Recce Trip
 

Hi ,

We are heading to Halifax for our recce trip in March and obviously want to get the most from it, we have loads to fit in, bank, prospective employers, houses, etc. I was wondering if anyone has any tips or advice of things that we may not have thought of to research to give us a realistic view of Canadian life, and the real cost of living. If i'm honest i think my rose specs may be colouring my thoughts and with a family I know its not the best outlook. We have been reading posts on the forum and some have been quite depressing whilst others have been very uplifting. We are both prepared to work hard and take ourselves out of the comfort zone to fit in and make friends once we settle, but we want to get it right for the children, we are just an ordinary working family who don't have an abundance of savings so we want to make what we have count. Sorry for rambling on.

Thanks everyone.;)

Re: Recce Trip
 

Not sure how old your children are, but we really did a lot of research into schools before we went over. Not sure about halifax, but in Ontario they are very strict on catchment areas, so we found it better to look at house prices and houses in the catchment areas for particular school. Apparently with some schools you have to move schools if you move out of catchment area.

We spent ages and tried to select several schools (we have primary and senior to consider) which in turn reduced the amount of houses etc we looked at. We also got more of a feel for the areas we had selected. A recce trip is usually so short, you really struggle to fit everything in.

Good luck

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The problem with recci trips is that you are in "holiday" mode for most of the time. I dont know anything about Halifax, the job situation, schools ect, but I would say when you come over, look long and hard at what is around you think about looking at it for the rest of your lifes, dont brush over the things that you think are not too good. When you are far away from home, and home sickness comes to you those little things all of a sudden become enromous.

The grass isnt greener over here, its just a different shade, think long and hard before walking out of jobs, uprooting your children, and your lifes.

I dont mean to be negative, I make no secret of the fact that I dont like living here, I just wanted to get across what a big upheaval it is and the amount of money you will get through in the first year will make you hair curl.

Good luck with your recci :thumbup:

Waiting for the "dont slam the door on the way out" possie to arrive...................:D

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TBH visiting Halifax in March could be off putting to some :lol:
If they do their homework and have realistic goals they will make a decision.
Yes we have read numerous pitfalls of recce trips, promises etc but others have succeeded. They should search the threads or use the Wiki then try to sort out the wheat from the chaff so to speak.
Actually Halifax is rather a nice place when its not foggy:)

Re: Recce Trip
 

Thanks everyone,

I should have said we've been thinking of this for 7 years, but more seriously for the last 2 years. We have 4 kids in total but 2 at uni age who will join us later if we decide to make the move, one is 13 and one is 5. We've done some research and we think the schools are tied to the area you live in, we've also did the job research and it is possible. Your right though you can't tell really from a recce as it is short, oh goodness, i'm beginning to wonder how we'll come to a decision!! Over here in Scotland the prospects for our kids growing up are bleak at best so we're hoping the opportunities that seem to be available in Canada are really as good as they sound, we know we'll need to work hard if not harder than we do here, and realise the first year will be a struggle but we're hoping that we can make it work. It is a big gamble, how did you all make your decision or did you just go for it?

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Well according to Alex Salmond once you receive your Independence then everything will be rosy in Scotland :confused:
Yes we all had different reasons for coming and some of us just went for it.
Many are married to Canadians so some decisions were easier and cheaper than others.
Thinking and doing are completely different.

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It is very hard making the decision. My hubby is Canadian, so that makes it a little easier (lived in Halifax before I dragged him over here ;))

We struggled to find a place to settle on - Halifax would have been a great choice as hubby knows it, but I really don't fancy the weather - fog etc. It is lovely though.

We did our recce last year (my landing trip) and it was hectic. We are not youngsters, and I think the move is going to be a great struggle and we are going to have to work damn hard to build up a new home etc. We have no family ties here, which I think makes it a darn site easier - I also moved to the UK from South Africa when I was 20 - so I know how hard it is settling into a new strange country.

It is very difficult getting a feel of a place when you are there for a couple of weeks - when we went over, we also travelled to a few places nearby (that we had discounted) and we were happy with our choice. I can't wait to get over there - I am apprehensive, but I feel pretty confident it is the right thing for our family.

