Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

It strikes me that most people on this forum who have moved or are thinking of moving are doing so for mainly one or two reasons. 1) Children’s Future OR 2) a complete change in lifestyle which most of Canada offers ie) more space, more time outside work, cleaner environment and generally more laid back way of living. However, forgetting the obvious dead cert in Canada’s offering of better future prospects for our children…… I’m interested in knowing how many of you are not living in a UK rat race and had/have most of these Canadian benefits in the UK anyway, but still moved or want to move? AND… if so, for those that have moved, do they think they have gained anything in making that move.

I’m interested in this because I’m one of the lucky few in the UK that earns a good wage, has almost six weeks annual leave, work a 37hr week, live outside the city near amazing countryside and beaches. Apart from hedging my bets that is better financially and opportunity-wise for my kids, is there anything else that Canada can offer me or people like me in particular?

In other words, is it all relative? All viewpoints most welcome.

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

State funded French language education.

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

Hiya, we are exactly like you. We live in Cornwall and have a lovely life, however, OH is in the forces and goes away quite a bit. We want to move to Canada to try something different and let the children have experiences that we never had.

Basically, we are not running from anything, just hoping to gain more knowledge about somewhere else in the world. :thumbsup:

Karen

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

Exactly and I keep slipping into thinking do we really need to do this? I sometimes think we really need a push more than so much of a pull. Anyway, better get back to work before I am pushed.

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

We had a good life in terms of income (still earn less here), work/life balance, location, friends etc. It wasn't perfect but we weren't overwhelmed by yobs or stress or any of a multitude of factors that have been mentioned on this board as reasons for leaving the UK.

What we did want was a change and felt that we would rather take a chance and experience life in another country than live with the regret of not trying. As we have no children and are only responsible for ourselves, we knew that if it didn't work out then we could always go back. That feeling of freedom for our own destiny still keeps us going and unlike many immigrants, we have never said this is forever.

As regards gaining from the move: It's early days (18 months) but we've made some friends that we would otherwise never have known, seen some places we would never have seen and can, in our dotage, look back with some fond memories of our time here. Pretty ethereal stuff I know but it's the truth in our case.

Good luck with your decision. You'll do it if it feels right for you.

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

We're like you too, in that we live in a nice house in a lovely village and have never encountered any of the reasons that people cite for leaving the UK i.e. violence, intimidation, drugs, etc. Hubby has a great job and earns a good living so I don't work (have two v young children though I hasten to add!). We are both very close to our families and see them often as they are local to us, and have lots of great friends. In short, our life here is great and we can't complain in any way at all.

But our reason for going to Canada is for hubby's career - it will be a great move for him and he's in an industry where working abroad is a huge bonus. And we just want to experience living somewhere else before the children get too old/get into the school system and uprooting them becomes hard. We're not planning on staying forever though (although never say never), we're planning on a couple of years out there.

Those are our reasons - hope it helps! :)

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

I lived in a nice part of the country last time in the UK 10miles from Stratford, had a good job, spent lots of time in the countryside flying a paraglider, hiking, shopping trips to France pretty good job, I’ve moved to the outer suburbs of Toronto and have a very good job and still fly my paraglider and hike the trails(15min drive to the escarpement) with trips to the US

I don’t see that Canada really does have that much more to offer, from what I can gather from my wife friends who are all school teachers education here seems very similar to the UK (wife worked in a UK school whilst we were there)

In my opinion if a better job turns up in Europe I’ll be packing up my stuff and moving, Canada’s not a bad place but I don’t see it as any better or worse than any other country in northern Europe or in the G8 nations for that matter

Only real down side with Canada is everthing is so far apart

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

Cheap, good quality sushi.

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

Mmmm, seems a bit fishy to me. :ohmy:

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

Pretty much the same situation for me as for many. Good job, good life in UK, only concern was really about ever affording a bigger house. Moved to Canada because the Mrs wanted come home. As an individual I earn way less than in the UK but as a couple we're about on par. Thats because we live in a relative small town part of Canada. Kinda like living in Cornwall in the UK.

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

Is everyone white?

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

I can't speak for Cornwall in recent times, but in NL? Largely. Shaun Majumdar being the exception of course.

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

And this was the clincher for my OH.

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

We too lived in a nice part of England, had a nice life, no real reason to leave other than we felt it was an opportunity for an adventure. We had holidayed in Canada, wondered how the lifestyle would be for us, kids were young enough to just go with the flow, so we decided, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

We have been lucky here, all has gone well, but we don't think of it as forever, maybe we never did.......like i said, its was our adventure (or mid life crisis?) A couple more yrs I think, then we'll be heading home, and maybe finally settling down having got it out of our system !

Re: Reasons - Is it all relative?
 

In terms of what we have gained here, we feel it has been a good move for my husband career wise. He had been in the same company for quite some time in the UK, was in a bit of a rut, and ready to move on. He earned more here last yr than he did in the UK, and it goes further, allowing us to have lots of little extra's we probably couldn't have afforded in Cheshire.

I have gained more time with the family. No longer have to work part-time, so get to see more of my hub and kids.

We have experienced lots of new things, seen many parts of Canada now, gained a new perspective on life, and I think once we do head 'home' we'll be going back as different people, with a greater appreciation of things, and of the people we left behind. Doing something like this allows you to grow as a person, and we have no regrets doing it.