amawill

How much of Nova Scotia can you see in 2 weeks? I have ordered my copy of Doers and Dreamers guide but as thinking of emigrating want to see the real nova scotia also. Hiring a car upon landing in Toronto. Coming over for a reccie I am a nurse so hoping i should get a job easily enough if i like it just want to see the real NS.

Thanks

destinationnovascotia

Is that 2 weeks including the drive to and from Toronto? Why don't you fly to Halifax? Toronto to NS is a heck of a drive.

amawill

No we are coming for 3 weeks but flying from Manchester no flights to Halifax.

G586

Roughly 1150 miles....I would take an internal flight.............

destinationnovascotia

Well, it will give you a chance to see Ontario and New Brunswick, but it is alot more driving than the 3 hours or so to Heathrow or Gatwick. As an alternative you could go from Glasgow.

We live in Stoke on Trent and always fly from London.

Anyway. You should see quite alot. You should look at where to hospitals are and concentrate on visiting those areas. You are correct that there are jobs for nurses (I am a nurse too). Have you got your registration sorted yet? If not read the WIKI on nursing as all the info and links you need are there.

If you want to live in a city look at Capital Health in Halifax/Dartmouth. If you prefer rural you can look at Bridgewater (South Shore Health), Kentville, Truro, Musquodoboit and Sheet Harbour. Location of work to some extent depends on what type of nursing you want. What is you area of expertise?

If you can narrow your reccie area to locations where the type of work is that you want then you should get a better feel for the area.

amawill

Looked at internal flights but thought they were very expensive as was the train. We really don't like London and don't really want to travel down there and there is the expense of that so on balance considering we are thinking of living in Canada see as much as we can. I am a bit daunted by the driving but we have 3 weeks. I am a practice nurse here think called public nurse in canada but have years of hospital surgical experience. Have not done anything about registration yet as want to make sure i like Canada only knowledge was Anne of Green Gables prior to this site. Would love to work in the community over there, health centres. South Shore and North Shore look appealing where is warmest in the summer??? Going to expo in Leeds in June so hoping that will help on job direction front but thanks for info.

destinationnovascotia

The North Shore is about the only bit I haven't been to but I understand that it is lovely with good beaches and warm water.

The South Shore is great. Nice beaches. Some communities are a bit seasonal though so very quite in winter. If you live away from the tourist areas though you should be OK. There are some nice areas within an easy commute of the hospital in Bridgewater.

The Eastern Shore is where we are going to live, it's a bit like the far west of Cornwall in many ways.

We also looked at the Annopolis Valley. Great marine life but sadly lacking in sandy beaches.

Hospital nursing is easier to get into I think. Many "practice nurse" type posts are moving to nurse practitioner roles and require masters degrees. Having said that, in rural areas the local hospital is often the base for community nursing so there is always opportunity to move around later.

Personally, I still think that you are crackers flying 8 hours to Toronto rather than 6 to Halifax then the 2000 mile round trip rather than driving down to London (the airports aren't actually in London after all). It wouldn't do for us all to think alike though. Let me know how you get on.

Lynn

G586

Flying out of Glasgow is easy and it's about 4.5/5 hours from Manchester, the alternative is a cheap flight up to Glasgow. Driving round Canada is easy so you takes your choice............

destinationnovascotia

Like I said, it wouldn't do for us all to think alike

amawill

It was more the expense of driving to London, then hotel and parking checking fligts to nova from toronto thanks for the advice about the drive??

Beastie

Hi there,

Have you not considered internal flights in the UK? May be cheaper than Canada's domestic flights and save you having to drive to London.

Manchester to London then London to Halifax would be far less time consuming than what you are planning and enable you to see more of Nova Scotia. Connection may mean you wait a couple of hours before leaving for Halifax but that itself would break the journey up a bit. if connection times were longer than that you could make use of one of the executive lounges for about £17.50 each (I think) and have nice comfortable chairs, drinks and snacks while you were waiting. Would also remove the cost of hotel in London.

Just a thought.

John

Not sure when you're due to travel but had a quick look on travelsupermarket site and internal flights. Manchester to Gatwick return in June approx £80 pp with BA. Would have thought with a little more research you'd be able to find cheaper flights but wanted to give you an example. Lynne

amawill

Thank's to you all - will have a look into that John suppose we are not the best flyers so just wanted it over.

Anyway what about NS 3 weeks worth would i get round it?

Steve_P

Can you not book a flight from Manchester to Halifax through London. They've been able to book me from Calgary to Liverpool and return through London Heathrow in the past.

1,100 miles is at least a two day drive possibly three if you want to see anything along the way. So that's up to six days just getting to and from Halifax.

Cheers
Steve

amawill

All points being considered thank you.

Cookie

It's about 17/18 hours drive from Toronto to NS. But worse than that - you have to drive back too. It will be very exhausting

Did you check out www.westjet.com for internal flights ?

Nova Scotia is about the same size as Ireland, so 2 or 3 weeks is a decent amount of time to travel around.