Not easy, but only you can make the decision ;)

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Giggle that made me laugh, can't decide if independence would work at the minute.

I think our minds are made up for the most part, it just like you say thinking and doing are completley different.........I think at the minute its my courage thats in question, now the wheels have started turning and things like bank accounts, housing and employment are within our grasp, the dreams we had are getting a little scary. I suppose i'll need to dig out my thermals and my winter warmers to experience the cold, and snow(I think its still snowy) in Halifax for myself. Might put me off abit!!! thanks for you input today.

Re: Recce Trip
 

Hi.
My wife Debra and I and son of 17 are also going on a recce in March, we leave 24th, to Nova Scotia in March:)
We have 4 nights in Halifax and then 6 in Truro. We have lots of appointments with respective employers and meetings with friends as well set up. Also going to look at some houses as well. We might even get a bit of sight seeing in as well:D
It will be very busy but are really looking forward to it and hopefully things will go well.:fingerscrossed:
Hope your trip goes well, will have to swap stories!:)

John

Re: Recce Trip
 

Its not foggy all the time here at all. Yes there are some foggy days in spring but spring in NS is a horrible season. Its all brown and rainy still. And quite chilly still too.
Summer though is heavenly, its beautiful here, its hot and humid and the beaches are stunning. Fall is then gorgeous and last year we had warm weather right into the end of October.
We have loads of sunshine and blue sky. I wouldnt focus on fog, theres not THAT much of it.

Having said that, if you are round the areas like Peggys cove, it can be foggy whereas a bit further inland there is none at all. So depends where you are in NS.

This of course, is just one element of being here. Its a thousand times better (for me) than grey and overcast England was on many days in the year

Re: Recce Trip
 

I wouldnt focus on overcast England, theres not THAT much of it. Over the past 5 yrs London UK has had many more hrs of sunshine than Yarmouth NS, for example* :thumbup:



*according to weatheronline.co.uk

Re: Recce Trip
 

London loses out big time compared to most North American cities - even to cities like Vancouver and Seattle which are often regarded as having British style weather.

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I'd suggest a trip around a Supermarket or two to get your heads around food and other comestibles pricing. Do this in the context of "A packet of cornflakes is $5" not, "a packet of cornflakes is $5/1.65=3 quid" (or whatever). Try and understand the costs of things in Canada in $ without constantly relating back to GBP. It's difficult but important to do.

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What does that have to do with Nova Scotia?

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I have found that when I'm in the UK I have to pay a pound for an item that I would normally pay $1 for in Canada.

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Yes, really. Almost without exception. That's why I have always thought that the UK was more expensive than Canada, or the US for that matter.

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Maybe that is the case but as I said NS has different weather depending where you are.
Personally I have seen more blue skies and sunshine here than I ever did in England per year

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Pffft the Maritimes cant even make it into the top 10 lists for hours or days of sunshine in Canada.
http://www.currentresults.com/Weathe...est-cities.php

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Exciting stuff eh, next month :D

We did our recce last year, albeit Hamilton Ont, but most of the principles are the same.

It's near impossible to not treat this as a holiday. It's cost you a lot of money to get there, and it just feels wrong not to do some touristy things, but then again, this could be the place you're going to spend the rest of your life, so you may as well have a look around at what's available for your days off.

Firstly: TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS!. You only have a few weeks, there's no way your brain will hold all the info, lol. Video would be even better. Digital cameras mean you can just keep snapping away all day.

With regards to housing; We went over on our recce with this big Canadian idealistic dream of the house we would buy, with a budget of up to 350K. After some realistic chats with a couple of my Facebook buddies in Ontario and Nova Scotia, I now realise that this is over stretching, and that we should lower our expectations considerably for the first few years. I've now set a budget of 250K and have found plenty of houses that would still be far better than what we live in at the moment.

The problem is not with the amount we could afford on a mortgage, it's all the initial start-up costs that we chose to ignore, but for a better quality of life you must not ignore them. Thanks Monique ;-) After a few years when we are settled and no longer noobs, we can look into the big posh house.

