Thinking about moving out of Van...

[kerunt]

I'm a bit sick of Vancouver and all the BS that happens here on a daily basis, and the last couple weeks I've been thinking about moving out of Vancouver (and possibly BC or even Canada)... Just thoughts at this point, and if it were to happen it would probably be no sooner than in 2-3 years, but I still want to toss the idea around a bit :).

I'm sure lots of you have lived in other places in the world, and I would love to hear some ideas/feedback about where I could potentially move...

Some main concerns for me are good weather (I hate rain), good roads and reasonable living prices (Vancouver is getting more and more expensive). Oh, and the people must speak English :). (A good IT-market would be a plus, as I'm a web developer, but I'll do that research myself...) It would also be nice if the people generally knew how to drive and had some common sense about regular day-to-day things.

I've been thinking about the interior of BC, Alberta, and even as far away as Australia. Anyone live in any of these places? What are they like?

[Maverik]

Ask DNASpark.

[Good old Pete]

If you feel like leaving then go.
Not in a negative way, so really, if you've given it thought and you have nothing to tie you down then move on.

Maybe.. Japan I've lived there for 1.5 yrs and almost stayed permanent cause the great, technical roads, cool "unique" bikes and "almost" predicable short periods of spring/summer rains.

[adam112]

Canada sucks donkey nuts. Good on you. I plan on getting out of here as soon as I am done profiteering.

It's weather purgatory. Mmmm, no, actually it's weather hell. Purgatory is a little to "middle ground" to be Canadian weather.

[DNAspark99]

yea I'm working on my way out...japan calls. A few of your requirements are immediately invalidated there tho...

[ZoomaFoo]

Spain springs to mind...

[Son of Lars]

After a rather difficult past couple years, I started to formulate a similar plan. Mine involved a move to Portugal. Hasn't happened yet, but it just might.........one day.

Al

[klutch_r]

California. I'm also considering getting the hell out as soon as I'm done my MBA.

[mcdoogz]

Check out Waterloo, ON. Many IT companies - RIM (Blackberry), Google to name a couple - have offices there. The weather isn't perfect (snow in winter, humidity in summer,) but the cost of living is definately right. It's a decent sized city and people there are generally 'nice'. You can get a 3 bedroom house there for the price of a 1 bedroom apartment downtown here.

That being said, you can't move away from BS. It's always there.

[Kamui]

This is what happens when someone snaps because of the stifling social society of Japan.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/08/japan.attack.ap/index.html

Well, maybe not but it could be an explanation...

I still want to go to Japan to visit though :spinsmile

[Carpe Diem]

... loved my bikes & riding all my life, shitty weather often bummer, but not enough to leave my home & family behind for more than an extended visit...

Canada #1 ... :canadian

Maybe the city ain't your thang.... ain't mine, valley works pretty good... :coffee

[SpongeMonster]

I'd say the Okanagan but yeah cost of living is slightly silly. Not as bad as the coast supposidly. There are smaller outlying towns which are much cheaper. For me it's paradise; beaches, great roads, climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, basically everything I could want.

[integra298]

I always say, anyone who has a chance to live in a different country should do so.

[Maverik]

This is what happens when someone snaps because of the stifling social society of Japan.
I still want to go to Japan to visit though :spinsmile

What part of world these days is actually getting safer?

Only places I can think of are New York City and Brazil? Maybe Miami is also a bit safer now? How about New Orleans after Katrina?

I'm pretty sure that Tokyo is still safer than big cities in Brazil today.

[elevation]

+1 to California. LOTS of IT jobs and houses 2-3 hours outside major cities are really cheap.

I would love the opportunity to live elsewhere for a few years.

[Kamui]

What part of world these days is actually getting safer?

Only places I can think of are New York City and Brazil? Maybe Miami is also a bit safer now? How about New Orleans after Katrina?

I'm pretty sure that Tokyo is still safer than big cities in Brazil today.

hah for sure... it's always weird to see a guy like that just snap there. Tokyo should be very safe in comparison to most of the cities here.

[Ebicat]

I've lived in the San Fran area and Boston.
Both interesting in their own ways, donno if I'd go back to Boston to live though haha! San Fran is great though, specifically San Rafael.

