Rog Junior

My wife and I are coming over to canada & are visiting Vancouver, Calgary & Saskatoon - we have a few appointments set up with recruitment people etc but I just wondered if anybody had any tips if they have done the same thing?

Aviator

Spend enough time in one place to get a feel for the location. Lightening visits are not much more than a vacation.

rivingtonpike

How long are you coming for? Do you know when?

Rog Junior

We come over next week for a couple of weeks!

rivingtonpike

If you're not careful you'll spend half your time travelling! Big question I would imagine is where are the best job opportunities going to be. Do you want to live in a city or out in the countryside?

What professions are you both in?

Aviator

At best, 4 days in each city allowing for traveling. I would cut it down to no more than 2 places, but for two weeks one is really all you are going to see properly and begin to make contacts.

colchar

if you aren't familiar with Canadian winters you might want to avoid Saskatoon in January.

Aviator

It's warming up next week.

http://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/sk-40_metric_e.html

Lychee

Get a sense for the downtown of each city, the diversity of residential communities, and the surrounding geography - places you can reach to within a 1-2 hour drive. Eventually, this may be Make a shopping list, and write up an itinerary of what you might do day-to-day, and try to make it happen in each of the three cities. Try to think up the everyday mundane routine you may eventually live, rather than the touristy novelty experiences. Try commuting in/out of neighbourhoods, etc. Get a sense of the traffic, what it's like to be a pedestrian (in winter!), ride public transit, etc.

Edit: Talk to locals and ask them about their experiences living in each of the cities - how long they've been there, what they like about living there, what they don't like, challenges, etc. Ask how the city differs season to season. Ask about the political environment, the topics important to locals, etc. Read the local newspapers. Some things aren't immediately obvious as a first time visitor.

Aviator

With only have 4 days in each place, not a lot of time to do much.

Londonuck

Good timing, Vancouver's weather looks very good for the foreseeable