Hi there!

(i’ve just posted the same post on another forum topic but realised it might fit better here…)

I am considering moving to Canada wth hubby to be and baby son of 21 months.  We have visited a few places in Canada (Victoria, Richmond, Whistler, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Niagra….) and a few others along the way over the past few years but when you visit as a tourist, its difficult to experience the true culture of a city/town.

I suppose my question to you would be - what is the day to day culture and lifestyle like in Vancouver and how would this compare to other places is this hugely diverse country?

I am 27 years old, currently live in Scotland (and yes a highland dancer!) enjoy the outdoors and the countlyside but also enjoy city culture i.e. shopping, coffee, nightlife…

That sounds a bit like a CV!  I just want to make sure we choose somewhere that matches our desired lifestyle as its such a big decision to emigrate that I want to make sure I get it right for us.

Thanks for any help

jules

I guess I would first ask you why are you considering Vancouver and what are your skills.  Are you going to find employment quickly?

I have lived here all my life and traveled around the world twice.  It would be very tough for me to relocate any where else in the world.  Vancouver fits my lifestyle….mountaineering….mountain biking…..hiking…...close to everything…...I love sailing to the gulf islands…Sunshine Coast….. as well as Vancouver Island.,,,,and the quick weekend getaways to the USA.

So you should consider your lifestyle and whether Vancouver is the place for you.  Have you done much research?

Good Luck

I am different from Passion as I have not travelled the world
I am more of a home body type. I actually feel kind of spoiled living in a beautiful city like Vancouver. So on the rare occasion I do some travelling it is hard to impress me as I feel we have it pretty good here!
Persoanlly I live in a nice area and am only minutes from the forest, ocean and mountains. it is always green here, not all dried out and brown like other areas.
I love the outdoors too.
Vancouver has all the stuff that is on your wish list of things to do.
Do you know anyone that lives here, sometimes that is a big part of enjoying where you live. if I didn’t have my friends life would not be the same.
Just know that different neighbourhoods in the lowermainland vary greatly. some are wonderful and some can be down right undesirable!!!
Do your homework, check out schools for your child, transportation issues to where ever it is you may end up working etc.
Perhaps take advantage of some realators to show you around different areas and give you the ins and outs of different locations.
its hard to compare apples to oranges and different parts of the city are just like that,always keep that in mind!
If you do decide to move here I hope you end up as happy as I am with the city!

Hi
I moved with my husband and 3 kids from the UK nearly 3 years ago, and i don’t want to go back!
We live in Maple Ridge, close enough to Vancouver but country feel to it.
There is the Stave scottish dancing club near Maple Ridge!
I have not regretted moving here at all.
B.C is very much like the lake district in UK. and i lived there for a while so can compare it.
We did not know anyone here, but have found most people quite friendly.
The realtor we had was from the UK and had been here for 4 years b4 us.
You can contact me if you want to know anything that maybe i’ve had to do, or gone through to help you.
B.C is a beautiful placeand we are grateful everyday that we are here.

Hi Jules,

I lived in vancouver area most of my life…The final straw was the massive immigration for the past 10 years which as you can see from the news has resulted in hundreds of new gangs, massive shootings, home invasions etc. much the same as the UK where I also have lived. The cost to own a home in the Lower Mainland is not worth the view of the mountains that you can see on a sunny day (it mostly rains in vancouver). If you like Richmond then you should also check out hong kong, if you like surrey (crime wave capital) or Port Coquitlam (murder capital of Canada) ask about crime stats. Breaking and entering stats out of the top 16 for worse in the nation BC had 13! After the olympics have come and gone you will be saddled with a huge tax, more homeless (returning they are being shipped to Kelowna for now). Drugs drive crime especially when gangs run a port city like vancouver…feeding drug habits causes property crime…British Columbia has the highest rate of children living in poverty. You are rich or you are working poor, the middle has been squeezed out.  They are asking for 400+ more police and a huge federal prison, if that is not writing on the wall I don’t know what is…

Check into the Maritimes, Nova Scotia (New Scotland) My family drove across Canada to find the best place, other family members researched for years. We don’t live in BC anymore, were lucky to get out before the housing market crashed.

i think the only reason for vancouver is the weather, as the rest of the canadian towns have colder weather, but vancouver has the rain, although you would feel right at home being from scotland. i personaly do not recomend canada. this has been mentioned before, and someone has posted the site notcanada.com, outlining why people should not choose canada. i think canada looks good on paper, but the reality is dfferent.  it may even look ok during visits, but once you have to be there long term, its not so good anymore.

Actually what’s the best way to success migrate to Vancouver? Business migration? How about a man which less than 40 yrs old. As I know Vancouver has a lots of Chinese migrates.

Vancouver has all the stuff that is on your wish list of things to do.The place is good..Have a relaxing sites and many more..

Regards

Braxtone
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