[Demasiado]

About 6 years ago the car break-ins/vandalism at Main and 14th convinced me to move out to Coquitlam. Right next to Silver City where car vandalism doesn't happen. Pfft it happens everywhere no getting away from it.

I have lived in Chile for a few months in the Atacama desert. Dryest place on Earth, perfect for the bike but I would never want to have to call an ambulance there. I learned some Spanish while I was there, well enough to talk like a Mexican Tarzan anyhow.

California seems to be the place to be for biking, perhaps Nevada too. The weather is great, I almost speak the language and things are cheaper. BUT, I'd have to become Ameyrican. Worth it? I'm willing to find out.

Hope you get where you want to be man. This place annoys me too.

[REAPER]

Right now my home is the Gold Eagle Lodge in North Battleford, while I bounce around SK and AB. After being out here the last few weeks, I have no desire to come back to Vancouver.
Not saying this is where I will move to, but I hate Vancouver and am glad to be gone from there for awhile. Hopefully I don't get shipped back there any time soon.

Having way too much fun riding the rails all over Canada, I wish I had my bike here for my day off.

This is one of the pictures i took yesterday on the way back from Vermilion, while we were waiting for another train to go around us.

[VanDave]

Consider Victoria. It has the highest amount of sunshine of any city in Canada and has the mildest climate in the winter. It is also rapidly becoming an IT centre (e.g. it now has direct flights to San Fran).

[kerunt]

Thanks for all the replies!

Maybe.. Japan I've lived there for 1.5 yrs and almost stayed permanent cause the great, technical roads, cool "unique" bikes and "almost" predicable short periods of spring/summer rains.

Hmm, afraid my Japanese isn't all that great... in it's inexistent form ;).

Spain springs to mind...

Heard it's a beautiful place, but language is a problem :/...

California. I'm also considering getting the hell out as soon as I'm done my MBA.

But Cali is full of crazy people!

Check out Waterloo, ON.
[snip]

Well, tbh, if I were to accept snow and humidity, I would probably go for Montreal. I hear it's a fantastic and very friendly city, and considerably more reasonable in terms of living expenses than Vancouver...

That being said, you can't move away from BS. It's always there.

Can I at least hit it with a bat? :)

... loved my bikes & riding all my life, shitty weather often bummer, but not enough to leave my home & family behind for more than an extended visit...

Canada #1 ... :canadian

Maybe the city ain't your thang.... ain't mine, valley works pretty good... :coffee

Yeah that's kinda why I was also thinking of moving into the "valley"...

I always say, anyone who has a chance to live in a different country should do so.

Canada is already a "different country" for me. I was born in Ukraine and lived my first 9 (very exciting) years there :D - speak fluent Russian :).

I've lived in the San Fran area and Boston.
Both interesting in their own ways, donno if I'd go back to Boston to live though haha! San Fran is great though, specifically San Rafael.

I definitely want to visit San Fran, but I'm not sure if all those hills are good for riding (the bike) ;)

Right now my home is the Gold Eagle Lodge in North Battleford, while I bounce around SK and AB.

I'm definitely thinking about the "interior" provinces... I want to ride through them first, though ;)

Consider Victoria. It has the highest amount of sunshine of any city in Canada and has the mildest climate in the winter. It is also rapidly becoming an IT centre (e.g. it now has direct flights to San Fran).

Interesting. I've never thought of Victoria being a "sunny" city. I would think that they would get the same shitty weather we do. Living expenses there are probably also pretty damn high (if not higher).

[VanDave]

Interesting. I've never thought of Victoria being a "sunny" city. I would think that they would get the same shitty weather we do. Living expenses there are probably also pretty damn high (if not higher).

I just moved here 2 months ago. We get one half the volume of rain that Vancouver gets (600 mm versus 1200 mm). In comparison, San Francisco gets 510 mm, which is about the same as Victoria. The reason is that Victoria is in a 'rain shadow' between the Olympic mountains and the Coastal mountains.

You can read about the climate here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria,_British_Columbia

As far as costs go, housing is cheaper here, but not by a huge amount. Your average house is probably $150 to $200k less.

