I’ve always had a fascination for Canada and I’m not really sure why or when it first began.
Maybe it was the idea of the vastness of a place with beautiful landscapes and the remoteness of many parts of it. Maybe it’s how peaceful a nation it seems, with the Canadian hospitality being known all over (and regularly taken the piss out of by the Americans!). Whatever it is, the day Britain opted out of the EU, my husband and I made the decision that we wanted to try Canada for ourselves.
For me, Vancouver was a no-brainer – incredible scenery with mountains on one side and the open sea on the other, the most moderate weather Canada can offer (I’m just not brave enough for -40 in the winter!) and I loved reading about the whole arts and creative scene in Vancouver. For Stuart, it was about the ambulance service and he was impressed at what he read about the British Columbian Ambulance Service.
But who moves to a country without first visiting?
We knew we would need to plan a trip, just to get a feel for what Vancouver had to offer. So last June we set off to see if our vision of Vancouver actually matched what was there.
Guys, it’s safe to say we basically fell in love with the place.
On day two I turned to Stuart and said, “It feels like home”. And he agreed. The people we met were welcoming and helpful way beyond what they needed to be. The city itself has a great atmosphere to it and there were some amazing neighbourhoods that I totally fell in love with. Downtown Vancouver is like no other city I’ve visited – for starters, it’s so much quieter than most other cities. And it’s so green! And I don’t know many other cities in the world that boast mountain views, open ocean and beaches and a national park. Stanley Park was incredible and I really enjoyed biking around it’s perimeter in the sunshine. Definitely something I could see myself doing in the future.
But hey, I’ll stop raving and show you some photographs!
One day we picked up a hire car and drove up to Whistler…
So, maybe now you can see why we fell in love with the place?!
In those two weeks, we became more and more sure that this was a place we could happily live. So, we’re making plans to move there! 🙂 Obviously you can’t make up your mind about an entire country from a two-week stay so we’ve decided to have a crack at living there for a year and seeing what we think. Life’s too short not to take a chance, right? I’d love to hear from anyone who has made the move though, it’s always good to hear other people’s experiences so feel free to drop a comment below if you’re happy to share.
My plan is to take the photography business with me when we go so it’d be awesome to get to know any photographers in the Vancouver area. If you happen to be reading, say hi! I’d love to chat with you!