Steerpike

I've been living and working in the Bay Area (CA) for about 25 years and love it - no regrets. I've traveled to many states in the US (at least 15) on business and pleasure, and always returned to the Bay Area with a sense of relief - nowhere has come close to the Bay Area in terms of 'feeling home'.

Now I find myself in Vancouver, Canada on vacation, and ... this place is cool! It's cosmopolitan, diverse, has great restaurants, friendly people, views, good transit ... seems pretty attractive to me! Now, from what I understand, it's expensive, but so is the Bay Area so that's not an issue. The only issue - and this is not trivial for me - is the weather ... it's already rained a few times since I got here and looking at the comparisons I can see I'm in for a wet time ... but it's not humid, and it's not cold ... so I may be able to adapt.

All I can say is, I'd say that Vancouver is now up there with San Diego as an alternative to the Bay Area, and I've been thinking about this for 25 years ...

Anyone got any experience with actually living in Vancouver?

BritishGuy36

Perhaps you should ask that in the Canada section of the forum?

nethead

Might not be cold now, but I'm sure it gets pretty cold in the middle of winter. At least a lot colder than the Bay area.

MsElui

yes my uncle lives up on vancover island and gets snow up to his nose!

Nottinghill

Vancouver? It rains 8 months in a year in there. Think again.

Steerpike

Nah, I want the perspective of people familiar with the US!

danfan

Love that comparison chart. I just looked up Vancouver versus where I live in Pennsylvania and I wanna live in Vancouver LOL. We get about the same rain except theirs is more in winter & ours is more in summer, and it doesn't get as cold there in winter.

Bob

It gets arsehole cold in comparison, it's wet and down town is a shit hole to live in has been what people have told me, mostly because of all the homeless knocking around, but that's second hand info so take with a pinch of salt.

scrubbedexpat091

Vancouver gets snow in winter, well some winters.

Nottinghill

Drove through that area twice a day for 3 years. Its like safari driving through Treblinka! Its called East Hastings Street but actually covers a few square miles.

Steerpike

So it's obviously colder and wetter than the Bay Area, but comparing to (eg) Boston MA, it does not get as cold as Boston in winter, and has about the same amount of rain overall (dryer summers, wetter winters).

So far, after being here 4 days, the homeless situation looks much better than San Francisco, and the public transit looks pretty good too. Most amusing surprise so far is that all the taxis are Toyota Priuses (hybrids)!

The areas of downtown that I've seen so far (quite a bit - walked my feet off !) are remarkably clean, and I feel very safe.

But the wet winters would probably kill it for me.

Bob

Aye, hence the comparison...I mean Boston is shorts and t's in the winter weather compared to what I was used to up in northern Maine, so it's all a bit different

Steerpike

I found myself on East Hastings today, having drifted into it from Chinatown, and it was about as bad as Market and 6th in San Francisco (which is pretty bad). However, that was the ONLY area that was overrun by homeless and the rest of the city has been as clean or cleaner than any other city I've been to. This city is one clean, affluent, desirable place to be!

I went to the Granville Island Market today - a fantastic market area, reached by cute little ferries - and then spent the day walking around Stanley Park - which must rank as one of the biggest and nicest parks in North America.

Vancouver is now very high on my list of places to consider living, after the Bay Area and San Diego. San Diego and the Bay Area have the weather, of course, but Vancouver has Universal Medical coverage

I guess once you get used to the West Coast lifestyle, it's hard to give it up!

RoadWarriorFromLP

Well, there are those little pesky visa issues...

A lot of expats to Canada complain about the country's general unwillingness to recognize foreign credentials, and it can reportedly take 2-3 years to get a skilled migrants visa. FWIW, as an American, I would have an easier time getting a skilled workers visa for the UK than I would for the country right next door. The short vacations of the US but the high taxes and lower compensation of continental Europe (although there is health care) -- you be the judge.

Bob

NAFTA, piece of piss for his field to get, has to be renewed every year though...