# Anyone moved to Canada because they were unhappy in their home country?



## Shrike (Dec 3, 2019)

I've generally not been that happy anywhere in the UK. Just want point that out right off the bat. I don't have a bad life necessarily, and recently it's picked up for the better. Probably looking like the best it's ever been heading into 2020. 

I've just always wanted more and there's something inherent to British society that never worked for me. Class system? Stroppy personalities? 

Who knows. But what I do know is that we take our problems with us, and although I've always wanted to more country since I was 17 (I'm now nearly 40), I've never really did it. Always thought just moving around the UK would help.

I'm in London these days. Better money here. About to buy second home. No kids but engaged with 10 year partner and could have kids any year now though we're both unsure where to settle with them. 

Part of me would so love to be somewhere less dense like Canada. Maybe Vancouver in the burbs where we would road trip to the US. Have real mountains and incredible outdoors nearby - (I'm done subscribing to 300m hills or endless fields as being worth hours of driving to walk around). 

Too told to dream of a new life with kids in a new land, or has anyone experienced anything similar and actually been happier after moving?


----------



## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

Maybe first look into if it's realistic for you to move to Canada?
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/eta.html


----------



## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

If I could afford it, I'd move my (W. Yorks. born/raised) husband and our London born (and dual Cdn/UK citizen) daughter from our home in West London to the Metro Vancouver area in a heart beat (I'm in Vancouver with my daughter until the end of the month, then it's back to the UK for New Year and the Lent Term at daughter's nursery school)... I was born and raised here and (most of) my family lives here still.

However, housing prices being stupidly high (on par with London) and the cost of living even higher (it's the most expensive place to live in Canada) and my job prospects being not that great (compared to what my husband earns as a senior management type in London), it's not economically possible for us to make the move.


In regards to being "too old," I'd say that age is just a number... I came to the UK back in '12 to get married (for the first time) and I was the ripe old age of 40... I didn't have my daughter until I was 44 (due to preexisting medical issues; daughter was born the week before The Referendum) and she and I and her dad/my husband have made a pretty good go of it so far. She's an only child, which makes me sad in a way [she'll be all alone when her dad and I are gone] but it also makes life a little easier as far as travelling goes.

If you can find a way to come over, I'd say go for it... perhaps keep your homes as a back up plan (don't know if you can get a buy-to-let type mortgage) but come on over and see what you think of the place... it's a huge country and the possibilities are endless (Vancouver is similar to London as far as weather goes... cold and damp in the winter and warm in the summer... that was the easiest part of my transition from being a Vancouverite to being a Londoner... although, London tends to be waaaaay more humid in the summer than Vancouver.

Good luck to you and perhaps we'll see each other at Heathrow some day!


----------



## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

You need to figure out why you're unhappy and what about moving will make you happier. Just moving is the equivalent of running away to the circus. Circus life looks like fun when you visit but becoming a member means work not visiting.

About those road trips where are you planning to go?

Portland Seattle 3 hours. Portland 5. San Francisco 15 one way. Times on the optimistic side of things. 

London to Berlin would be an easier drive.


----------



## Shrike (Dec 3, 2019)

Cheers WestCoast, though do you think for the same money you could live in a better and safer area in Vancouver than you could in London? My partner loves London compared to any other part of the UK, but she doesn't like being out in the streets at night in most areas.

I'd love a detached house with some space, front and rear garden. Trying to get that in London isn't realistic. Orpington might be considered decent value for say a 3 bed detached but don't feel inspired to settle there! I'd be happy to save for the deposit for the Canadian home working in the UK, then move there. Would only need 5% deposit too in Canada whereas in the UK we need 10% minimum now. Converting to BTL here would be the way to go.. nice safety net in case everything went pear shaped. We have similar situation I think. Our child will be mixed race white/asian and likely born around with parents the same age as you. Maybe a single child too. Vancouver seems to have the sort of demographic that might suit better.

@NickZ - those distances and places all sound amazing to me. If I drive 3 hours here I end up in Wales Weekend in Wales or weekend in Seattle.. easy choice. Takes me 8 to 12 hours to go into the Highlands here, which has bar far the most interesting landscapes to disappear into in the UK.

My partner needs a visa for going into Europe and it's random luck on getting multiple entry here. She's had some for 2 weeks and some for a couple of months. Pathetic really. She went to the US embassy last year for a work trip visa for a week. They gave her a 10 year visa! Why Europe doesn't offer that for ILTR people in the UK I don't know.


