Juggernaut1064

Well I lived in MB for quite a while so visited lake Winnipeg, stood on its shores, saw the dark cloud of stuka mosquitoes dive and ran for my car while I still had some blood in my veins lmao

Shard

Yeah but you really need to get to the west side of the Island for that. The water around Vancouver and up Howe Sound is generally so placid.

Oink

Nearly all of Canada is a shithole, usually a really cold shithole, but the west coast of BC is slightly less of shithole, but it's still a grim shitty wanky place of a shithole. If you really want get away from the grimy chavy life in the UK go and live in NZ, it too is a shithole but at least it's a temperate shithole with nice scenery and they purport to play cricket.

humanist

I'm in awe of your unshakeable optimism and positivity!

Oink

The chav thing was a bit too much?

rivingtonpike

My brother, not through any master plan, lives on the SW bit of North Island NZ and I live on the SE bit of Vancouver Island so we are in an ideal position to test the Oink theory.

He's right!

Pizzawheel

They actually play crucket in kiwiland.

Oink

They have a stab at it but I think their national sport is buggery.

Lunathecat

Hi delboy,

I can really relate to what you are saying as we just moved from Kelowna (after 10 years) to calgary. Everyone goes on about the okanagan and how beautiful it is - and it is I guess - but it's also most definitely a backwater. And Vernon more so than Kelowna.

I was so bored there! I made a good group of friends when my son started preschool but before that it was nigh on impossible. Husband not so much, didn't really have much in common with my friends husbands. Finding work for me was incredibly difficult and I really struggled. I did get a job with the health authority for almost 3 years but it was a term position and there was nothing for me when it ended.

In the winter the okanagan gets grey and socked in and getting out of the valley can be treacherous if you cant afford to fly, so visits to Vancouver and such are not easy. As far as I am concerned Kelowna is the only decent city in the interior, so places to visit on day trips are very limited. No direct flights to uk either so that increases the cost and hassle factor of going back to uk. Husband is the outdoorsy type so he loved it here but I need to work so we had to move. Now we are in calgary, I feel like I am back in civilization but husband is missing Kelowna a lot. I just miss my friends really.

Moving back to uk is not an option for us as it would be financial suicide and husband is not at all interested in moving back. I know that we haven't picked a great time to move to calgary but husband has a job here which is not reliant on oil or gas and I'm applying so hopefully I'll get something soon. I think my husband will settle in better once I start working. My son who is 6 loves it here.

The long term plan is to work for the next 10 years or so and then move to a community by the coast, probably the island. I grew up on the north Devon coast and really miss the ocean. We would have moved there now but the employment options there are not much better than the okanagan for me. Husband is lucky he can find work anywhere.

Anyway, I guess what I am saying is that I understand where you are coming from. People think we are crazy to move from Kelowna but tbh if it was that great, why aren't they living there?

ann m

It's been said time and time again, but I definitely think that having satisfactory employment is the crux of settling somewhere new.

It doesn't have to be the best job in the land, and it doesn't have to be the maximum you could earn but it does have be personally fulfilling and allow you to feel reasonably fairly compensated for your efforts.

I know we're all supposed to work to live but let's get real - If you are spending 35+ hours a week in a job that you hate, everything else in life will be tarred with that outlook and will suck, no matter where you are.

If your job is OK to good to excellent, well, it's going to rub off on everything else. There will always be a few anomolies where someone loves their job but is paid at poverty levels, or where someone is very well paid but on the verge of a heart attack - but the for the rest of us mere mortals, good employment is fundamental to your own self-worth, which I feel affects all aspects of your life.

I'd like a well paid job, that pays full time wages for a part time hours, living on a beautiful coastline, in a mostly temperate climate. Until such times, I shall muddle along here in Calgary, tucking pennies away for the next few years until such time as I've had enough!

Lychee

A lot of Albertans holiday in the Okanagan and only know it from that context: lakeside resorts, wineries, boating, ski trips, etc. It's no doubt a lovely place for a quick holiday, but I can only imagine that living there is a different experience entirely. Those who think you are crazy are romanticizing about the Okanagan with rose coloured specs based on their holidays spent there, no doubt. I work with a woman, early 30s, who grew up in Vernon. She told me she moved as quickly as she could to Vancouver as soon as she graduated high school, and would never move back again, mainly for the reasons stated by you and delboy.

scrubbedexpat091

I agree with you 100%.

When I was at the airline, I spent 50-60 hours a week there, the pay sucked, and by all accounts, I should have hated the job, but I adored the job, I didn't think of it as work, I enjoyed it, I enjoyed being around planes, the sounds and smell of the airport, and frankly I had no issue living at the airport. Had nothing better to do so why not work a bit more?

Now I make more, I work less, but it's not fulfilling, and I haven't had a job since that airline job (ended in 2003) that I did enjoy. Each have paid more then airline, but the loathed them, hated the thought of having to go and got out as fast as I could when my shift ended.

I have also had a huge difference in how I feel in those jobs and not for the better.

If airlines actually still used their own employees on the ramp (in Canada it's pretty much only Air Canada but they can't guarantee hours per week, could be 40 or it could be 0, you may not work for several weeks.) and the contract companies just are not the same.

Having a job you are fulfilled in and happy in, makes a world of difference in how we feel overall.

scrubbedexpat091

People do the "why did you move to Canada and leave all that sun?" when they find out I am from San Diego.

Yes it's a fine city, it's got good weather and all that, but living there is completely different then vacationing there. It's an expensive city in an expensive state, with a lot of wage depression so your not likely to earn a super ton, and housing is pricey and beyond what the average income earner could afford, although its come down since the height in 2007/2008, but still not affordable.

1,000+ in most area's for a basic apartment.

Shard

How much would a basic apartment be in Sacremento?

scrubbedexpat091

I am not sure. I am not too familiar with No. California. It may very well be more there since its the state capital and that creates demand.

Ive only been to No. California 3 or 4 times over 35 years.