As has been said already, forget about constantly translating Dollars into pounds when you buy things, it's just doesn't work like that. It's really based on how much you get paid and how expensive the areas is in which you choose to live or frequent. We made the mistake of nipping into Wallmart for some munchies for us and the kids as we thought Wallmart would be cheap. That little trip cost us $76, and all we got was some crisps, some juice and some sweets.:blink:

We had the good fortune to be staying with a Canadian family in their home, so we got a better idea of what things actually cost, and where NOT to shop (Wallmart) lol

If you are looking at areas to live, make sure you stop the car and get out. Go for a walk and if you like a place, come back in the evening and do the walk again. A place will change considerabley in 5 hours or so, as when you first visit an area, chances are everyone's at work so you're not getting the real buzz from the place.

We only encountered one hostile when we were over, and that was in Montreal, so we're not that bothered. Don't really like the French, never mind the fake French ;-)

Your recce will only just scratch the surface, but for us it was enough to confirm that it was going to be worth all the hard work to get there.

Re: Recce Trip
 

We did a recce trip to NB in Feb/Mar 2010. PR granted Dec 2011! The recce trip, as has been mentioned by others, was manic.

Due to the time elapsed since the recce, we are going back to NB over Easter, to activate the visas, but equally importantly to take the kids (11 and 9 yrs) to see the place, and also for our own purposes.

The thinking/dreaming stage has passed now. We are now at the doing stage. Our life in the UK is, at the moment, comfortable, settled and pretty decent if we are honest, (which at this stage we are having to be). There are many who are better off, there are many who are worse off.

When we started this process, property prices were bouyant, and the GBP/CAD exchange rate was much much better, so we thought we'd have a decent pot of cash to by a decent house, put some aside to tide us over whilst we got work, a large lump to set up the business we want to develop etc. That is most certainly not the case now, and the pot is significantly reduced. This is a further added pressure.

That being so, we hadn't legislated for the expense of this further trip across to NB, but as the OH pointed out, we are potentially going to tear up over 40years of life over here to move to a place we saw for 10 days or so, 2 years ago. Put like that, the magnitude of what we are contemplating, and what we could lose, hit home.

I will gladly spend the £5k or so (though I could do with keeping that if we are to move to Canada), to be sure, (or as sure as we can be), that the decision we make is the right one. Spending that money could potentially save me/us tens of thousands of pounds, not to mention stress, rows, upset etc if we made the wrong decision.

The message - make sure one of you, or someone you know, forces you to really, and I mean really look at what you could lose if you go and it doesn't work for you. I had lost sight of that under the minutiae of progressing the application.

Mind you, the prospect of owning a 5.7litre growling pick-up truck, and a playing in the snow with a ski-doo appeals to the kid in me! Must try to suppress that and be a grown up...... I am sure the financial reality of such juvenile attitudes would kick me in the wallet and bring me to my senses again, if the OH didn't stop me first.

Best of luck with the recce and whatever you decide to do.

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well I am very happy with the weather here (except Spring!) so the rest of Canada will be somewhere fabulous to visit

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Hey, don't knock Yarmouth! I've only been here 5 months but so far I like the weather better here than back in Sussex UK! :o

Re: Recce Trip
 

Lookout for OPEN houses on a Saturday or Sunday, usually between 12pm. till 4pm, these are houses that are for sale and you can just walk in and have a nosey round. May give you a better idea of the living standards in Canada. And some ideas for your new house in were ever you land, land. :thumbsup:

Re: Recce Trip
 

We had a slightly unusual and very fortunate experience of our "recce", in that we were able to take a 3 month sabbatical and move to Canada to live in as Canadian a way as we could. The kids were only young and so we took them out of school for a term and they did home learning. They were enrolled for ice skating lessons and we joined the local "home learning" group, the library, and I bought a fishing licence. We made some lovely friends - many of whom we are still see regularly now. Although not working (apart from the schooling thing), we tried to lead as normal and routine lives as we could. The kids had play dates, we had people over for dinner etc.

Even with this huge advantage we had in trying before we bought as it were - nothing could prepare us for the adventure, anticipation, fears, elation, despair, gratefulness, of the actual experience of immigration. It's something you either want to do or you don't. It's not entirely about money, or family, or the weather, or the area you choose - it's all of these things. Some of our friends said "oooh, what do you want to go there for?"; others said "oooh, what a wonderful opportunity for you and your family"; some were totally ambivalent.

