# Holiday before emigration



## typod (Jul 25, 2015)

Hi,

My family and I have just started the immigration process from the UK to Canada, hopefully Vancouver. Currently we have sat the IELTS test and are getting all the paperwork ready.

We are looking at coming over for a few weeks from just after Christmas and spend the new year in Vancouver. We have 3 young children ranging from 3-8 and we really don't want to spend all that time in a hotel room, it would drive me mad  We want this to be an exploratory trip for us as a family and want to rent a house in a suburb of Vancouver so we can really get a feel for the place. At the moment I plan to hire a care for the entire length of the visit allowing us to travel about as required to see more of the country.

I was hoping that someone out there with far more knowledge of Canada than be can give me some advice. The main questions I have are:

What sort of suburbs should I be looking at, family friendly, local shops/restaurants etc with a nice feel. I live in South West London for anyone that knows it that's the sort of area I was thinking about. We really want to get a feel for what normal life is like.

What will the weather be like? The kids are very excited with the chance of seeing snow that actually lasts (I am as well  ). We are happy to go out in the snow and looking forward to some snowy walks, but we don't want to be stuck in the house for 2 weeks.

I assume as Canada is used to snow etc, unlike the UK, the roads will be fine to drive on. Here when we get anything more than a light dusting the country closes down. Could we easily drive somewhere for a few days skiing, or into the Rockies etc or is December really not the time?

Thanks in advance


----------



## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

Suburbs: will depend on how much you can afford. Have a look at Real Estate Listings in Canada: houses, condos, land, property | REALTOR.ca to see how expensive houses are, which ones you like and can afford. That's the suburb you should look at during your trip.
Look at the quality of the schools (as you don;t pick your own school, unless you get them in private schools).
And take into account where someone with your profession can find a job. If your job typically can be found in a corporate office of a multi-national company, maybe you would like to have that nice detached 4 bedroom house in Burnaby, but you can only afford such a house in a place that has a 2 hours commute each way. 

Regarding winters/driving with snow: coming from Belgium, also not used to getting more than 3 cm of snow at a time, I can say I feel much safer on the roads here, than I ever felt in Belgium after snowfall. BTW, snow isn't the problem, it's ice on the roads that still scares me a lot! Luckily, we hardly have that where I live. Maybe 1 or 2 days/winter. I can live with that. (and I am very lucky with my 15 minute commute to my job, hahahah!)


----------



## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

Weather in Vancouver is very similar to London inmost respects. It's a different kind of cold in Vancouver in the winter and is less humid (but similarly hot) than London in the summer. 

It also rains a good deal in the winter... I remember having to fight with my brothers as to who would have to cut the grass in the back yard between Christmas and New Year if it hadn't rained or snowed over the school holiday... in the summer, the lawn needs to be mowed at least once a week, if the lawn is still green (Google BC wild fires to see how bad the drought is this summer - there are water restrictions in place at the minute).

Vancouverites aren't very good at driving in the snow (no worse than Londoners, but they have nothing on people from Toronto/Mobtreal)... fortunately it doesn't snow all winter long.

The Metro Vancouver area (the city proper and the outlying suburbs) is quite kid friendly... lots to do in both summer and winter. Once you find a place to live, check out the parks and recreation department of the municipality you're in to see what they offer (ie recreation centres often have swimming pools and ice rinks attached to them and also run leisure activities [various activities like cookery, haberdashery, etc] throughout the year). 

As for snow related activities to try whilst you're in Vancouver, I'd recommend checking out Grouse Mountain, Mt Seymour, and Cypress Bowl (they held the Moguls races during the 2010 Olympics)... they're within easy reach of the city... I know that Grouse has non sking related activities that stretch into late January. 

If you're feeling adventurous, you can hire a car and drive up to Whistler Village (co-host of the 2010 Olympics). They have something going on all the time. 

While the £ is currently _strong_ against the Loonie (the nickname for the $1 coin, similar to the UK term 'quid'), if there's a major change in government in October's federal election, it may have an effect on the strength of the Loonie... currently it's £1 = CAD 2.02$... it's not been that weak against the £ since the late 1980s/early 1990s (I remember looking at the exchange rate in the 80s when it was 2.5$ to the £ and thinking I'd never be able to afford that)


----------



## OldPro (Feb 18, 2015)

Your idea of trying to stay in a neighbourhood makes sense but as noted, you need to look at house prices to determine what neighbourhoods to look at. Where can you afford and where will you work.

Vancouver is not a commute friendly city at all and house prices are highly inflated relative to the rest of Canada. You might want to say what kind of job you do; do you have a job offer etc. as where you will work is going to be the big factor in where you should look to live.

It's like someone from here saying should I look at renting in a SW London neighbourhood to get a feel for what it will be like when I get a job in NE London.


----------



## typod (Jul 25, 2015)

Thanks for the responses everyone, some really useful information there. Regarding my Job, I am an IT Consultant, in the UK my earnings are reasonably high. From what I am hearing the contractor rates are on par with London. I tend to work for larger organisations rather than the smaller ones (10,000-200,000 people) which is why I was thinking of Vancouver. I also have some friends over there who work in IT recruitment. I don't have an offer I am looking to fly over and secure a job if we get accepted, my family will join me afterwards. I would be happy to commute 1-1.5 hours each way/day so that would give some sort of range I guess. But I imagine that is still over a year away.

