Cyprus Girl

Hi,
We are coming over for a recce/fact finding holiday at the end of July. We have booked flights but not sure where we should stay. Thinking of booking accomodation in two areas in order to get a feel of the places, so far we are thinking of Markham and Oakville. We are over for two weeks and would appreciate any comments on where to stay.

dbd33

Stay in Toronto. Rent a car for the day to get to Oakville and another day to get to Markham. You could make good use of the car on the rest of the Oakville day by driving on to Niagara Falls.

Cyprus Girl

Thanks for the good advice

dbd33

I think it is good advice. It may be that, if you're short of funds or if work is out there, you'll end up living in Oakville or Markham but they're not the kind of places you'd want to spend any more time in than you have to. Stay somewhere central, maybe at the Town Inn, that's well located.

iaink

Somewhere with A/C

HGerchikov

It is maybe good advice - maybe not. If you think that you may end up living in Toronto then stay there during your stay - but if you are sure that you are going to settle in one of the out of the city centre areas - Oakville and Markham seem to be your preferred options then, as your original post states, surely it makes sense to spend more time in each of them to really get a feel. A day trip is not going to do that for you. For a couple of weeks holiday - then staying in Toronto will be more fun, as a way of planning an immigration decision then maybe it is not the right choice.

dbd33

Except that, even if you're going to live in a suburb, you will be travelling to Toronto for work and for leisure. There's no real difference between dormitory locations so seeing one will serve for the rest. It'd be a shame to use up two days of a trip, one in Oakvile and one in Markham, looking at essentially the same thing, a place to sleep, when the time could be spent determining whether or not you like the place where you'll spend most time.

I wasn't suggesting, btw, a whole day in Oakvillle, I though an hour or so would do, hence the Niagara idea.

HGerchikov

If the purpose of the trip (as stated by the OP) is to check out those two locations then it is hardly wasted time is it? But I do agree that they should definitely go to Niagara.

dbd33

Of course they should stop by one or the other. If it seems an acceptable place to live then they can use the internet from home to find themselves a place to rent there before moving. I'd have thought a morning would be enough, I wouldn't think there'd be any need to go into malls or big box stores, seeing that they exist would likely do. Similarly, once you've seen that there's a GO station, I don't think there's a need to see every platform or to practise using the ticket machine.

I can't imagine that anyone would want to warehouse themselves out along the highway when they could stay downtown near restaurants and whatnot and just go out there as required.

Dave n Ailsa

Less than two weeks till we head over for our own recce

We will be staying with work friends in Ancaster (Hamilton), in their house with their family. While it's technically our summer holiday, we need to try and stay focussed on living like a native.

This will include buying the weekly shopping, eating out locally, investigating local costs of power and water etc etc. Might even go along to YukYuks comedy club on one of the amatuer nights

But we will also be looking for an area to settle. This could be anywhere from Grimsby to Mississauga, and maybe inland as far as Brantford or Cambridge. Will mean a lot of driving for me, but I love driving so not a problem.

The important thing to try and do is get out the car and go for a walk. If you like an area you should visit the same spot at different times of the day. A lot can change in the space of a few hours.

Hope you have a nice time

Cyprus Girl

Thanks for the good advice do you know of any hotels/B&B around Oakville? We will definately be taking at trip to Niagra.

Cyprus Girl

Thanks again very good advice about checking areas at different times.
Have a good holiday/fact finding mission.

HGerchikov

Oakville has the regular Holiday Inn type Hotels - generally close to the Highway (QEW) and just like anywhere else (before dbd33 says it). This is a link to Bed and Breakfast places that are a bit more individual - I haven't visited any of these personally.
http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/oakville-ontario.html

This one also looks nice http://www.bbcanada.com/6842.html?showpage=1
Good luck with your trip.

dbd33

This place, near but not in, Oakville, looks nice:

http://www.watersideinn.ca/

CANADIAN CARPERS

Are there any time restrictions for a recce trip as now the jungle drums at cic are stating 16 months ( to 2 years ) to process applications we are thinking of a 6 month recce and if miracles do exist and we get notification to go for meds then we can cut it short and return. Just wondering if a 6 month recce is allowed?