Moving to Canada for 12 months - IEC Working Holiday Visa

-westy- said:
Thanks mate - am feeling ok about it actually. I think I'm a bit more apprehensive about arriving in the first place, but I plan on a week or so in a hostel first to get my bearings and to meet some new people - I think it'd be good for me to expand my horizons too :) Obviously it would have been better with Emma, as we were best friends as well, but I think we both just want different things, so its time to move on :)

I'm very much looking forward to it though, I figure I'll either love it and want to stay forever, or hate it and want to come home after a couple of months :p
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Either way at least you've tried something new :)

Has it changed where you want to go at all? I know you were not sure about whether to go to Vancouver or Toronto.
 
Yeah that is a good price, we got £309 (plus we paid around £20 each for certain seats), which I think was a very good deal.

We'll probably miss each other! Our visas run out on the 18th of March and we're 99% sure we're going home. We may stay on a tourist visa for a couple of weeks and do some traveling around though, depending on finances.
 
Awesome, don't worry, you'll love it here. I'm slowly changing my mind and I feel like I want to stay now, but I know my girlfriend doesn't, which is a problem :(

It's lovely and sunny here today, and there's been some awesome fog in the city in the mornings, which is kind of cool.

Anyway, to get you excited, watch this:


It starts a bit slow but gets better.
 
A week will be plenty to see the main sights.

I'd definitely get over to North Vancouver and check out Lynn Canyon and the suspension bridge if you can. It's free.

The Museum of Anthropology out at UBC is awesome if you're into First Nations are and stuff.

The Vancouver Lookout is cheap, and pretty cool. It's not massively high up, but you do get some cool views of the city.

Granville Island is worth checking out, maybe do a tour of the Granville Island brewery. I've not done it yet, but want to.

Try and get some tickets to a Canucks game, Craigslist or stubhub.com will probably be your best bet. They're expensive though, you'll be paying over $100 for tickets right at the back, but it's well worth it, I love going to games there!

Rent a bike and cycle around the Sea Wall in Stanley Park.

If it's a nice evening, get up to English Bay, have some beers, and watch the amazing sunset up there.
 
Unfortunately there's nothing like that, although there has been talks of it I think it's a long way off. There's quite a few bike rental places around the city, last time we went we got some from a place on Denman Street near Stanley Park. In fact I think we're going to get some this weekend as the weather is pretty nice right now :)
 
Awesome! The whole downtown area is really walkable. I can walk from my place (kind of in between Rogers Arena and BC Place) up to Stanley Park in about 35-40 minutes. Going 'side to side', so to speak, is obviously much quicker. I love it!

If you don't manage to get tickets to the hockey, you should definitely at least make it to a bar somewhere to watch it. Every single bar will have multiple TVs showing the game, so you've got lots to choose from.

Cycling the seawall is fun, it doesn't take long, but you if you get mountain bikes you can cycle into the park and explore there as well. Within 5 minutes you'll suddenly feel like you're in the middle of nowhere and miles from any city!
 
Oh, you've landed have you? Cool. Yeah we had to wait for a couple of hours to get though. It's a shame the weather has been a bit crap today, it was lovely yesterday.

There's 3-4 games a week, so you'll definitely see something! In fact, there's a game starting in 2 hours (away at St. Louis Blues, but it'll be on TV).

How are you feeling now that you're finally here?
 
Yeah I know the feeling. When we first got here we were suddenly really excited, although when we finally settled where we were staying we did think "WTF are we doing?". That quickly passed though!

