beckiwoo

Grass is always greener and all of that...

Danny B

When I moved in 2007 the exchange rate was about $2.20 for every one pound. I think my shipping container was about 4,000GBP and I could have probably got about 2,000GBP for my furniture, TVs etc.

6,000 GBP to CDN back in 2008 is just over $13k CDN, I could have easily furnished my house with the basics for that price. Even when my container arrived, I still ended up buying more stuff.

Liminal

I wish I'd visited Canada first on a reconnaissance mission, actually one in the summer, one in the winter would have been helpful, to get a feel for the place, the climate, the culture, the mosquitoes. But not having much money that wouldn't have been possible. Depending on where you settle you might be spending half of your life in winter and much of the rest battling mosquitoes, black flies and wildfires!

In hindsight spending the first few months living at the in-laws on arrival was a dreadful idea in my case, and being stuck in a city as a person with a general dislike of cities was unpleasant. We should have planned to use it as a springboard and move right away to a tourist town for instant seasonal employment while we found our feet.

Also, think about homesickness, I wish I'd been more clued-in to that. Of course you might not experience it, or only mildly, but don't expect to go unscathed, and be aware it can put a terrible strain on a relationship. It is partly the lack of balance as far as sacrifices go, you living far from your family and culture whilst your partner is in their natural habitat. Beware especially if you can't afford to make regular trips home. And there might be guilt that you live so far from your aging parents, when they age. And consider having children as a commitment to stay in Canada at least until they are grown, whatever happens. And there is that phenomenon that others have mentioned whereby as more time passes you end up feeling neither completely Canadian nor completely British but in some limbo that nobody you know occupies.

Consider also why you are leaving Britain, many expats love it here, maybe in some cases they left Britain in a huff saying they'd had it with Britain, and they were looking on Canada as a golden opportunity in itself. But if like me you actually rather like Britain and are leaving simply for love of your partner then maybe there's more chance of homesickness. Of course everyone has somewhat unique sets of circumstances.

Sorry if I sound all doom and gloomy! Canada is truly a good place to be, and it's in your hands to make it a wonderful thing, so good luck!

Phaedru5

I moved to BC at age 24, for a Canadian girl, who I'd met in England, so a similar situation! She had a daughter already so I left behind the life of a single guy with no commitments to suddenly a different world. Honestly at that age I wasnt ready and after the initial excitement of a local ski hill, followed by an amazing summer, wore off and we got into autumn (fall) I started to miss family and friends and the life we left behind. But you only live once and take things as they come along. As it happened I lost my work visa after 18 months, by which point we also had a child of our own and got married, so we all moved back to england for a few years to get things sorted. As it happens we stayed for 12years and have just returned to BC almost a year ago now and this time at age 38 I was prepared and I bloody love it here and if it wasnt for family and friends I would happily never visit England ever again.

So in answer to your question, what would I have done differently? Nothing at all. Just take each moment as it comes and enjoy life. But what advice would I give? Be sure to realise you will be a long way away from family and friends and make the time to have a big send off before you go and dont doubt that it changes things - one visit a year from one friend really isnt the same as hanging out and getting together regularly. We have a whatsapp group and snapchat where we banter which keeps us all in touch.
But also dont worry that its forever, theres nothing stopping you going back, alone or both of you.

Make sure where you are moving to has the activities you are into - my saving grace in the interior BC is that I bloody live skiing, mountain biking, hiking, generally all outdoor pursuits and BC is my lifelong dream destination where I get to do every day what I used to do for maybe a few days each year living in the UK. If I had moved to a city or somewhere flat I would have gone mad and given up.

Tumbling_Dice

My circumstances are quite different to yours in that I was 40 when I moved just over two years ago, had kind of "made it" in terms of career (and it was only going to get better), but had a wife who wanted to be near aging parents.

What we should have done is made a pro-con analysis of the move so that we knew what we were giving up and had time to consider what effect that would have, or how it would make us feel. You can likely tell my bias here because the only things on the pro side for me would have been the wife getting to spend time with her parents (and, is it turned out, she got to look after her dad in his final months, which is priceless, of course... the flip side, unfortunately, is that my own mother died suddenly and I did not get to see her). What we didn't consider is what an alternative solution to the parent issue would have been.

