# Canada or UK



## hazzybuzz (Oct 16, 2012)

Hi All,

I live in UK, Manchester and I'm still indecisive about taking the plunge. We visited Canada few years ago and totally fell in love with the place. The scenery bowled us over, but never at that stage thought I should relocate here. We spent about 5 weeks visiting Vancouver, Vancouver Island (Victoria and Tofino) Banff, Jasper, Calgary and it was absolutely amazing. I have two young kids, my dh is a GP and I have a software consultancy, self-employed and life is overall good in the UK. We've just got itchy foot, and thinking to make a move from UK, I can also say I'm a bit fed up of UK, I'm Indian and moved to UK a while ago, love everything here, but something is missing in terms of quality of life. UK economy is not so great and crime is on the increase. 

We like lots of outdoorsy activities, we ski every year, love nature walks and trails, We have travelled quite a lot, our kids go to a great private school, we have made of lots of friends here, and I want to be able to do all these things and have the same if not higher quality of life in Canada. Is this possible? One of my dh's friend has moved from here and loves it in Canada. He is also a GP and loves working for healthcare in Canada and he has made lots of progress in terms of developing his professional skills and enjoys being a GP there. They live near Calgary. I'm not too keen on Calgary as I have been there and to me it was a bit dull. No offence to anyone from Calgary but its my personal opinion. I'm thinking Vancouver. Vancouver ticked all the boxes for us when we were in Canada and I loved the city to bits. The question I have now is should we move or stay in the UK? What can I expect in terms of quality of life? Will I be able to afford housing and good schools in Vancouver? How safe is Vancouver for my kids? Any advise will be helpful. Thanks so much.


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

hazzybuzz said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I live in UK, Manchester and I'm still indecisive about taking the plunge. We visited Canada few years ago and totally fell in love with the place. The scenery bowled us over, but never at that stage thought I should relocate here. We spent about 5 weeks visiting Vancouver, Vancouver Island (Victoria and Tofino) Banff, Jasper, Calgary and it was absolutely amazing. I have two young kids, my dh is a GP and I have a software consultancy, self-employed and life is overall good in the UK. We've just got itchy foot, and thinking to make a move from UK, I can also say I'm a bit fed up of UK, I'm Indian and moved to UK a while ago, love everything here, but something is missing in terms of quality of life. UK economy is not so great and crime is on the increase.
> 
> We like lots of outdoorsy activities, we ski every year, love nature walks and trails, We have travelled quite a lot, our kids go to a great private school, we have made of lots of friends here, and I want to be able to do all these things and have the same if not higher quality of life in Canada. Is this possible? One of my dh's friend has moved from here and loves it in Canada. He is also a GP and loves working for healthcare in Canada and he has made lots of progress in terms of developing his professional skills and enjoys being a GP there. They live near Calgary. I'm not too keen on Calgary as I have been there and to me it was a bit dull. No offence to anyone from Calgary but its my personal opinion. I'm thinking Vancouver. Vancouver ticked all the boxes for us when we were in Canada and I loved the city to bits. The question I have now is should we move or stay in the UK? What can I expect in terms of quality of life? Will I be able to afford housing and good schools in Vancouver? How safe is Vancouver for my kids? Any advise will be helpful. Thanks so much.


IMO and FWIW I, in your situation, would stay in the UK. Vancouver is certainly a very attractive city as are the surrounding areas. The city has a very high rainfall rate, probably, outside the summer months, about as bad as the UK. You presently have a good lifestyle and *if* better in Canada it would be by a slim margin. Housing in VC is quite expensive. It has a drug problem but most people living there are not normally exposed to it. Your children would be quite safe. 
Stay in the UK and enjoy regular visits to Europe and vacations in Canada if you remain enamoured with the country.


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## hazzybuzz (Oct 16, 2012)

Thanks very much for the reply. We will consider that, but still would like to test the waters on the other side.:confused2: There's something about our life here thats not quite perfect and to me its the gloomy UK economy and working long hours. I aspire to have a simple life where we as parents can spend more time with our children and with each other, that seems unachievable to us in the UK. We'll have to see if we can possibly do a working holiday for 6 or 12 months in or near Vancouver and may be make the take plunge if we like it.


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## Jrge (Mar 22, 2011)

Hi,


hazzybuzz said:


> Thanks very much for the reply. We will consider that, but still would like to test the waters on the other side.:confused2: There's something about our life here thats not quite perfect and to me its the gloomy UK economy and working long hours. I aspire to have a simple life where we as parents can spend more time with our children and with each other, that seems unachievable to us in the UK. We'll have to see if we can possibly do a working holiday for 6 or 12 months in or near Vancouver and may be make the take plunge if we like it.


While I agree with you when it comes to the economy in Europe, not just the UK, keep in mind that working hours in North-America, whether is Canada or the US, are much longer than anywhere in Europe. Holidays are lesser here than anywhere else. 

Anyway, there isn't any other experience like the one we make and live!

Animo
(Cheers)


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