Anyway, Welcome to Canada! :)
 
Marky said:
Haha thanks bud ;)

I'm currently sat at the bar downstairs about to watch the Canucks game with some fish and chips on the way - Sorted :p

If you and your gf are ever free and in downtown let me know and we'll have to have a few drinks!
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Sorry mate only just seen this. I'm actually not drinking at the moment (although we're going to Seattle next weekend so I'll have a few then) as I'm on some paleo/weight training/detox thing to try and shift a beer belly! haha. Maybe once you're settled in a bit we could grab a drink over Christmas? (I'll likely have some beers then too :))

Origin said:
Is anyone there over Christmas? I get over Mid December to activate my permanent residence and then will be back in the UK for Jan and then back for good from Mid Feb onwards. Will be in the Vancouver area. So would be happy to meet up with people for a few drinks etc.
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Yup, I'll be here. Probably heading back to the UK around mid-March / April though :(
 
-westy- said:
Is that a definite thing then, you can't change her mind?
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Not definite, we can change our mind. But if we leave it too late then we'll miss out on applying for another visa.

Applying for a visa costs money as well, so if we apply for it then it would only really be worthwhile if we were staying for at least another 6-12 months I'd say.

Natalie is adamant that we'll be going home though, she knows I'm coming around to the idea of staying a bit longer though. I think we're both just forgetting about it right now and we'll make a decision in 6-8 weeks when the visas open up again.
 
Marky said:
It's going good man - If I'm totally honest, yesterday I hit the homesick wall... Started getting pretty down about being away from home, but a quick call back home and I'm feeling a little better today.

When I rented a bike to go to Stanley Park on Sunday, I ended up renting it for half a day - Rode all around the park, down the seawall and down the other side through the city. Accidentally went into Chinatown (I've since been told never to go into Chinatown alone, and it's true - It's pretty risky around there!). But all in all an awesome day out ;)

The amount of homeless people there are that are just laying about on the streets is a little depressing - They've certainly got a big homeless problem out here, it's really sad to see :(
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Sounds like you had a great ride!

I work out on Dunlevy Avenue, in Railtown, on the edge of Chinatown. Yes, there's a lot of homeless people (particularly around Openheimer Park), and you'll regularly see people shooting up in broad daylight, but it's really not a dangerous place. Vancouver is a really safe city and Natalie and I have onl ever felt unsafe once (on our first day and unsure of the area we were in - but in hindsight it was fine).

There's a lot of homeless people as it's a very compact city, so it feels more concentrated. I've only ever encountered one or two rude ones, for the most part every one I've encountered/spoken to/given money to has been lovely :)

I bet you're excited for Whistler. You'll love it up there :)
 
I've met one Irish guy here who, I think, works in construction. I'm probably not the right person to ask though, but I have heard that construction and engineering is a good field to try and find work in if moving out here from the UK and Ireland.
 
Well, it's pretty much certain we're coming home in March/April next year. I'm absolutely gutted. My girlfriend wants to go home basically, I'd happily stay, and honestly if I was single I probably wouldn't ever go home. I can't stay here though if she is unhappy.

Some things about going home excite me, but all I can really feel right now is sad that I only have a few months left here. I hate the thought of not being here one day.

She says she hopes I don't end up resenting her once we're back, of course I won't, but I can't help but feel miserable at the thought of being home again.
 
McDaniel said:
Well after 2 months attempting to get work there with little interest even at basic level jobs - I came home and got hired within 3 weeks on over £40k a year, so in some ways I am glad I am back but equally... I miss it :(
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Trouble for me is that I'm probably going to be coming back to a lower paid job, I did well here getting into a job that pays over £10k more than I was getting back home. That'll be a shame to leave :(
 
You must be excited about your impending move? We're definitely leaving on 18th March now, it's a shame we won't get to meet for a beer or anything when you arrive.

We finish work on 28th February, spending a week down in San Francisco, and then a week or so back here sorting things out and getting ready to head home.

It's sad to think about leaving here, but I have to accept it now. Natalie wrote a post about our decision the other day: http://www.ourcanadianadventure.co.uk/2014/01/winter-in-vancouver/
 
Yeah definitely the 18th now. I'm not massively looking forward to going home, fortunately we've got stuff planned between now and then so it's taking my mind off it. It'll be nice being back with friends and family, but I imagine that initial excitement will pass, and once we're back into a routine we'll wonder why the hell we left Vancouver. It's just one of those things though.

I'm not expecting us to move back, no.
 
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