snuggs

sometimes You got to make sacrifices to get what you want...

I left the UK to start a new life in Australia last year... I quit a good job and sold my beloved car... a few days before went i thought i was making a big mistake but it turned out to be the best time of my life....

anyhow it turned out Australia wasnt for me... I did some amazing things there but i couldnt live there...
I went to Canada and i really liked it...

So thats where I plan to be when the IEC 2013 window opens...

Its all down on personal opinion at the end of the day but if you really think you want to leave the UK then you have your reasons... travel & see whats out there... you will look back and regret it if you didnt...

iaink

LOL I came to canada at 28, with no family in tow and without doing any research, just a job to come to. For me its worked out OK, but having hung around on these boards for a few years Im all too aware that it doesnt work out for everyone, and I know there are sacrificed too, like my kids growing up with little interaction with their grandfather or uncles or cousins.

Why have a go at the mods? We just tell it like it was for us. One of us lives in Canada, one doesnt so Im not even sure what your point is.

Im not sure that wanting to leave the UK counts much as a dream, its better to be drawn to a particular place then just wanting to get the hell out of Dodge.

Jennika

Hello - I am doing the same thing - hoping to move over there in January 2013. I live with my parents so haven't had to give up anything 'big' like a flat or anything (except maybe my car) and as it gets closer and closer some doubts do flutter in my mind but in my opinion if you entertain any of them then they will be the reason you don't go. Of course there will be sacrifices but for me I know if I didn't go it'd be my biggest regret. That's just my personal opinion but I think if you really want to do or want a change then go for it!

Beaverquest

i still think it's no place for a young single guy ; used to life in the UK
- it's only as am older with family that i feel it's workable
thinking back to my own early 20s, making that huge leap - then finding a lot of people are already tucked up in bed by 8pm - having already organized their ziploc lunch for next day...
oh yes theres alway the mountains

Oink

Have you been here between October and May? Because from what I've seen its a dull brown colour for much of that period.

smitp11

jossie

"It's worked out ok" and doesn't "count much as a dream" - I rest my case

jossie

Just looking out of my office window now and all I can see are lush green mountains? Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story though

didikai

Whenever this topic pops up there is always advice from Brits here who say ' don't leave UK.....Canada is a shitehole.'.... you can find the same life in UK' But they are still here. If it is so bad here why are they still here, It would be helpful to posters to hear the reasons

andyhughes88

I can only go on what I've seen and what others have said so far, the push factors behind me wanting to move are similar to what others have quoted and so far thats a large part of my decision to move. I need to be drawn to a particular place hence why I want to do the temporary IEC first off rather than jump straight into full migration>PR.

I maybe 24 but I've lived life in comparison to a lot of people my age, i've worked away in Spain for some time at 18 and lived away at university for 3 years. I then swiftly moved out of my parents after graduating and have been in my own flat since. I'm not afraid of taking a chance or the hard work that will inevitably partner such a big move.

I agree with Didikai's comment about expats advising those thinking of making the move to stay in UK but seem reluctant to give full reasoning as to why? I know doubts will creep into my mind and Canada is not a bed of roses etc, but the thought of living the rest of my life in a grimy shi*hole suburb of Bham are enough to keep me on track I think.

I've found a lot of useful info on this forum though and the members have been invaluable in my initial planning for the move. No doubt they will be as the time comes closer to move.

Oink

Just a personal observation, but there's lot of stuff on here about lifelong dreams in regard to emigration. Martin Luther King had a dream and it didn’t seem to involve buggering off because he didn’t like what he read in the newspaper. And, I suspect his social circumstances at the time were a little more challenging than most people living in the UK now. Still, each to their own.

rivingtonpike

If you're only contemplating coming to Canada for 1 year initially, it's not a permanent commitment you can't reverse. Even if you just treat it as an adventure, what have you got to loose?

andyhughes88

Tony thanks for this, very interesting comments. There are push factors and pull factors to any migration as a geography grad i sadly know this.

I share many push factors with yourself. The main one for me though is the "something for nothing" culture in this country which many people think is a divine right in living here. Many people dont think hard work is required to make something of themselves and are rewarded bizarrely enough for this. Where as people like myself and my family who have invested time and money into education and working hard to make the most of their lives seem to be stung repetitively by the UK govt and exploited to support this "something for nothing culture". I see this every day in my work as a surveyor for a housing association maintenance department. I want hard work to be rewarded and wont stop until I make it, nothing is owed to you by anyone.

I just can't see my future in the UK, it's just not for me. I hate the way of life here and the way the country seems to be heading. Canada may or may not be the place to go but until I try it I'll never know. I've just got to get my head down, cut down on everything I find enjoyable to save money and stick to my goal... just hope its worth it all!

iaink

You seem determined to miss the point that being drawn to Canada for the lifestly that it makes possible might be a dream, but coming here simply because its not the UK is just an escape, any dream is of an absence of something, rather than a draw to something, and in the long run its too easy to forget why you are putting up with the dificulties of living here when no longer faced with the negatives that caused you to come here.

Sorry if Im not effusive enough in my praise of Canada for you Its really not my style to get all giddy and overenthusiastic about things. Suffice it to say that if I didnt like it here and wasnt happy I would not have stuck around to raise my kids here, but I am very aware that there is a price in terms of family togetherness that comes from that decision too, especially as I wasnt there when my mum passed away and my dad isnt getting any younger. Im also aware that there are plenty of places in canada that have similar issues to the bad bits of the UK, so location is very important.

So, much as I am happy here, as anyone whose met me would know, I temper that with the knowledge that there are sacrifices, and that there are people here who are not happy and who have not had the luck that I have had in settling.

Sitting on the sidelines cheering people on blindly is not necessarily doing them any favours if they dont know what it is thats attracting them to a life over here, people need to be a lot more clear on their motivation than just not liking where they are at the moment. Theres lots of nice places in the UK that are a lot easier to move to and which involve a lot less removal from a lifetimes worth of friends and family, so those options are worth exploring too.

In this case the IEC is just a year, and its a good idea to come check out the lay of the land if you can. Having to move in with mum and dad for a few months doesnt seem a huge sacrfice to me in the big picture.

YoshiPal2010

So what difference in "the way of life" do you imagine Canadians have? They get up, go to work (mostly to jobs they hate!), shop for groceries, clean their houses -- I sometimes wonder where they find the time for all that skiiing and stuff! There is crime here -- I know some OPs like to give the impression that NOBODY commits crimes, and that kids stay kids for much longer! And if you're thinking of leaving because you see the UK disappearing under a tidalwave of foreign cultures, well you're in for a big disappointment in Canada.