

Re: I've hit the moving-to-Canada wall.
 

Oh for sure, infact last time I visited I thought China had invaded (joke) just the doo-gooders here are changing all the signs to Polish. I thought visiting Wales was bad enough:D