By looking into info before our move, I have wanted to read up about as many pro's/con's as poss regarding BC/Vancouver.

I'm sorry to post such a negative message, and of course no doubt whatever city this topic would be under, I guess there's always something negative to say, but I found this and felt well,.. abit

www.topix.com/ca/british-columbia

Under the main heading Talk about British Columbia and then the topic,.. Why Vancouver Sucks

Most local papers wherever you are in the world print negative stuff because that is what sells. The only thing that I saw there disturbing was the earth tremor of 6.1!!!:curse: One of the reasons that put me off the pacific coast of Canada.

I have never been to Vancouver, but it was an interesting read. I would not put too much weight on the comments. A lot of people on that site are from Vancouver and they say they can't wait to get out of there. I think it is a matter of "grass is greener on the other side".

I think humans have a tendency to want to run away from where they live if they are unhappy, thinking that somewhere else will have the magical answer to why they are unhappy. And once they arrive at their new destination, they are still miserable because the reasons for their unhappiness lie deeper than their geographical location.

There were a lot of comments about people being rude in Vancouver. I don't have any first hand experience, but again, I think it has to be taken with a pinch of salt. The world is becoming ruder by the day no matter where you are - people are so stressed by modern day life and competing for space that it is hard to be bouncy and cheerful all the time.

Katie,

don't be shocked. As the others said: similar things can be found in forums around the world discussing their respective hometown.

The original press article was just about the condo prices in downtown Vancouver. They are expensive. So what? That's true for other metro areas.... NYC, Tokyo, Paris, London

What exactly in those posts shocked you?

edited to add: I currently live in Paris, which has very similar "winters" to Vancouver: grey and rain from around September to March. Lighttherapy lamps help, too, not only anti-depressants -- and some people are not prone to SAD. Funnily enough, the bad weather thing is much less noted or discussed for Paris than it is for Vancouver. And the grey skies are very much the same. There might be slightly less rainfall here, as we are not on the coast.

'Slightly less'............Vancouver gets almost double the annual rainfall of Paris!!

I thought that'd get a smile out of someone. I succeeded.

anyway -- just trying to point out that there is, as of yet, no syndrome called "Vancouver syndrome", whereas there is an officially recognized "Paris syndrome" -- of people becoming depressed from living here. While most people agree that Paris is a pretty city, it can also get people down in its own way. Not the subject here, I guess I am rambling -- any city in the world can get you down. Reasons there are anywhere.

Try to know what is really important to yourself before moving somewhere. What is it you appreciate about your daily routine, what is it that really wears you out.

(edited because I can't spell)

Only that no one even felt it, it was so deep under ground. Had there not been an announcement, we would never have even known it had happened. There is not a part of the world immune to natural disasters.

A car drove into a restaurant yesterday in Maple Ridge and killed one person, does not stop people going into restaurants, an MD82 aircraft crashes, as happened recently in Spain, people still fly in MD82s'.

I know of someone who moved away from the coast allegedly because of the risk of the 200 year earthquake. They had a serous road accident on their way to their new home.

Having lived in the past in earthquake zones it is something that quickly drew my attention but as was previously stated, everywhere today we are at risk from either a natural or man-made disaster. The real reason that I lost interest in living in Vancouver was not this but the sky high prices in GVA and lower mainland in relation to the rest of Canada. Also often heard that winter in Vancouver was similar to SE England whereas winter in Paris is extremely cold by european standards with not too much rain either.

I wonder if I could persuade one of the complaining Vancouverites to do a citizenship swap? I get Canada, they get good ol' Blighty. Then they can see what really rude people and bad traffic are like.

I can see a future in trading...

Lifted from the first page of your link.... yeah really well informed opinions!!

IMO Weather is better then anywhere in the UK. If you want to work in a city but have easy access to outdoors (ski/hike/kayak etc) then no other place I've been even comes close. Compared to other parts of CANADA its expensive, but compared to the UK it's not.

As with any city Vancouver has plenty of problems.

Come on a reccie and make your own mind up.

I love websites like this. There are far, far too many people wanting to come and live in the Vancouver area. If we can scare a few off ...

Your right!!! The population of the GVA and lower mainland must be huge given that everybody seems to live in the strip of land from Vancouver to Chiliwack. Its no wonder property prices there are sky high, its a pity the US govt doesn`t open its borders and let more people live in the state of washington

This is want I wanted to hear lol, and this is what we were expecting. Easy access to outdoors ski, hike, kayak, lakes,.. (and some nice small beaches too ??). I've been told Harrison Springs is nice.

When everyone was talking about the weather, I was thinking,.. is it really that bad ? To be honest I think the UK weather is fine, (ok, could do without those long drizzerly days sometimes, but all in all it's really not too bad).

Not on this link so much, but i've been reading about the Crack Cocaine problems, this of course is worrying for anyone with children, and how it all seems so easily available especially being that Vancouver City, I believe is a smaller City than London UK! I've read many times now, that children can become bored easily and can sometimes turn to this, as it's being openly used. (Please don't shout at me if i'm wrong lol , this is just what i've been told).

For me my opinion on this is fairly straight forward and hopefully realistic. But, I feel that no matter where we are in the world, if kids aren't being kept busy with hobbies, interests from an early age with the help from parents, then they could later turn to anything. To tell you the truth thinking about it more rationally, I believe alcohol is the most dangerous drug of all and of cause this is most openly available for kids to turn to anywhere.

I try to keep my kiddies as busy as poss, they do ton's of activities now and have alot of hobbies, they're rarely bored here. They love Karate, (i've looked up a Karate club in the town where we're hoping to move to there , they go Mountain Biking, Swimming, walking in woods, Music/guitar/Piano, Kayaking, Fishing. We save to go dry skiing (only here it can be pricey). I'm wondering what the cost of Skiing lessons are there? I'll have to look up some Websites about the resorts.

As for some talking about The Asians , I simply don't care about that. I find their attitude towards this themselves, rude! That doesn't bare thinking about, i'm just not racist.

We live in S/E England, just outside London, we've been expecting the price of things to be similar, (on the link many were complaining about how expensive it is). Well,.. if you say things are cheaper than here, that's cool, even better !!

We're hoping to go on our recce trip beginning of Oct Can't wait !
And will be interesting to see what all that fuss was about.

Thanks for your posts

Have a good weekend everyone. x

We do get a lot of those. It can be pretty much constant between November and April. It's not nice, but an umbrella and decent waterproof clothing will see you right. You don't have to shovel rain.

There are drugs everywhere. Your kids will probably pick up a minor weed habit, but they'll also likely drink less than they would in the UK. Skiing is reasonably cheap compared to Europe, but it'll mount up if you're paying for a whole family. Look at the web sites for Cypress, Grouse and Seymour to get an idea of lesson prices; they should have info up for the next season. There's also a roaring trade in second hand equipment for kids as they tend to grow out of stuff.

The beaches are actually okay. Maybe not up to the standards of say, Cornwall, but light years ahead of anything you're likely to have locally where you are now. The water is ****ing freezing though.

Thanks for the info, I'll look into those resorts you mentioned too.