DearAlly

Hi all,

Decided on moving to Kelowna, visas in the bag, tickets booked to Toronto, arranging an internal flight to Kelowna (any advice on cheap flights would be appreciated .

I have been doing some research and my partner and I are looking for shared accommodation when we get there (we lived in NZ for 2 years and have some great friends through shared accom). Are there any parts of Kelowna we should avoid living in?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated and if anyone needs the same info about NZ I would be pleased to help!

Emma

Steve_P

Is there a reason why you want to land in Toronto first?

Why not arrange your flight to Kelowna, you will have to change in Calgary and go through customs and immigration there but it would make more sense and would likely be cheaper.

Even if you arrange a flight from Toronto to Kelowna you're likely going to have to change aircraft in Calgary anyway.

Danny B

For some reason Edinburgh was the cheapest UK airport to fly from? Not bad for £522

http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/flight...wna/Edinburgh/

Rich_007

Depends on your perspective. If you're from a rough sketchy town then most anywhere will be fine.

Most folks will shout up about the horrors of Rutland. Compared to Kelowna, in general it's poorer, scruffier, less safe, full of street level drugs, poverty etc. Some streets (some, I say some) are well sketchy. Most of it is OK though, full of good hardworking folk. It's just more downmarket than Kelowna.

In Kelowna, there's an area called South Central, close to Highway 97. De Hart to the few blocks south and west. Full of crime and sketchyness. Also North End, the area around Coronation for a few blocks each way. Home to a HA clubhouse, no less. That's it, really.

Then you could go further out and see the rural poverty of Winfield miserable depressing place). Westside is generally fine, with a few isolated area close to the rez. Some hoods are a bit run down, and some are very mixed, nice home next to ghetto home next to moderately nice house next to ghetto kind of feel.

Then, apart from the ghettoes you should avoid Upper Mission, full of trampy coke-snortin' snobs. You know how arrogant those types get. Rednecks who think they're about something and clueless trampy lululemon-wearing Brits.

Best indication of crime is street level dealers. In Kelowna, if you can't get your gear home-delivered, or off a neighbour, then it's a bad scene. Dudes hanging around the street are never a good thing.

A good realtor should be prepared to show you around, point out the good and bad hoods, and help get a feel for what your expectations are. That's what ours did, and it worked perfectly. I can recommend if you'd like but I'm not the pushy sort.

R. (waits for usual flock of hissing Brits to attack)

Rich_007

Maybe they want to call in on Auntie Sue ?

R.

DearAlly

Thanks for replying so promptly!

Due to our Visas we have to arrange a return flight (which we are hoping not to use - fingers crossed we get residency) so I compared the prices between flying to Calgary and flying to Toronto and Toronto seems to be much cheaper (that's with BA anyway). Then I've looked at a direct one-way flight with West Jet from Toronto to Kelowna.

It seems to be a much cheaper option than getting a return flight to Kelowna with Air Canada.

If anyone has any other tips, please share.

x

DearAlly

Hey there Rich,

Thanks for that. Because we're probably going to be scouting the ads and Craigslist for shared accomm I probably won't be calling on the services of a realtor which is why I wanted to know the rough areas to avoid. Didn't want to move into an apartment and then......find I am living next door to the HA clubhouse for example!!!!

Any places you can recommend for shared accomm?

Many thanks,

Em

Rich_007

Yeah, I should have actually read your message in full

I'm not down on shared accommodation info but I do know it's hard to find a decent place but it will probably be getting easier now things are cooling in the economy a little. They usually ask for references and all that so expect maybe a bigger deposit for your hassles.

R.

Steve_P

Have you checked the one way fares with either Westjet or Air Canada from Calgary to Kelowna.

Perhaps a direct flight to Calgary via BA and one of the above two would be cheaper than BA to Toronto then to Kelowna.

The reasons I keep saying fly to Calgary then on to Kelowna it will be one less airplane change and in the long run might be cheaper as internal flights in Canada are not cheap so the shorter distance the more you might save.

According to this Flight Duration calculator London Heathrow to Toronto is 8 hours, London Heathrow to Calgary is 9 hours.

Toronto direct to Kelowna is 5 hours and Calgary to Kelowna is 1 hour.

Note that a lot of the Westjet flights from Toronto go all the way to Vancouver and then back to Kelowna adding a lot of hours to an already long travel day.

According to Westjet website,Toronto to Kelowna via Calgary is between 6.5 hours and 8.75 hours depending on the connections.

According to Westjet website, Toronto to Kelowna via Vancouver is between 6.5 hours and 9.5 hours depending on connections.

Another option is BA to Vancouver and then to Kelowna.

DearAlly

Thank you so much for looking into that. You're certainly right about the extended travel times so I think I need a re-think, definitely.

Westjet certainly seem cheaper than AirCanada so thanks for the tip.

I think it certainly would make more sense to do the 'big' part of the journey on a BA plane too.

I am going to look at Vancouver now. I didn't realise that UK to Vancouver was only an hour longer than UK to Toronto.

Gosh, moving to Canada has taken hours of research and now the plane flights are taking hours too!!!!!!

I know it will be worth it in the end. After moving back from NZ, I know Canada will be far easier to come home for holidays anyhow!

Thanks again

Alberta_Rose

People don't. They don't realise that If you fly Uk to Calgary you sort of fly over the top of the world rather than all the way around. So although it takes 4 hours (or whatever) to fly from Toronto to Calgary, the UK/Calgary flight is NOT 4 hours longer!

printer

Ooo you are awful, but i like you.

Crystal Tips

[QUOTE=Rich_007;6909528]

Then, apart from the ghettoes you should avoid Upper Mission, full of trampy coke-snortin' snobs. You know how arrogant those types get. Rednecks who think they're about something and clueless trampy lululemon-wearing Brits.

Definitely try to avoid Upper Mission - it is sooo dull and the neighbours are not the friendliest in Kelowna (maybe they need to upgrade the quality of their white powder Luckily we only have a 6 month rental and hope to be enjoying our bliss early January in another area of this fab city.

Castanet.net has a lot of rentals on the site at the moment, so possibly also have shared space too. Worth having a look.
CT

Rich_007

Ooh where have you been all my (BE) life





R.

DearAlly

Thanks for all those tips there. Will defo check out that website for rentals!

Just sold half of my life in a car boot sale so no turning back now!!!

If anyone wants the other half of my life, one careful woman owner then I'm open to offers!!!