Moving to Canada – Halfway Around The World

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Although I love to travel, there’s always a part of me that loves to come home. Even if it’s just to start planning the next trip. My (adopted) home in this case is Vancouver, after moving to Canada from the UK. A most amazing city, if not a little expensive to live here. But it does really have everything you could want in a destination: Mountains, Beaches, City and Parks. Sure it can rain a lot but the summers are amazing, the winters are mild and the views are always fantastic.

First time leaving home

I first came to Vancouver in 2006 from the UK. I had been out of university for a couple of years. After being unsuccessful in landing my dream job instantly, my patience wore thin. I thought “Screw it! I’m going travelling”. OK, that wasn’t really what I thought, despite a good trip somewhere being my answer to everything now. As someone who had never really traveled before, and certainly not alone, it wasn’t so much the travel that drew me in. Rather it was my impatient twenty-something year old brain that decided the reason I didn’t have the job I wanted was because I lacked “experience”. Whatever that meant.

Need more reasons to travel? Here are 25 reasons why travel is good for you

At that age I was not someone who really liked to be away from home. I had traveled overseas only a handful of times. Up until that point my Dad, who hated the idea of plane travel, had never been outside of the UK. This meant our family vacations were always in the UK. I was lucky that my high school organized a couple of exchange programs in Europe to develop our language skills. I’d also been on a couple of vacations to the sun seeking spots of Europe with my friends. Although the latter was spent mostly sleeping off the hangovers from the night before (sorry Mum). Or realizing that my pale and freckled English complexion didn’t deal well with the sun. Usually this realization came after being burnt on day one and hiding from the sun the rest of the trip.

So you can imagine my parents’ surprise when I announced I was moving to Canada for 6 months all on my own.

Finding a place to travel to

So how did I choose Vancouver? Well, as an unseasoned traveler I figured it would be best to travel somewhere I spoke the language. Australia and New Zealand seemed too far away. The furthest I’d been up until that point was a 4 hour plane ride to Grand Canaria, so 23 year old Emma was probably onto something. After some research I also realized getting a visa to work and travel in the United States was not easy. My pool of places where English was the dominant language was really growing thin. I did a few basic internet searches and ended up finding a work abroad program in Canada where I could get an open work visa. Pair this with my love of maple syrup and it seemed like we had a winner.

I was given a choice of arrival cities between Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Did you think my strategy of using language to pinpoint a country to travel to was good? Well you’ll love my method of narrowing down a city to call my home. It was truly the most British criteria ever. The weather! Please bear in mind my 23 year old self was not a confident, seasoned traveler and I now select my travel destinations based on much more. Vancouver’s rainy but mild climate – similar to the UK except summer is more than a weekend long – seemed to score infinitely better than the prospect of extremely hot summer followed by extremely cold winters that lay waiting for anyone in Toronto or Montreal.

Moving to Canada

I had a location picked out, and about 4 months in which to save and plan. It was daunting leaving my home country and smaller city. I was about to travel halfway around the world alone without a job, friends or a place to live. I had been in contact with a couple of others from the same work abroad program ahead of time, so at least I wasn’t feeling quite as alone as I could have been.

My first day in Vancouver was a sunny Spring day. The ride from the airport to my Downtown hostel gave me my first views of the city I would call home for the next 6 months. It was a bigger city than I was used to. The cars drove on the wrong side of the road and everyone had an accent very different from mine. I suddenly realized I had no plans after my first 3 nights in the hostel. Over the next few days I managed to secure a summer job, find a cheap apartment to share and got my bearings in an unfamiliar city.

Settling into Vancouver life

The first few weeks were lonely though. I met a couple of people through the hostel I was staying in. Although like most travelers they moved on after a couple of days. I called my parents most days, and put on a brave face voice telling them about all the things I was experiencing and not wanting them to worry. But there were times when I wanted to go home. 

Within a few weeks though I met a lot more people at work. I am still close friends with some of them 13 year later. I had a place to live sharing an apartment with a couple of nice people. My job was fun and gave me enough time off to enjoy my new surroundings. So I called my parents and told them I wasn’t coming home after 6 months, and was going to stay the full year of my work visa. I think that is the moment my Mum knew I would never really return home to the UK.

Moving to Vancouver permanently: becoming a Canadian

I ended up loving Vancouver so much that I applied to become a permanent resident. After a long process which involved more travelling, saving and visits to Vancouver, I finally ended up moving to Canada permanently in 2011. I have been here for 8 years now. I am a Canadian citizen. Now I live in an amazing downtown apartment with my Canadian boyfriend and views of the mountains. I also have a job that allows me to travel and think about travel every day.

From that first big international trip 12 years ago I have been further around the world than I ever thought I would go. How crazy is that? I’m happy living in Vancouver always planning my next adventure. So that’s what brought me to creating my own blog. I read about the experiences of others, and find blogs and personal recommendations so helpful when planning my own trips that I want to be able to do the same.

When friends ask me for travel advice I am always excited to recommend somewhere to stay, eat or visit. I have gotten over my fear of travelling where I won’t understand the language. Two years living in China sorted that one out. And the weather is lower down on my list of reasons not to visit a place.

I have since visited Toronto and Montreal, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. But I still think I made the right choice as I can’t imagine never having been to Vancouver, let alone not living here. Moving to Canada was one of the best things I ever did.

If you’ve enjoyed this blog post leave a comment or share using the social media links below. Where was your first big trip? Have you ever moved halfway around the world?