I think, in summary, you need to know why you want to move, what you are looking for and, crucially, what constitutes success. At your age, I would just go for it - I did that immediately after university and spent nearly 4 great years in Italy. At my age, it was not a great thing to do, but I have still managed to get a good opportunity here (Nova Scotia, believe it or not) which has the potential to put me back on track career wise.

P.S. Good luck with your move.

scilly

Some of us, of course, never suffer from homesickness at any point .......... and OH and myself are 2 such people.

I can quite honestly say that neither of us has ever regretted leaving the UK, and neither of us have ever suffered from homesickness. If we ever had to leave Canada, we would have moved on.

Having said that ............ the thatched village pub was always a draw when we did go back, but only as "the tourist experience".

We only went back every 6 or 7 years or longer, the last time we were back was in 2008.

OH's parents tried to visit Canada every 2 years after their daughter also moved out here, and TBH, they were visits to be endured by both their children ......... willingly endured for the sake of the grandchildren, but with huge sighs of relief in both houses when the visit was over. To say the in-laws, especially m-i-l, were difficult is to really minimize those times. We're lucky in that OH and his sister were not split apart by things that happened, and that the 4 cousins have remained close.

I can't say what visits from my parents would have been like ........... my mother was already dead, my father came once in our 2nd year away and died the following year.

We found on our return trips that we had grown away from most of our friends ............... if only because of the different experiences. We're still in contact with quite a lot of them, but that very close "pick it up where we left off" type of relationship only ever existed with 3 or 4 of them.

We also found it easy to make friends here, and to adapt to being Canadian ............ yes, I am Canadian who happened to be born in England, not an English-Canadian which actually strictly refers to a Canadian born in an English-speaking part of Canada as against a French-Canadian.

You'll get all kinds of responses on here ........ but I often think that OH and myself are in the minority on this site in having no regrets and no longing for British food, drink, snacks, or daily life. However, we have many friends in real life who feel the same way that we do.

I can only repeat ............ embrace the new life, the differences, the people. If you don't like it, fine. Do your 2 years and go back home. But do try not to spend your 2 years here looking back and wishing you could eat or drink this that or the other, or see your friends down the pub every Friday night.

Elnino05

Phaedru5

Boring - Bit of a generalisation dont you think? Where abouts in Canada are you, its a big place! BC is anything but boring infact I am exhausted from all there is to do here all the time! And I get the same time off work that I did in england but dont even have any plans of what to do with it because life is so awesome here on a daily basis. I dont even want to go anywhere else as I have everything I could ever want on my doorstep.
Perhaps the secret is to go somewhere that has the things you want in life and not just assume that one small part of a huge place is all it has to offer.

Siouxie

I'm another who has been happily living here for almost 20 years without one bit of home sickness.. yes, of course there are some things I miss about the UK - country pubs, castles, English countryside and walks along the byways.. (and some friends and family) - but not enough to want to ever go back there to live. I haven't been back in 15 years and likely won't ever go back again. I felt at home here from my first step onto Canadian soil 20 years ago.

The biggest piece of advice I can give is don't become so insular with your new partner that you don't develop your own friendships and hobbies.

Be open to having new experiences, seeing new places and embrace your new life without constantly comparing everything to your old one... most of all, have fun!

Aviator

Expect to have some level of homesickness. Work though it.
Socialize, volunteer, network, get involved.
Avoid comparing Canada to 'back home'. Home is where you are living and it is different.
There is nothing I miss from the UK. I do still like British TV, don't need to be in Britain to watch it though.
Often hear folks complain Canada is more expensive than the UK. When we came here FX was $2.50/GBP, so seemed a lot cheaper. If you are paid in CAD and shop in CAD, it is what your earnings provide that is the true measure, not how much cheese, or a bottle of wine were in the UK compared to Canada.
In our experience, it takes around 3 years to begin to feel settled, 10 years to feel like a fixture, 25+ years and it is like you never lived anywhere else.

We have some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, on our doorstep.

We do way more here than we could ever do in the UK, opportunities abound.

Boring, one thing Canada is not, it is what you make of it.
Several decades on and we are still enjoying Canada. Lots to explore.

shelley748

yep totally agree with you on that one!

Scotcad

Jimbo2012

JamesM

Nonsense- bringing the pool cue was the right move!

dbd33

In a disgraceful development a few years later I used that cue to lose the children's winter coat money. An event I expect to be mentioned at my funeral.