Hi there everyone, my family and I are seriously considering a move to Alberta, Calgary. We have never been so would really love to conduct a Reccie out there to see what it's really like.

Now my question is centred around cost since this is a big factor in any final decision to visit. We don't have lots of disposable income and work to strict budget. Therefore, Iam seeking the combined knowledge of the forum to find out when is the best time to go ie cheapest flights. For background the easiest airports for us to reach in the UK would be Leeds & Bradford and Manchester. Which airlines have others used, how did you find them and who would you recommend? Again who is the cheapest?

If you prepare and are organised how much can you get done on a Reccie of just 1 week? What should you be aiming to achieve as a minimum? Has anyone done a Reccie of only a few days say less than a week? How did you find it and would you recommend it? Sorry for all the questions I'm just trying to get a realistic view/idea of what is possible and at what cost.

Many thanks in advance everyone.

Cheers, Adam.

The cheapest flights are normally on Xmas Day, returning on New Years Day.

But Hotels will be expensive.

You get to see Calgary in Winter.

Flights out of season are the cheapest.

The trouble with flying in on Christmas Day and out on New Years Day is that it will not be the optimum time at which to do the kinds of things one would want to do on a recce. Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Years Day are public holidays, and many businesses close early on New Years Eve.

Also, if you want to visit schools, they're closed over Christmas - New Year.

LENGTH OF RECCE TRIP

As to the length of the recce ....... Well, it depends what you want to accomplish during the recce. Do you just want to have a look around the place and decide if it's somewhere that you'd want to live? Do you want to line up interviews with prosepctive employers in advance? Do you want to contact a realtor and ask them to show you around houses? Do you want to go into supermarkets and other kinds of stores and check out the kind of merchandise that's available and the prices? Do you want to visit schools?

Gryphea had a six-day recce (and that included flying time from the UK and back again). But her husband was going to be attending meetings with a specific potential employer. They split up for some of the time, and gryphea concentrated on visiting schools and stuff like that. Check out post #1 in the thread entitled Back from reccie..........verbal offer.

I would say that, if you have a single employer lined up and there's a high degree of probability that that employer will offer you a job, it would be possible to do a recce trip in a week. I would say that, if you don't have a likely employer lined up, and you're still at the informational interview stage (that's where you just meet someone for coffee and pick their brain), it would be difficult to conduct a meaningful recce trip in less than two weeks.

Picture yourself doing recce-type activities in your own city -- going for job interviews, visiting schools, visiting supermarkets, etc. How long would this take you in your own city? Perhaps the driving time in Calgary is a bit shorter than it is in your city, so that would help to some extent. On the other hand, you don't know Calgary, so you'd need to allow some time for getting lost, etc. So it might take a similar amount of time at the end of the day. How much can you accomplish in, say, 10 hours in your city? Calgary is in the same universe, and the same laws of physics apply here.

AIR FARES

Aside from Christmas Day and New Year's Day, which MB-Realtor mentioned, air fares climb up quite sharply around the middle of December and then drop off again a few days after New Year's Day.

November is the off season, and is a cheap time to travel.

I think Zoom used to have a non-stop flight from Manchester to Calgary. In fact I believe some members of this forum used that flight. But I think they've dropped it from their schedule. Now they only do Glasgow - Calgary and Gatwick - Calgary.

I did an enquiry on Zoom's website, and found a flight departing Gatwick on 15th November 2008, returning on 22nd November 2008. It cost £495.45 per person for economy class. That included all taxes, etc.

The same trip departing on 13th December 2008, returning on 20th December 2008 was being quoted at £613.45 per person.

20th December 2008 departure, 27th December 2008 return was £683.45 pp.

Their scedule does not show any flights on this route on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Use www.kayak.com to compare air fares on the mainstream airlines.

Use www.whichbudget.com to compare air fares on the budget airlines.

I believe you can get discount codes on Zoom from muchmore Canada Magazine.

AIRLINES

The three budget airlines that fly from the UK to Canada are Zoom, Air Transat and Globespan.

Both on this forum and on the travel forums, such as TripAdvisor, Zoom tends to get acceptable reviews, considering it's a budget airline. From my informal reading, Air Transat sometimes get less favourable reviews than Zoom, but sometimes gets okay reviews. Globespan frequently gets very unfavourable reviews indeed.

GENERAL

These Wiki articles, if you haven't already read them, may contain information that's useful to you:
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Try canadianaffair.com they have good prices flying from Manchester to Calgary. Usually Thomas Cook airbuses too. We went with them in May and they are very reasonable. Cheapest flights we could find anyways.

Thanks for all the info, it's much appreciated. I've taken a quick look at the links and like many operators you can also get some good last minute deals although we're really talking last minute. No later than the following day. Fine for the cost element but difficult to arrange meetings with potential employers etc. Again thanks for the info.

Cheers, Adam.

Try googling zoom discount codes - will save you some pennies.

Lynne

Hi

You don't say what ages your children are, and whilst I fully appreciate the cost elements of a recce, I would say that one week is not a lot of time. Don't forget to factor in jetlag which takes some people a few days to get over, and if your kids are very young, they'll be playing the wide awake game at 4am for the first couple of days, but potentially be the knackered children from hell by 7pm Having said that, if you do come for just one week, then it's barely worth trying to fit in with the Canadian clock.
(I did a 6 day house-buying trip and pretty much kept to my UK bodyclock).

And I guess the other element you may be considering is school holidays and whether they factor in your dates at all?

Alberta and Calgary look their best in July and are at their coldest, I'd say, in Jan/Feb. Both would be important times to see the diversity of the weather and the landscape. Both could potentially be expensive.

If you really don't mind at all when you come, just pounce on any airfare you see, with any airline, that seems less than £400 - £500. You can get bargains for a few hundred pounds, or pay without too much effort around £600+++. (I managed to get some decent fairs for July and Aug this year going back to the UK for $399 one way, and $74 return - with Air Canada - so they are out there if you are flexible and ready to book when you find a bargain!).

Enjoy !

Can I just add an alternative viewpoint here...

I've lived and worked in quite a number of different places and countries, and have never once had the luxury of (nor felt the need for) of a 'recce trip'.

Whilst I understand the sense of comfort it gives many people, please be assured that if you don't do a recce trip, or if you have short one that doesn't get "everything" checked, it's not a problem.

I promise you that any adult or family with an iota of common sense could arrive in just about any city in the world and be living comfortably within a week or two. This is especially so in an English-speaking environment.

I've posted this simply because you stress that you are on a tight budget... in my opinion, if I were you, I would not spend the several thousand pounds that it would inevitably cost you on a recce trip. During the time between a recce trip and your eventual arrival, things will have changed anyway.

Instead just do as much research as you can online, and then make your grand arrival with a positive attitude, a sense of fun and adventure, and that extra couple of grand tucked nicely in your back pocket.

All the very best, whatever you decide to do.

We have just booked flights from Gatwick to Calgary, didn't realise there were any discount codes. Doh!