padthai

Hello there,

I've lived in the north of UK for about 7 years now. My hubby is a North Yorkshire man.

We currently live in the North York Moors National Park area in North Yorkshire. Life is good, can't complain really. It takes us maximum 30 minutes to get to work.

I understand that there are quite a lot of people in this forum that are moving from major big cities to Canada so their reasons to move to Canada sounds considerably reasonable i.e bigger house, shorter journey to work, etc...

I was wondering whether there's anyone planning to move to Canada from UK countrysides to major cities in Canada i.e Calgary, Edmonton, etc...

What are your motivations? How would you evaluate your move?

I understand that immigration to Canada, it works for some, it doesnt for some and I appreciate your comments. It is such a big decision and I have no families around to ask for advice so I appreciate your feedback to my post.

Thank you very much in advance.

Pad thai

gryphea

Hi padthai

WE live in WEst Yorks (just ), probably not quite as beautiful or remote as you (I do love north york moors- we live further south in rural leeds commutor belt- we live in a village but not a small one) - but I guess we still feel fairly lucky and we do like where we live (although expensive) and we do like our life and lifestyle.

Despite that we are hoping to move to Calgary- no idea how long for!!!!! We are going for :
skiing
mountains
adventure
outdoor summer lifestyle
hubby spending less time working (he works very hard) so he can see more of kids and be healthier

We may yet choose to live rural commutor belt like Cochrane or we may live in the city , which partly depends on where our jobs are and the commute.

Gryphea

gryphea

PS

I should also say that there are various career reasons we are going too!

printer

I would imagine that this would depend to a certain extent on what you need from your new life. If getting decent paid job is high priority then you would need to be in or close to big city for chance of work and there seems little point in long commute as that is what we often complain of in the UK.
Also if you have children then what is there in the area for them if it is too rural, on the other hand if those two things are not high on the list then rural country living certainly offers some benefits if you are not a city person.

Certainly reading some of the information on here it seems that Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton are all suffering from very high property prices and more people are opting to move further out even if it means a longer commute.

Mountain Girl

Yes I believe Calgary can offer a happy medium. You can live on the outskirts of the city and only be 40 min drive away from some amazing countryside.

I don't think you want to opt for living too rurally. Especially if you have kids they will be too isolated. They are not kidding when when they refer to remote living out here. It can be like the opening scene's of the film "Deliverance" and a long way to your local Safeway. And as I am sure you know the winters can be harsh.

padthai

Thanks for all reply

I am originally from Bangkok, so am a bit of city girl. I love the sound of Calgary as a city but sometimes I am just like my husband who loves his village living.

I think it is easy for my husband to get a job because he is in oil and gas industry. I am an IT professional. It finds it hard to find a job near where I live. What I want from my new life in Canada? I want to have more options for work I suppose. I am very career oriented, I might fool myself thinking that I could easily find a job in Calgary once I get there if the reality is I find it difficult to find a new job here in the UK.

I dont know I am a bit confused, I suppose that if we didnt try then we will look back and think "I wish I could have done that" but if we do it and it turns out to be a bad idea, it could hurt our marriage too. I have no family in the UK. Hubby's the only child of the family. I feel that if we go because of me, am I asking too much for my hubby to leave his "content" life behind ...

I dont know Sorry to sound non sense here. When I read my message again i dont know what my point is either

Super Sad Padthai

Mountain Girl

Have you been to Canada?

dbd33

It will not be easy for you to get a job in Calgary. The idea of moving there sounds bonkers to me.

padthai

Hi
Been to Canada before, British Columbia and Alberta.

Do you have an experience that it is difficult to find a job in Calgary? Do you mind sharing?

Padthai

Judy in Calgary

I know an IT guy who followed his girlfriend from New York City to Calgary. Since he arrived here a couple of years ago, he has been unable to find work in the IT field. He has done a series of unskilled jobs -- cooking at fast food restaurants and the like.

I also know IT people who do have employment in their field. A starting wage for a new graduate with a B.Sc. Degree with a specialization in computer science is in the order of C$40k. That salary does go up as a person gains experience and becomes more useful.

If a person can combine computer programming with knowledge of a specific niche, for example, analysis of energy markets or pipeline control systems or some such field, I believe they can get up into the C$70k range.

Airseir

Hi,

My wife and I moved from a small Lincolnshire village population 300. We now live in Kamloops BC and have been here 18 months. Yes travelling time has been reduced because I drove to the city for work. Moving here was not just about the country or the travelling time - it is way more complicated. For us it was more of a whole life style change. Because of where we lived we would not move to a big city - al thouh by Canadian standards KAmloops is a big city. There is plenty of country around - Mountain biking, skiing, hiking the works. The whole pace of life in the city is so much slower and the city still has a friendly atmosphere where most people have time to stop and chat, business is still conducted on the golf course and evenings and weekends are for leisure. PArking on Saturday is free in a lot of places in the city and when going out for the day we never pay to park. The shops are less crowded and rare to find a queue of more than two people at the checkout. The weather - well here we have some of the hottest summers with no humidity, mild but dry winters - you wouldnt believe the static of winter here. I could go on and on - house prices were not a major factor.

MrGreen

I was brought up in and have only ever lived in rural villages near to where you mentioned. We just got bored, sold up and moved to a condo in downtown Calgary, primarily just for the life experience and pure adventure factor...and we love it here. As for jobs, the other half got one in her first few weeks simply by chance and it took me 6 long months but I'm now working, purely from persistance and trying to keep busy and motivated, even when you feel like it wasn't meant to be. So we've gone from owls on our roof and sheep in the fields to crackwhores and police sirens, but you can't say it's not exciting!

Steve_P

With an estimated current population of around 85,000 to 90,000 Kamloops is most certainly not a large city by Canadian standards.

If you go by the 2001 census Kamloops ranks 54th in Canada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._by_population

Airseir

Lol - I hear you - but we work with miniciplities across Canada and believe me there are LOADS smaller than us. I know of about 300 customers that are all make us seem like a large city. I also deliberatly avoided big cities like Vancouver, London, Toronto etc. To be No 54 makes it pretty big in my books comming from a small Lincolnshire village

Like einstien said - everything is relative.

Steve_P

In Canada we do seem to have a different definition of what constitutes a city and we do have some that are very small (Wetaskiwin AB 11,000).