----------



## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

In the suburbs (~25 ikes outside of Vancouver, where my parents live) detached homes (with decent sized back gardens) that are going on 40-50 years old are fetching a minimum $1 million Canadian dollars £580k... our flat would provide a decent _down payment_ on the house but it would be incumbent upon my husband and I both getting jobs in order to get a mortgage.

Even if we were to look at renting and could find and get into one right away, a 1 bedroom flat in the area where I’m currently typing this out starts at roughly £1000/month, not including bills... this isn’t big enough for a family of 3. 


My daughter is half White British and half Canadian born Japanese... there are lots of biracial people in Canada and in Vancouver, there are lots of kids who are White and Asian of varying backgrounds (Canada has a more inclusionary definition of ‘Asian’ than the UK in that it doesn’t just refer to people who are of Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani or Sri Lankan ancestry but anyone whose ethnic origins are from the geographic area as a whole)... you’ll also find that ethnic demographic profiling isn’t nearly as important here as it is in the UK (I find those ONS surveys to be quite intrusive and offensive, and I hate filling them in because they don’t have every ethnic possibility and, as such, I am relegated to “Other”... I am more than my ethnic background and I most certainly deserve better than the afterthought ‘Other’ category).

As far as education goes, if you would like for your child to attend a French language public school (what you know as a state school), the possibility is there (Canada is officially bilingual and, as such, education in either language is available for all), as is home schooling and independent private schools (fee paying, selective admission schools)... in BC, your child would start Kindergarten at the same age as they would start Year 1... there is no Reception class equivalent in BC (but a similar Junior Kindergarten program exists in other provinces, like Ontario)... most kids leave school at 18 with an approximation of A Levels and go on to post secondary (uni)... the earliest that kids can leave school and still go on to a vocational program is at age 16, at the end of grade 10 (roughly equivalent to GCSE but with no official recognition like GCSE)... most stay on until the end of Grade 12 and I don’t think I know anyone who left at Grade 10 and didn’t come back, at least no one in my year did that. 

Anyway, the possibilities are out there for a life that is similar to the one you had in Britain as a child in the 80s and 90s but us distinctly different as well. I love how close London is to the Continent (I still have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that if I boarded a Eurostar train at 8 am at Kings Cross St Pancras station, I could be having lunch on the Champs-Élysées by noon) but I also miss the mountains (my daughter was excited to see them so close the other day while we were in the car driving around) and the ocean as well.


----------



## Alandanny (Dec 12, 2019)

That is also a reason. However, they may want to move to Canada for example. Moving to another country will have many problems such as renting, finding suitable jobs
See this: Top 10 Best Tires for Jeep Wrangler: Buyer’s Guide & Reviews - Tire Deets


----------



## Mforster (Mar 27, 2019)

There are lots of (sensible) reasons to NOT do it....however, you'll have that nagging feeling in you for the rest of your life if you don't try it.
My situation is different than yours (no kids) Shrike, due to my parents' divorce I was "forced" to move to The Netherlands as a teenager. NL has been a good country for me but it has never felt like "my country". For years I wanted to move back to the UK, when visiting friends though it also didn't really feel like I belonged there. Anyway, long story short.... now living in Extremadura region in Spain. Very happy I've achieved my goal! It's all still very new, lots of ups/downs/goods/bads.... but not sorry for 1 minute!
It's a big step, especially with a child, if you prepare properly, do the various risk/what if scenarios you could be waving your Canadian flag within a year or 2! Good luck on your adventure.


----------



## Alandanny (Dec 12, 2019)

It is true that there are many reasons. however, i think, in any country are happy. The problem is how well you adapt to the living environment in that country
See more: Best Mud Terrain Tires for the money: Truck, ATV, Street and Snow Ready of 2020 - Talk Carswell


----------



## Shrike (Dec 3, 2019)

Thanks guys, appreciate the food for thought. Since posting originally it looks increasingly like we're going to make a try. Just have a few details to work out first about the application. Going to spam the forum and irritate everyone for a bit


----------



## Alandanny (Dec 12, 2019)

So funny  Are you happy in the country you live in?


----------



## Shrike (Dec 3, 2019)

Alandanny said:


> So funny  Are you happy in the country you live in?