It would be good just to know some good neighborhoods, as I look at houses on holiday home rental sites I have no idea if I will be walking into a more unsavory part of town when I get there  From there we can explore more, look at some houses etc and get a better feel for some of the surrounding areas. If I had to guess at a rough guide for buying a house in the 500-600,000 cad range maybe. But that is a guess at the moment. I will take a look at the site mentioned above and see what that will get me.

This is more about a holiday and seeing what the place is like, I have visited before both Vancouver and Whistler and think its an amazing city so really looking forward to showing to the wife and kids.


----------



## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

That amount will not bring you far in Vancouver. :-( No idea if you can find something decent in a good school neighbourhood for that amount.
Also, be aware that, as a newcomer, you probably will have to pay cash for your house, as you can't get a mortgage before you build up some credit score and credit history (takes up to 2 years). Being self-employed may play in your disadvantage there, as you don't have a 'stable' income. 

Hope some people who are more familiar with Vancouver will react. We looked into Vancouver too, as my husband was looking for corporate IT jobs, but decided that we had better chances/nicer house in the Toronto area. Also, I didn't want all the rain. Was so sick and tires of the rain and grey skies in Belgium.

(no idea about the quality of this website, but according to the data there, in Toronto we have more sun hours/days compared to Vancouver: 2066 hours/305 days vs 1684 on 281 days... Rain: 831mm compared to 1228mm /year.)


----------



## typod (Jul 25, 2015)

I suspected it wouldn't get me much, working on a $/£ that barely gets you a 3 bed semi here as well. The Toronto idea is interesting, I was only set on Vancouver because I have visited a few times and liked it, but I do remember the rain! Toronto looks nice as well though.

We can look into the areas, house prices and areas to live etc on our holiday, at the moment I just want to make sure we get a nice house in a nice area for our break.


----------



## OldPro (Feb 18, 2015)

Given what you have now added typod, I think your question re where to base yourself for your 2 weeks makes no real sense based on your future plans. 

Once you have a job, then you can consider where to live. I would separate that from where to base yourself for a vacation as that is all you can really talk about right now.

I would suggest it is easier for you to list some places that you are looking at for your vacation and ask if they are in decent areas. I would also suggest that you make sure you are looking at legal rentals as I get the impression you may not be looking at legal apartment hotels but rather at something like AirBnB which is coming under increased fire for the listing of illegal rentals.
Vancouver eyeballs Airbnb as rental properties snapped up
In that regard, let me warn you. If you rent a condo that is an illegal rental, it is the neighbours who may well make it very clear to you that you are not welcome there. More and more condo buildings are doing so.


----------



## typod (Jul 25, 2015)

You are 100% correct at the moment this is more focused on a holiday with the potential to explore rather than picking a place to live, which will largely depend on where/if I get a job.

I have heard the odd bits and pieces about AirBnB but didn't know it was that bad. I have been looking at them and another side called HomeAway. Clearly I don't want to do anything dodgy as this is a family holiday and I could do without that sort of problems from my short term neighbors. So far Burnaby has been mentioned and seems like a nice place but that is just looking via google maps streetview. Then again most places out there seem nice when compared to the UK, house are much bigger etc etc.


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Snow won't be a concern in Vancouver as it doesn't get snow like the rest of the country does. As WCCG mentioned, she has had to cut the grass between Christmas and New Year's!

Vancouver is also _very_ expensive so, if I were you, I would give some thought to other areas of the country before planning a holiday. And it isn't just big cities as some smaller ones (Waterloo Ontario for instance) have significant IT sectors. Granted, in Waterloo you would have far more competition for jobs because there are so many IT people there in addition to the University of Waterloo which is the best Math, Computing, and Engineering school in the country.


----------



## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

My parents house in North Delta (suburban Vancouver, roughly 25 miles from downtown or about 1.25 hours commute downtown by bus & SkyTrain) is 4 bedrooms and is about 40 years old and would likely fetch upwards from 500,000$ or more on today's market... the house next to theirs (larger and more recently renovated but the same age) recently sold for $1mil. It has a Granny flat (garden flat) in the back and is in the catchment for a good elementary (K-Grade 7) and secondary school (Grade 8-12... most of the graduating class go on to pursue post secondary education - within BC and Canada and beyond)


----------



## KerryCullen (Jul 28, 2015)

Hi, sorry to hijack your post. 

Myself (28) and my family (husband 30, son 4 and daughter 3) are looking Emigrate from the UK to Canada in the next couple of years. 
I have just a few short months left from completing a bachelors degree in Adult nursing, however we do cover a small portion of mental health, child and maternity within the curriculum, but it is rather a small amount. My husband is a qualified plumber. 
I would love to move over as soon as possible, does anyone have any advice on where to start once I am qualified? 
I've read so much and it's all quite overwhelming. I've booked tickets to a conference for people wanting to emigrate and this is held in London in October. 

Any help would be hugely appreciated! 

Many thanks


----------

