el_richo

We know quite a few Canadians who live in the UK. They all prefer the UK to Canada and not one has any desire to leave.

Canada is beautiful and so is the UK.

Canada has a lot of shitty people and areas. So has the UK.

Canada can have a higher cost of living. So can the UK.

People need to stop ****ing looking at things at the macro level (whole UK versus whole Canada) and ultra micro levels (****ing cheese) since it rarely impacts their lives.

That said, if it's not in Yorkshire, it's shit

scrubbedexpat091

California heavily subsidizes public education, especially at the community college level.

Community College system is $46 per unit, full-time is 12 units, so $552 per semester, I don't know of any school in BC where you can get college level education that low.

I looked into taking just 1 class, and it alone was nearly 500 dollars....

The community colleges serve 2 purposes, you can start there to do the first 2 years of university and then transfer, or you can obtain the necessary skills to enter the work force with programs such as:

Paramedic
EMT
Automotive Tech
Law Enforcement (most agencies there require 2 years of college now)
Medical Lab Tech
Registered Nursing
Vocational Nursing
Paralegal
Legal Office Admin
Veterinary Tech
Various trades

And so on.

Nursing program for example total estimated cost with all books and supplies is $3,500

In BC at Douglas College, the 1st semester of nursing is more then the entire cost in California.

Medical lab tech in BC is 13,000 vs 6,000 in California.

Compared to California community colleges, tuition in BC is high and unless you have a lot of money or parents to pay for it, if you can't get loans, education is not obtainable in BC.

scrubbedexpat091

Vancouver has no zoo, closest is in Aldergrove and its a poor excuse for a zoo, and animals not well cared for, I wouldn't ever support that facility.

The San Diego Zoo may cost more (I always had a membership which was like 90 dollars for 1 year) is a modern, large zoo and the Zoo in Aldergrove is in no way comparable.

The attractions in Vancouver just are not comparable quality wise, and unlike San Diego where the museums, zoo and such as all in the same area and easy to access, a lot of the ones in Vancouver are spread out and difficult to get to.

I've done just about everything on that list in Vancouver, and most are not worth going back to once you have gone once.

I just dislike Vancouver, and BC and really have no happiness in Canada, no financial security here, lack of employment opportunities, no family, no friends, high cost of living, and so on.

But life is about compromises and at the moment the compromise is having to stay here until we get to a point moving is possible.

Lack of family is a big downer, I hardly see my family and I have never made friends here aside from my wife, so that plays a factor as well.


I suppose having had no interest in moving here at any point in my life, and had only done so as my first wife didn't want to relocate to San Diego, also play's a role, I never had a good job bringing me here where I'd be better off, and all that, overall quality of life is lower because while income is roughly the same here as it would be there, everything pretty much costs more here, so a dollar gets you a lot less which in turn makes life a lot harder.

Average rent for the San Diego region is also about 1,000 less per month when compared to the Vancouver region, and more rental housing options to choose from which makes finding and affording housing easier.

BC just lacks any affordable area's that are of reasonable size and still offer employment, where there are jobs the cost of living high, where the costs are lower there appears to be virtually no employment.

Moving within Canada just takes us further from both my family and her family, so makes more sense to move south of the border and stay within a 1.5 day drive of BC in the event of an emergency here.

Tirytory

Fwiw I loved autumn/fall last year laddo (it really sold me on the area I lived in) Such a beautiful time of year- maybe try and head for national parkland for hiking...

bats

Cycling, take up cycling. Ottawa is brilliant for cycling.

Shirtback

+1.

In other news, I hauled my lazy arse down to the lake today with kayak, & remembered why this little corner of Canada is really Not That Bad.

scrubbedexpat091

One day I am going to try kayaking, lots of places to go with one around here, I'd probably like the area better....lol

Or a boat to explore some of the places on the other side of the sound that have hiking and not so many tourists.....lol

This side there are too many people on the trails and too touristy to enjoy, I want to get away from people...

Shirtback

You should . I find it remarkably relaxing & it certainly helps empty my head.

It's not even my favourite activity; just easy to do solo.

jandro

I find it hard to believe aren't a lot of outdoor activities. When I lived there (years ago) there were lots of outdoor activities. The Gatineau Park is nearby with lots of winter and summer activies available. There are three large rivers and the canal running through the National Captial Region as well as many smaller rivers. Lakes are everywhere and there are lots of bicycle paths. In the winters I was out down hill and x-country skiing, skating the canal and in the summers there was canoeing, fishing, biking etc.

laddo73

For you I can see it was completely a no brainer. I think the town we moved to is quite dead in comparison to the other towns around here but the location is ideal which is why we moved here. I'm finding it quite hard to let go of the things that I enjoyed doing back in England but I suppose there are other things on offer around here. So once the weather turns crap and the seadoo's get covered over what do people do before they go skiing or skidooing. I'm guessing that there are a few months when the weather is just not fit to do anything outside until the snow comes?

laddo73

I used to enjoy getting out on the mountain bike. I'll google it

bats

Join a cycling club too.

Shirtback

Yes, November & end of March/April are usually a bit dead on the outdoorsy front up here. In the past I've signed up for odd classes in the autumn (Latin dancing was particularly good for a massive gigglesfest; yoga is a perennial; quilting was a fail ...).

When time/budget permits, I've scheduled UK/France trips in March/April; November has seen me do some fairly mad road trips, again when time/budget allowed (going contra-dancing in Maine & helping transport sled dogs from further Oop North down to the more Southerly winter tourist-traps were "highlights", of a sort ...).

scrubbedexpat091

Winter sports actually seem like fun, well not skiing or snow boarding, but those snow mobile things look fun....I looked into it last winter, but like most winter sports, cost too much. One day though, it's on my bucket list, just once so I can say I did it....

If anyone likes mountain climbing or mountain biking, come out this way, we have more places to do those 2 things then I can count, both have a very active community here as do the whatever its called on the water with a surf board like contraption and some sort of parachute/kite like thing that they skim across the water on, kite boarding I think they call it.

For outdoor sports people, this area is pretty sweet, really is no time of year where there isn't an outdoor sport to do.

HGerchikov

Hiking, rollerblading, cycling, all can be done in chilly, not snowy weather. It was never an issue for us as our kids turned out to be quite good ice hockey players so our autumn was filled with practices and games at least 6 nights a week. Also gave us a social life as we met a lot of people. I accept that having kids just because you are bored between the summer and the snow may be a little drastic though