Honestly we're not.. can't really think of anywhere here we really want to settle down and raise the kids in. London is amazing in so many ways, but it's getting super dense and polluted, but the pay here is so much better than anywhere else in the UK (though Edinburgh is catching up a little with some roles). 

I think we also just want one more big adventure.


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Keep in mind that there are plenty of other places in Canada that you could consider, and they will have a lower cost of living that suburban Vancouver.


----------



## Shrike (Dec 3, 2019)

colchar said:


> Keep in mind that there are plenty of other places in Canada that you could consider, and they will have a lower cost of living that suburban Vancouver.



Yep! And it's looking like Vancouver isn't really a good option for us after a bit more research. I'd love it there for the outdoors access, but it's not practical for us in terms of cost and availability of work. Toronto looks way more solid that way but doesn't seem to have any mountains or whatever nearby. So still looking at good commuter locations around Toronto that are maybe good to travel quickly out of to some nice cycling or hiking areas.


----------



## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Toronto has it's river ravines. They aren't mountain areas but the Humber,Don and Rouge. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_waterway_system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_ravine_system

The city is a LONG way from any real mountains. 

Honestly anything close enough for daily commute is going to be fairly similar in terms of landscapes. I doubt you'd want a four hour one way commute


----------



## Shrike (Dec 3, 2019)

NickZ said:


> Toronto has it's river ravines. They aren't mountain areas but the Humber,Don and Rouge.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_waterway_system
> 
> ...


And cycling looks pretty woeful from digging through forums and Youtube videos. Didn't see any area yet that made me think I want to head out and spend hours there. 

The big advantage from the missus' POV is that it's a quick trip to New York. I am wondering though, how often do Torontoites really head over to NYC..


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Shrike said:


> Yep! And it's looking like Vancouver isn't really a good option for us after a bit more research. I'd love it there for the outdoors access, but it's not practical for us in terms of cost and availability of work. Toronto looks way more solid that way but doesn't seem to have any mountains or whatever nearby. So still looking at good commuter locations around Toronto that are maybe good to travel quickly out of to some nice cycling or hiking areas.


I live just west of Toronto. There are tons of hiking and cycling areas all over the place. But there are no mountains anywhere near Toronto.


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Shrike said:


> And cycling looks pretty woeful from digging through forums and Youtube videos. Didn't see any area yet that made me think I want to head out and spend hours there.


Check the Niagara Escarpment area.




> The big advantage from the missus' POV is that it's a quick trip to New York. I am wondering though, how often do Torontoites really head over to NYC..


New York City? Not that quick a trip, and frequency of visits would depend on the person. New York State (ie. Buffalo)? That is more common, but again depends on the person.

I haven't been in Buffalo, or anywhere else in the US, in more than twenty years and have absolutely no desire to go there. So again, it is down to the person.


----------



## A.Yovchev (Mar 20, 2020)

To be honest, I am not unhappy in my country, there is a lot to do here if I stay and not immigrate, but we are "the world's fastest shrinking country in the world" for a reason. Wе have quite miserable and aggressive people (not everyone of course), which you can encounter in the workplace. People don't really get along often and arguments tend to happen frequently. 
I am an electrical engineer for more than 4 years and I love my job, I really do, but sometimes I feel that the toxic relationship between the people will be the death of me if I don't do something about it.

I will be glad if someone comment on what she/he thinks of Bulgaria. What do you even know about my country? 
I am especially interested in what Brits think of us Bulgarians or the country because I lived in the UK for a while.
:confused2:
And obviously, I'm not fluent in English, but I'm planning to improve since I want to immigrate to Canada.


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

A.Yovchev said:


> To be honest, I am not unhappy in my country, there is a lot to do here if I stay and not immigrate, but we are "the world's fastest shrinking country in the world" for a reason. Wе have quite miserable and aggressive people (not everyone of course), which you can encounter in the workplace. People don't really get along often and arguments tend to happen frequently.
> I am an electrical engineer for more than 4 years and I love my job, I really do, but sometimes I feel that the toxic relationship between the people will be the death of me if I don't do something about it.
> 
> I will be glad if someone comment on what she/he thinks of Bulgaria. What do you even know about my country?
> ...




Certainly improve your English if you want, but right now it seems pretty damned good to me - and far better than many others who seek to emigrate here.


----------

