Totally confused
Jan 29th 2012, 11:23 am
#16
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Joined: Jan 2012
Location: South West England
Posts: 8
Re: Totally confused
To my mind, emigrating is about finding somewhere that meets as many expectations as possible - why go to the time and expense otherwise? If it means compromising and not living somewhere you really want to, what's the point? I went through a process of elimination, and if I'd not been able to move to where I wanted due to work constraints I wouldn't have decided to go somewhere second best.
I've experience of this dream - purchased 32 acres here and boarded 40+ horses. If you dream of working 18 hour days, 7 day working weeks and like the company of bitchy women, fly at it
I've experience of this dream - purchased 32 acres here and boarded 40+ horses. If you dream of working 18 hour days, 7 day working weeks and like the company of bitchy women, fly at it
Up until a few years ago this is what I did for a living, got any jobs going lol
Jan 29th 2012, 1:24 pm
#17
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2012
Location: South West England
Posts: 8
Re: Totally confused
Hi
We emigrated from Cornwall in '05, we yearned for a bit of land that we would never have a hope in hell of affording in Cornwall. The only drawback in Canada is that work tends to be in the big cities so if you want land you have to be prepared to commute (not that much of a problem but worth mentioning).
For us we 'got ahead' in Canada by enjoying a better exchange rate and lower house prices here. Not so much of the case now.
We had a small 3 bed bungalow in St Austell and now have a house 3 times larger on 5 acres!
Owning a little bit of land is neat but it is also a lot of work, you definitely need to be practical, with a pioneering spirit. Hobby farming is popular but again- work, and not quite so romantic in the middle of winter!!
Depending where you live, winters can be long (not long enough if you Snowmobile).
PS...hopefully, Argyle can get themselves out of trouble by the end of the season!
We emigrated from Cornwall in '05, we yearned for a bit of land that we would never have a hope in hell of affording in Cornwall. The only drawback in Canada is that work tends to be in the big cities so if you want land you have to be prepared to commute (not that much of a problem but worth mentioning).
For us we 'got ahead' in Canada by enjoying a better exchange rate and lower house prices here. Not so much of the case now.
We had a small 3 bed bungalow in St Austell and now have a house 3 times larger on 5 acres!
Owning a little bit of land is neat but it is also a lot of work, you definitely need to be practical, with a pioneering spirit. Hobby farming is popular but again- work, and not quite so romantic in the middle of winter!!
Depending where you live, winters can be long (not long enough if you Snowmobile).
PS...hopefully, Argyle can get themselves out of trouble by the end of the season!
Ha I'm not too sure about Argyle (theyre pants) we're Liverpool supporters in my family (some might say theyre double pants!) Hubby doesnt mind a bit of a commute and I'm not overly keen on moving from a city to a city. One of the reasons to move is to improve on lifestyle to I'd like to be a bit further out. Not sure about the hobby farm, was really just after horses but knowing me I would probably end up with a small menagerie after a while
Feb 1st 2012, 3:16 am
#18
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Joined: Jan 2009
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 251
Re: Totally confused
I wonder if those of you who have successfully made the leap to Canada can advise just how easy the whole process is and how expensive it is. Also how my husband can change his FPC and CeMAP qualifications to the Canadian equivalent. We are seriously considering a move and have a house here which we would like to keep and rent out (just in case we come home) but obviously when we get there we would need to put a roof over our heads and pay for food etc before we make enough on wages and well basically I’m so confused about the whole thing and am just looking for as much help and advice as possible and just know that it is do-able and we’re not crazy!!!
Feb 1st 2012, 12:19 pm
#19
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 33
Re: Totally confused
I wonder if those of you who have successfully made the leap to Canada can advise just how easy the whole process is and how expensive it is. Also how my husband can change his FPC and CeMAP qualifications to the Canadian equivalent. We are seriously considering a move and have a house here which we would like to keep and rent out (just in case we come home) but obviously when we get there we would need to put a roof over our heads and pay for food etc before we make enough on wages and well basically I’m so confused about the whole thing and am just looking for as much help and advice as possible and just know that it is do-able and we’re not crazy!!!Hi there
I'd like to offer you our family experience (good and bad).
Myself, Oh and 3 kids (now 14,6,5) moved from Huddersfield out here to just outside Calgary 5 years ago. Our reasons for moving were a better life for the kids, larger house, more family time together and hopefully for my OH to work less hours.
We sold our house and moved out here (we stayed in rented for a while in UK) we needed house sale profits to get the ball rolling and hired an agent to get my OH a job in the electrical trade. From selling the house to moving out it it took 2 years and a whole lot of money.
We arrived in Canada and OH started his new job while I got kids settled into school and sorted a rental out. our family has enjoyed the rockies/skiing/ice-skating/boating in the lakes/etc - it has been great. We bought a large house with a huge basement and are still here today.
Now five years later younger kids are 100% canadian and older one is a teenager and I would say 60% canadian. Younger two are very happy here and have settled very well. Older one not so happy - misses his friends and family back in the UK and complains a lot (but then he is a teenager!).
As for us parents - Husband has a commute of 1 hour each way each day on top of his working day of 9 hours and i am working full time. We have regrets it must be said and I am not sure our life is any better than what it was in the UK. However life is too short for regrets and we have decided to make the most of it as our children are happy here and it would be unfair to drag them back home because of their parents errors.
To sum up I would say now that the honeymoon period is definately over -
good points are plenty to do outside (money permitting)
houses are larger - we could never afford size of house back in the Uk
bad points (for us) are - maintaining the lifestyle and mortgage has ensured that myself and OH work more than we did in the UK
totally underestimated how much we would miss our friends and family
flights so expensive its out of the question to visit UK for us
I think if you have the funds and a family with small children you could make it work. If we could go back we wouldn't be under the illusion that "we want a better life for our kids" - our kids were happy in the UK - what we should have said was " we want a dream life and think Canada is the promised land!".
Looking back for us we were foolish and should have listened to relatives!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing - good luck anyway ...
Last edited by huddersfieldlass; Feb 1st 2012 at 12:29 pm.
