CampbellsRComing

Hi,

Just looking for any do's and don't's in terms of organising or month long reccie trip in August around the the Saanich Peninsula i.e. trying to look at towns from Sidney to Sooke (and all areas in between) and also spend time in the Cowichan (probably as far north as Nanaimo

Basically any lessons learnt?

Did you rent an RV only to find you couldn't drive it around the towns you wanted to visit?

Did you stay in hotel only to find a cheaper self catering / house swap options was available?

Did you try to fit in too much into your itinerary?

Did you go to a town and just wished you hadn't or indeed to a place and wish you'd spent more time there?

Anything really

Expat Andy

Be sure to check out Nanaimo! We have two kids and have lived here for a year now. There are some great neighbourhoods (particularly in the north end), lots of shops, lots of recreational activities, parks etc. There are lots of other young families, so we have found it easy to make friends and the housing is cheaper than Victoria.

Generally you do need a car to get around, but despite saying that, from my house I can walk to the beach, a couple of parks, the biggest shopping mall on the island, numerous restaurants and both levels of schooling.

The only thing it really lacks is culture, but I guess that's the same as many places in Canada. Hope this helps.

Ikatita

lesson learnt:

prepare as much as you can beforehand.
-get appointments beforehand (school directors, daycares)

set a goal of what you want from this trip, and plan accordingly:

i.e.:
is your goal to look at areas to live in? (what determines an area you like, for you, and be sure to check that out -- supermarkets, schools, ...)

is your goal to get a feel for the job market?

is your goal to meet people?

prepare, prepare, prepare -- once there, you will most likely want a break every now and then, so additional research is probably not what you want to do every free minute.

jempee

Hi. We stayed with friends in Vicotria so didnt have to worry about accomodation at all. We visited all over to try and get a feel for the places. Victoria and surrounding areas was never an option for us as we wanted to be more 'rural' than that. So looked at areas such as Sooke and Cowichan. Sooke just did not 'do it' for me. Have no idea why so can't explain, i just 'knew' it was not the place i wanted to live.

We didnt check schools out etc while here visiting as we were still uncertain where we would eventually settle. But it was no problem getting the daughter into a school within a few days of being here.

As already said by others, don't judge a place by the view from the highway. Bananahammock gave me an awesome tour of Nanaimo when i visited her a short while ago. I saw areas and places i would never have gone or seen by myself and it all looked pretty fantastic.
Thats how we found Shawnigan really, taking a detour of the highway

Incidentally, there is a motel just over the Malahat in Millbay called The Deer Lodge i believe, that several people i know have stayed at when over here on reccies and they were pleased with the price etc.

CampbellsRComing

Jempee -

You've just prompted an idea in my head i.e. asking people (once you've got to 'know' them a bit via BE) to maybe show us around for a couple of hours i.e. Sal's mum and stepdad are coming over to the Island in our last week / 10 days to help look after the kids so that Sal and I can have a decent look around at the places we will have seem 'briefly' / 'distractedly' with the kids ...

Are ex-pats generally happy to do that for people on a reccie ...???

Andy

bananahammock

....

jempee

I guess there probably would be. Bananahammock likes driving around... but ssshhh! dont tell i told you so
Perhaps we could arrange a meet up while your here up in the Cowichan/Nanaimo area. Jo...your dept i believe...

bananahammock

Yep, I'm always up for a meet-up although I think the Campbells are more interested in your neck of the woods than mine & most places inbetween are a bit 'Salems lot!!'

Over to you Darren

Edna Bucket

We stayed in lots of different places rather than one central point. The idea being that we wanted to see what places were like after the sun went down.

We quickly ruled out the north of the Island as being unsuitable for us, in fact anywhere north of Nanaimo was eliminated. Chemainus is quite charming, Crofton not. I also like Sidney but it's a bit like heaven's waiting room, popular with the wrinklies because it's fairly flat.

Personally, I have no need to be anywhere nearer to Victoria than I am, but even those people that have to commute there daily from the other side of the Malahat get fed up with it sooner or later.