Vancouver - would you move there?

[Swimminguphill]

Hi my DH has had an approach from a company in Vancouver and we are considering whether it would be viable for us to move there. We have 2 DC aged 7 and 5 and I currently work freelance in the cultural sector. I have looked online and a lot of people seem quite down about Van even though it's a beautiful location with lots of outdoorsy activities. We are an active family and love mountains, lakes, watersports etc. but we also really enjoy culture, intellectual debate and being around people who enjoy the same. Will we feel like fish out out of water? Also we are a bi-cultural family and what we enjoy about London is that this is completely unremarkable. Although Van appears to have quite a few immigrants I get the feeling there's some slight unease there, and that it might be difficult to fit in. We've both lived abroad/moved countries before and so we know about the difficulty you can have in making close friendships so we take that as given. I guess we've considered smaller cities in the UK but have always stepped back as we didn't know if we'd fit in as a family. I would hope a large city like Vancouver would be quite accepting. I'd have no concerns about Toronto on that score but would welcome any experiences people have had of Van?

Two days is not long if you haven’t narrowed down your choice to a VERY small geographical area. I’ve done it twice to house-hunt but both times have flown in on the Friday to a small town and not looked at schools (because there were only two and one didn’t have room). Both times I contacted a chosen realtor in advance and emailed back and forth to discuss exactly what we were looking for, and she set up a day and a half of viewings, that gave us half a day for any second viewings we were interested in, and formal drawing up of offer.
We made absolutely sure she understood I had two days and needed everything to run smoothly.
(I assume BC realtors work the same way - email one you like the look of and they can arrange all viewings, not just their own listings - this makes life much easier, not like UK where each estate agent looks after their own properties)

Public transport is pretty bad compared to Europe so I would scope out which ares are either very near work, or very good links to work.

Yes I have been looking at the sky train line thinking of around the Nainamo stop or also Shaughnessy but that looks to be very expensive!

My youngest gets a horrendous bronchial cough/croup every winter, all winter and I’m convinced it’s the pollution in London.

You'll miss it probably, but BC has had the worst air quality in the world recently, due to massive forest fires. We might have nice air most of the time but periodically the fires mean we have dreadful air. You could actually taste it.

Ohhhhhhhh hell yes! I spent a lot of time in Vancouver as a child and I adore the place! Especially Vancouver Island.

We nearly emigrated there when I was a child but the Canadian immigration is one of the strictest set of requirements to meet.

Do it. You'll regret it if you don't. Canada is an outstanding, beautiful and relaxed country. I'm incredibly jealous

MrsTerryPratchett I have been following that on the news!

I would move there in a heartbeat, have family over there , been many times for long stays , normally annually , my dd is mixed (dad is from African Muslim county ) , absolutely no worries there and didn't feel any less diverse than London to me. It just feels so open and beautiful mountain views even from the city , it takes me a while when I come home to not feel caged in, I love how you can be in the city and in no time at all be in the wilderness watching baby bears , I can't speak on the costs with housing etc but to me the quality of life is great . Can you tell I'm missing it

If you are planning to buy a home there are currently some large additional taxes on foreign buyers, you may be better off renting until you have permanent residence but the market is still moving up so that is a risk too. I have spent extended periods working there (I moved from the UK 11 years ago and live in Edmonton AB) and like it, but prefer living in Edmonton as it is a it more chilled out, friendly and massively less expensive.

With regards to limited paid vacation, this is an issue, but my experience is that employers can be quite accommodating of requests for unpaid time off and understanding that many members off staff have family overseas and need to take occasional extended trips. It is not unusual for my colleagues to take three weeks or a month off every couple of years. It is worth asking about this in interviews.