Originally Posted by dboy

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Vancouver has been a great fit for me. Vancouver has changed a lot in the past 16 years that I have lived here. Some for the better and some for the worse. It's ashame that it has become so expensive real estate wise.

I have always felt that there is no other city in the world that I've been to that compares to its breath taking beauty that seems to fit in seamlessly with it's natural surroundings. Mountain peaks, sandy beaches, the ocean, green parks with tall fir trees, and magnificent buildings.

For a relatively small city there are very distinctive areas of the city that all offer something very different. Coal Harbour, Kitisilano (where I live), the West End, English Bay, Fairview, Kerrisdale, UBC etc.

Even the winters are not as bad as they are made out to be but you do have to make your peace with the rain. Summers are incredible.

To me it's all about lifestyle and quality of life. You have to change and learn to realize that its not the UK. The pub culture is not the same, some may even say the nightlife is rather dull, the TV sucks (although when I left the UK we only had 4 channels). But some of the best restaurants in the world are right at your door step. Anything from Sushi to Mongolian to Afghani. Outdoor activities abound. Just no comparison to Manchester where I am from. I do miss the local Greg's and of course the chippy. But nostalgia fades fast.

I had a chance some years ago to move to southern OZ. However, the only plus I could come up was better winters. I felt it was too isolated from the rest of the world. I appreciate the difficulty in deciding to leave what is safe and familiar.

I feel very, very fortunate to live here.

Take care and good luck with your dreams

Originally Posted by el_richo

Hi there,

After reading through many posts within this forum one thing that makes me curious is why people choose to locate where they do.

Had you been there before you moved? If not why did you choose it?

Had you actually been to Canada before you applied to re-locate? I'm suprised at how many people do this. In fact, close friends of mine decided to leave UK and chose NZ over CAD even though never having been to either country.

Did you visit other provinces / areas of Canada before choosing?

Just a bit of curiosity from myself really. For me, my wife's originally from Vancouver and although we've visited many areas of Canada as a whole my personal feel was that BC was the place for us. I guess the bias is there due to having friends and family-in-law in Vancouver but that's where we'll be moving after a successful PR (cup half full and all that). For me, Vancouver offers just beautiful scenery, quality of life, beaches, skiing, boating, great food etc. It's a nice transition from the hectic city life in London as we'll be living in Downtown Vancouver for a while before we look to move onto acreage. It's also within driving distance of very good friends in Kelowna. We also have a love for Cranbrook, BC area too.

Rich

Originally Posted by JonboyE

That's a frightening amount of positivity for British Expats.com but I agree wholeheartedly. .