spouse of scouse

It didn't result in your immediate funeral, so you got off lightly

CanadaJimmy

One thing that completely caught me out was car dependency. I came to Vancouver at 22 and didn't have a driver's license - being limited to transit while not impossible, did make life more difficult. The driving licensing process was more involved and slow here than I expected - you have to have a learners for 1 year before you can even take the test. So I guess one regret of mine is that I should have learned to drive (or at least the basics) in the UK before moving. What's more is I rented an apartment here that took a massive chunk of my income and had no money for a car or much else, when I probably should have gone with something more affordable. So I'd say create a budget of living costs, and consider the costs of car ownership if you haven't already.

scilly

I'd just add here that I've lived in Vancouver since 1968, and have never had a driver's license.

Yes, OH drives, and we have a family car, but I used transit for over 30 years to go to work, downtown, to the airport. etc. I was in the car with OH only when we were going out together ........ and even then, we often took transit instead.

Being without a car or a driver's license is not the end of the world in Vancouver, though it might well be in other places!

In fact, doing without a car might even be an advantage in Vancouver ................. parking places are in low supply, expensive whether it be in a parkade or on the street, new apartments are often not supplying 1 park space per apartment, even outside the downtown area.

CanadaJimmy

Glad you could make it work, I did go without a car for around 2 years but I never felt like I could enjoy everything the city had to offer without one. I was living in North Surrey though, which at that time wasn't very pedestrian orientated (though they are improving that). It definitely depends on where you live, the suburbs are going to require it more than the City/Urban areas typically.

scilly

I didn't "make it work" ............ it DID work for me/us

dbd33

My daughter in Vancouver doesn't have a car. She has two young children and a husband, two bicycles and a bike trailer. They belong to a car share coop so as to be able to go out of town on weekends but, during the week, don't drive. I know of many people in Toronto who don't drive and there must also be many in Montreal. It doesn't work in suburbia but living in such a place rather wastes the opportunity of being abroad anyway.

scrubbedexpat091

If living in Vancouver proper and not needing to go to the further burbs on a regular basis, transit and no car is fine.

If your one who likes to go on frequent day trips on weekends, life without a car will be harder of course, car shares are good for short hops, but if going on a day trip tends to be cheaper to go with traditional car rental as the day rate for car shares tend to be higher vs traditional car rental.

If we need to cross the border, we take Amtrak.

If a shift worker life without a car will be hard if you work early morning or late night before/after transit.

My last job was a 4am start, so no transit, so had to use car share and pay 8-12 dollars one way, then transit home.

Eddmac

The one and only thing I would do differently is not to use UTS Pearson for moving my furniture (It was good quality, expensive furniture).
They destroyed much of my furniture, wheedled out of most of the insurance coverage that I had paid for and then threatened me with legal action when I posted negative reviews.

Otherwise, moving to BC is the best thing I have ever done and I wish I had done it sooner!

Curlew

Definitely buy a car! Like the OP, I came to live in Canada after I was offered a job at the University in Windsor, Ontario. That was five years ago, next week - My, how time flies!. Windsor, unfairly called the butthole of Canada, is a little remote from most of the rest of Ontario, never mind the country, and outside Windsor itself, there is virtually no public transport, aside from the rail to Toronto, via London. For the first few years, I rented a car whenever we went travelling, which got old, real fast. 2 years later, bought the old Toyota Corolla, and the freedom it gives you is incredibly liberating. No longer live in Windsor ('upgraded' to Guelph - and rent increased 50% **grumble**), but I am now equidistant between three of the Great Lakes, close to UNESCO heritage sites - and, of course, Toronto, if that is your bag.

Thinking on, I wish I knew up front about having to do your own personal tax return, as that was a last minute annoyance I could have done well without. For the first few years I had to owe tax. Only in the last two years do I now get to enjoy the rebates.

Yes, the winters can be brutal (the recent polar vortex was, er, refreshing; and can't do much about freezing rain, so I'll just have to live with it.), and the blackflies and mosquitoes are plentiful (for now...), but the people are largely friendly (Toronto aside), the landscape across the country so varied and full of opportunity (lucky to have travelled across the country fro work, from Vancouver to Halifax and Fredericton), and the wildlife so glorious, that I barely miss the UK at all. In fact, not at all. I can lay in bed on the weekend and watch the footy on TSN. I do miss not being able to take a dog into the pub, twiglets and proper chips from a chippie. But, no, I will never go back to the UK. Canada is my home. I'm now a PR, and in October, eligible for citizenship. I will become a Canadian, and not too soon.

rawsalad

I wish I had brought a lot of money to buy a house with!

Don't know if I'd live with the folks either - it didn't work for me. As part of your research, does Windsor have the jobs you are looking for? And I would recommend you apply whilst in the UK - it might get you past the whole "Canadian Experience" thing which, if you wait until a while after you land, might have an impact. Many I've spoke to here feel it's easier to get a job before you land.