Advice about Calgary - don't jump at a home. Take some time to get to know the area. The outlying towns are nice if you do't need to make that trip every day to the city and they offer most all of the services. (Cochrane, Airdrie, Okotoks, High River, Strathmore)
There are good points and bad to most areas of the city but generally the NE is not so great. Places in the SE are about as bad although some SE neighbourhoods are great. The whole city is friendly and easy to get around in (mostly!). If you have any specific questions I would be happy to answer [email protected]
Good luck
Grace

Hi again everyone.

Got a couple of things to say;-

Posidrive, to be honest, i think if i was single i would consider going for a works-permit/visa, simply to get there quicker, but my boss (Linda, the wife) would rather us just carry on with our PR application. Also, if - for any reason - we were living there on a work permit, but didn't get our PR visas and were shipped back to Blighty, i would be so so so so so very upset, depressed and p**sed-off about it!!! So maybe it's better to just stay on the path we're on, and just hope and pray that it leads us to where we wanna be.

Michelle Rodgers, as you've probably read already, when we were there, we checked out housing and schools. We found the "deep-south" to be really nice, friendly and communial. Admitedly, you do tend to get large houses and small gardens (unless you get a 'pie-lot'), and you certainly can get a lot more land outside the city, but even within the city limits there are always exceptions to the rule. You just need to rent for a while and have a good look around. Also, even though some of the places we checked out (Evergreen, Somerset, Chapparel, Lake Bona-Vista, etc.) are nearing the outskirts of the city, due to the roads being so good, you're never more than 30 minutes-or-so from the downtown core - and it doesn't feel like a city at all. And one last thing - all the communities have their own amenities, i.e. shops, schools, playgrounds, etc.
And yes, they have Catholic schools or public schools - and the ones we checked out (both high-schools and elementary's) were terrific, and all wheelchair friendly, which of course, is very important for us.

Finally, Crazy Kanuck, great to see you on the forum, bro. Obviously i'll 'webcam' you over the weekend, as usual. Kisses for Jo and the kids, and get her to give you a manly-male-bonding-hug on my behalf!!! Laters.

Take care y'all,

Kev.

I forgot to say to CrazyKanuck, a.k.a. Mr. Krabbs;-

"Hello, I like money!"

And i hope Michelle Rodgers has picked up some good helpfull opinions on this thread.

Take care y'all,

Kev.

thanks for the advice, as you say Kev, I think it would be better if we rented when we first get out there. Johns (hubby) is going out there to start his job in September but because he'll be working away 3 weeks out of 4 I think he's just gonna get a hotel for that one week - know any good but cheap/reasonable hotels/b&b's?

Thanks again

Michelle

There are loads around the airport area in the NE and also (better location IMO) around Banff Trail C station in the NW. At least with the latter he is excellently connected to downtown (about 7-8 minutes) and (IMO) in a nicer part of the city.

Might be worth investing in a map.

http://www.mapart.com/

Could I ask what is actually wrong or not good about the NE? I have read this before on the forum but would like to learn some reasons please.

I\'m hoping to land in Clagary next month so I guess I\'ll find out eventually!

Glad to hear your trip went well. I\'m aiming to land in Calgary next month and your experiences are encouraging.

Hopefully it won\'t be too much longer for you.

Cheers,
Majj

There are some not bad areas in the North East and some not so good. (as with any quadrant of the city) However, my personal observation is that there is more bad than good and it changes from area to area. If you are unfamiliar with the city then it is in general a place to stay away from. Also, the area around 17th avenue SE is not very good. There is more personal crime in both these areas. One problem is more gang activity by visible minorities so they are more violent towards each other. This area seems to be more transient and invites drugs and prostitution whereas some of the other areas in the city are settled and not rental property so you have less people coming and going. One example of the NE - line up outside a movie theatre and a young man is stabbed waiting for the movie by someone from a rival gang. The chance of this happening at Shawnessy theatre in the South is very slim. This is a generalization of the area and strictly my opinion. Depending upon where you are working and what type of amenities you need there are nicer areas to live in. My opinion is based on the fact that I lived in Calgary for 12 years or so (but have been gone for the last 6)
Good luck with your move. You should be in time for Stampede and will see hospitality at its finest with free breakfasts, music, bbqs etc.

Thanks very much for taking the time to provide this information. Much appreciated.

well We arrived in Canada 10 days ago....and everything is GRRRRRREAT!!! One thing I can add to this thread is Calgary is a superb place...to shop...Living slightly different, every where you look houses are popping up all over the place, and to be honest, they are rather packed in a bit...sooo if you don't mind that then you'll love the place.... Myself we live in Cochrane, just outside the NW part of the city, and with all the rain that we've had, the place is looking fantastic as everywhere is lush and green, a lot different when we last visited in the winter.

Anyway if any of you guys would like some recent pictures of the area, just PM me and i'll see what I can do, whilst I'm on my travels.....well gotta go "Aye".

Regards
Frankieforehead

Frankieforehead - Glad to hear that you are loving Calgary and area. We chose rural Strathmore this time and arrive in August. We are hoping that our new home hasn't flooded in this rain! Have you seen the new renovations at the Calgary Tower? They have a glass floor that lets you look down! Happy homemaking!

Where abouts in Cochrane are you living? Hope it's not as wet as where we will eventually be living to the North. I went out to se how they were getting on putting in the new underground services for the development and got stuck with my non 4x4 hire car

Frankieforehead,

How was your landing experience at Calgary? Did you have to provide proof of funds at port of entry?

Thanks,
Majj

Big mistake going up there for me. I'm scared of hieghts. It was just about OK last year when the floor was solid, but now.............

HEY FRANKIE!!!!! How goes it?