Car insurance is way cheaper and was almost half for my car.

Food and everything else is basically the same.

[kerunt]

I just moved here 2 months ago. We get one half the volume of rain that Vancouver gets (600 mm versus 1200 mm). In comparison, San Francisco gets 510 mm, which is about the same as Victoria. The reason is that Victoria is in a 'rain shadow' between the Olympic mountains and the Coastal mountains.

You can read about the climate here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria,_British_Columbia

As far as costs go, housing is cheaper here, but not by a huge amount. Your average house is probably $150 to $200k less.

Car insurance is way cheaper and was almost half for my car.

Food and everything else is basically the same.

Hmmm, very interesting. I never would have imagined that VI gets half the rain we do - that's rather surprising, but good news.

How do you find the roads/drivers? I'm not expecting the drivers to be much saner over there, but hoping for something ;). Are there good "riding" roads? Enough for a good day trip (700-800km)? I glanced at google maps, looks like there's quite a few roads to the south east of the island. Tried those?

I looked through apartment listings on Craigslist (since I'm currently renting a 1br, and not planning on buying anything any time soon), prices look pretty much the same as over here on the mainland...

[VanDave]

Hmmm, very interesting. I never would have imagined that VI gets half the rain we do - that's rather surprising, but good news.

How do you find the roads/drivers? I'm not expecting the drivers to be much saner over there, but hoping for something ;). Are there good "riding" roads? Enough for a good day trip (700-800km)? I glanced at google maps, looks like there's quite a few roads to the south east of the island. Tried those?

I looked through apartment listings on Craigslist (since I'm currently renting a 1br, and not planning on buying anything any time soon), prices look pretty much the same as over here on the mainland...

Victoria gets 1/2 the rain but places further up-island get more rain.

Drivers are probably better here, hence the lower insurance rates. People are definitely more courteous. I have cut two people off so far and they apologized to me. :laughing

I haven't had a chance to do much biking, but there are some goods runs. Most people are pretty positive about the roads here. Less traffic usually means a little more enjoyment.

I can see rent being the same. Victoria has the lowest rental vacancy in BC.

[ZoomaFoo]

VanDave is right, we get far less rain than the Lower Mainland.

I live in Sooke, about 40 km outside of Victoria, and am surrounded by beautiful, twisty roads, away from the city and perfect for riding. I know you said you're planning on renting, but for what it's worth we likely saved something like $125,000 - $150,000 buying a house in Sooke vs. in Victoria itself (last summer we bought a three-bedroom, two-storey, 1800 square foot house with garage that's only four years old and sits on a 1/3 of an acre). I work in town so there's a bit of a commute, but nothing like what many deal with daily on the mainland, and I'm well used to it now.

As for Spain, I wouldn't let the language barrier stop you, as many (if not most) of the citizens there speak English, and as far as languages go, Spanish is nowhere near the most difficult to learn, in my limited experience. Also, people there know how to drive and ride properly (ie. they use a horn to actually signal or warn when there is a good reason, unlike here where the horn is basically used as a "FUCK YOU!" button).

[ilovemyfootball]

I lived in the Bay Area of Cali for a while (San Jose/Santa Clara). While I really enjoyed the time I spent there, and would definately go back for a visit, there's no way I'd ever consider moving there. There's just too many things wrong with the US (health care is the first that comes to mind) to consider actually living there (for me at least). But if you ever do get the chance to take the bike down, you'll be in heaven.

[Cliffy]

Victoria would suck after a couple of riding seasons.
No offense guys, but it really does suck after a while when the same roads get a bit routine.
Getting off the Island to ride is always a pain in the arse with the ferries.
The Island hiway isn't exactly twisty and I got pretty sick of riding to Port Renfrew, Alberni, and Comox for a change of scenery.

I'd move to Spain, or even France before ever considering anyplace else.
The riding there is incredible, and the lifestyle is pretty laid back.

[chixilog]

Japan is my first choice,,if im ever gonna move outta here...i've only been there once but only for a short period of time..if i ever win the Lottery ,i'd prolly move there...:flashy