We did a reccie to Calgary a while back but now we're so close to visas we've changed our mind on destination. Funds won't allow us to do another reccie so it looks like we'll be going to NS blind as it were.

Did anyone else move without a reccie and what were your experiences ?.

My experience was that, contrary to expectation, people in Toronto do not generally speak French.

We did - we moved to Kelowna and though we liked it initially it then turned out that we didn't like it...! BUT we then moved over to NS blind as it were and we love it here!

If I had to do it over again I still wouldn't bother with a reccie...but that is just me

My experience was that, contrary to what my MIL lead us to believe there isn't a lot of work in Montreal for people who only speak english.

MILs will do anything to get their sons back close to them.......!!

Poppy2 moved over to NS from New Zealand without a recce. She arrived in the middle of winter...and is loving it.

we, on the other hand, did a reccie and hate it

An equally valid reason for doing a recce. I did a brief recce - I was here anyway, on business - and that prompted an immediate change in where we were going to live.

We did a recce and have ended up wanting to live in a different part of NS than we thought we would like. However, if you are going to rent for a while and look around you aren't committing yourself for the rest of your lives are you?

Anyone would think you didn't like NS.....!!

We've done a recce and turns out we hated the place we "thought" we'd love! and have now had our eyes opened to other communities we didn't know existed.

I think it also depends on whether you've got kids, personally I wouldn't move mine without checking it out first only to then up sticks and move again if it wasn't what I thought. If your just a couple then it's more manageable.

However, if you've already got your visas and funds don't allow another recce then I guess you'll just have to go with your gut instinct... what other choice do you have... stay in the UK???

We recently did a recce to NS, and I'm so glad we did. Once there I realised that it is a beautiful place but completely different to our perception. It did cost us to go, but would have cost even more if we had moved and then decided it wasn't for us!!

Hi beccaj, did you ever get chance to post about your reccie to NS? The more info people can get, the better.

I shall start a new thread about it today