All I can say is that for us, we take each day for what it is, and so far we have enjoyed almost all of them. Nothing is perfect in life and Canada per se is not the answer to whatever we might have had issue with in the UK, but for us the quality of life we enjoy and the quality of life our children will hopefully continue to enjoy as they grow up, is more than compensation for the doubt, the money, the stress and the anxiety that are inevitable consequences of such momentous move.

I hope you make the right choice for the right reasons - your reasons - not someone elses. If it's right, there's a good chance you'll make it work. If it's not for you, that's fine too.

We're all different and judge/value life and what it has to offer in very different and personal ways.

Happy deciding!

Re: Recce Trip
 

That's because you'll pay more attention to your new surroundings (haven't you only been there 6 months or so?). Facts have nothing to do with your personal perception.

The point is, NS isn't as foggy as many people say, Vancouver doesn't rain as much as people will lead you to believe, and the UK isn't dreary all year round.

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Oh i'm not knocking it at all. Weather doesn't affect me one way or the other. Just pointing out the lack of difference in total hrs of sunshine each year :)

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Ummm, Glasgow is, trust me.

Re: Recce Trip
 

Well guys, that makes for some very interesting reading an thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Dave and Ailsa I live in Wishaw not far from Glasgow and its dreach and dreary most of the time. I think my fet are getting cold like many of you say due to the magnitude of it all and like someone said what we could lose after 40 years of building a comfy life. Our property here is never going to sell for what it was worth a few years ago and our money pot isn't enormous but that aside hard work will pay off and i'm sure if we have the right attitude it'll work. We've already lowered the price range of the house we're looking at as we'd rather buy something cheaper than b struggling with a mortgage. Thanks for the shopping hints also and i will make a point of visiting these as i think this will benefit us greatly. When/if we make the move the think in $ not £'s will be hard to do but as we'll only have $ to live on the £ will have to go out the window. After reading all your info folks i realised very quickly that the first 2 years are going to be very difficult financially but hopefully won't break us. We're just an ordinary family with a very ordinary life and wage so what we're looking for is the same standard of ordinary life with the benefits of a more family orientated place with more scope for the kids, to enjoy them more.

Thanks so much keep the info coming. Oh did anyone do all the paperwork on their own, I'd rather keep my £'s than pay a consultant if its do able. :fingerscrossed:

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we have been here nearly a year and I always pay attention to my surroundings wherever I am. I love England and I love it here. Where are you, out of interest?

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We live in Scotland, where its cold and wet in th inter and hot and wet in the
summer.

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Thanks, I was asking Mr El Richo, it sounds to me like he lives in NS too :)

I am sure you will like it here very much Macbarflan, I hope you get everything out of your reccie that you need

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I totally agree with this - going to an Open House in the type of area you would like to live in and within the parameters of your actual budget, makes it all much more real.

I took a small digital recorder with me and it was fantastic, after a long day I could sink down with a much needed drink, it takes to long to write all your thoughts when you are on the move, but I could sum up my day and my feelings and our son did too. It helped us remember things, like what areas looked nice etc. Good Luck!

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I don't doubt that it's has wet and gloomy days throughout the year.

I live in Halifax, NS.

Still, lets not have facts get in the way of a good old moan about the weather in England :thumbup:

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When did that happen?;)

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Today at 8:48am PST

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hahahha

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I was wondering too... I didn't think you were from these parts, you're more into the limelight :p

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I know hes so KNOWLEDGABLE on the weather here that I honestly believed that he had first hand experience from living here

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So you dispute the official statistics i posted then? ;)

As i said earlier, lets not have facts get in the way of a good old moan about the weather in England

Re: Recce Trip
 

good luck with your recce trip.
We went across twice and I would agree with some on here to take as many pictures as you can even record it too.
I took a writing pad with me and each night I sat for 15mins or so and wrote down what we had done and seen.
We visited supermarkets and looked at the prices of everything we would buy over here, well I say that what we could find anyway lol.
We also fitted in some nice days out as 3 little boys need more entertainment that lots of trailing round lol.
We visited the bowling alley and the local shopping areas as well as the beach!

Enjoy and take everything in Kirsty x