Hi all, I am looking to move to Canada Christmas 2010. I have decided on Vancouver and Vancouver Island as my choices. Could anyone give me information on the best places I should move to? I am 24 yr old registered nurse who likes to party and meet new people. I also like a bit of peace. I would like to move where I have the best of both worlds - (if there is any such thing!) I have no children, love shopping and enjoy eating out. Any help will be greatly appreciated!!
Where is best to move to?
- Thread starter zoe0411
- Start date
Welcome zoe
I am hooked on Vancouver Island and I live in Nanaimo, which is a compact little city of about a hundred and twenty thousand people. Vancouver is twenty minutes away by air and three hours away by the ferry system. Victoria is roughly an hour and a half away by car.
Are you male or female?
I am hooked on Vancouver Island and I live in Nanaimo, which is a compact little city of about a hundred and twenty thousand people. Vancouver is twenty minutes away by air and three hours away by the ferry system. Victoria is roughly an hour and a half away by car.
Are you male or female?
Im female ( well i should be with my name being Zoe haha!) I have been looking at nanaimo and my friend is moving there next April so it is appealing!! I have read some reviews which say it is suitable for retirement? Is there much nightlife in Nanaimo? how much does an average apartment cost? do you think it would suit my sort of lifestyle? thanks for the initial advice!
Food and housing at Whistler is way over the top with the Olympics coming up. The person needs to come to Nanaimo. Much more affordable then either Vancouver or Whistler. Since we have so many Albertans moving in it's obviously more affordable than many places. Even though I heard Calgarians mentioned as part of a conversation regarding people moving here we get a lot of Prairie people and a lot of people from Ontario.
It's been a little chilly and damp here for the past week or so but the hot weather is coming back and we should be hot again in about another 2 days. According to the report the City gets - we should be back to the mid 30's. High 20's is good for me.
Hi Zoe, move to the country if you really want to live it up in the new world. BC seems perfect for that.
I cannot answer your night life question. The young people I work with certainly seem to enjoy the night life. It is suitable for retirement because of our weather and affordable housing. Most that retire here come for the weather. However - that doesn't mean we are a city full of retirees. It's a good mix and apparently we have more shopping per capita than any other city in Canada which to me sounds odd but we do have a lot of places to shop. I think that in some cases you can use google to see what the rents are like. I work with people that earn as little as $9.75 per hour and they seem to be able to afford places to live. As a nurse you should be able to afford better housing than they can. I don't know what the work situation is here for nursing but I do know that my son's best friend just moved over here from Vancouver a few months ago and his wife is a nurse. She managed to get hired immediately at the local hospital.
They don't require a lot of nurses in the "country" and I doubt there is much night life either.
Thank you all for your posts, they are really helpful - Nanaimo is sounding a lot more appealing to me! anymore advice from anyone will be greatly appreciated x
Vancouver Island would be a much better chocie than Vancouver, cheaper to live, safer environment, easier to get around. A lot depends on the size of community you are looking for and what amenities you desire. I spent over 45 years of my life living in various communities on Vancouver Island, none of them too objectionable- if there is one it might be Victoria, but Nanaimo, Duncan, Port Alberni, Comox Valley, Campbell River, Parksville are all liveable. Nanaimo would be the largest of those with a pop. of 80,000- the rest would vary between 10 and 40 thousand. Parksville has a good climate and is centrally located to Nanaimo, Port Alberni and Courtenay, all within 40 minutes. All the communities are on the ocean. Google the names I mentioned.
You speak of retiremnt and night life, with our economy the way it is these days, it's just about impossible to do both, so I would advise you just to plan on one. You can pay $10 for a drink in some of these places.
Being a nurse raised the probability of you being female but I hate to assume.;-)
There is live theatre in Nanaimo, and the town certainly has it's share of pubs, restaurants, and movie houses.
In your opening post you expressed a desire for peace. Nanaimo is definitely more peaceful than Vancouver but I don't know how it compares with what you're used to.
The average one bedroom apartment cost is probably in the region of $200,000.00 Canadian dollars near the hospital. Maybe a little less.
I hope this helps..
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Yeah, real estate is pretty steep in Nanaimo, Port Alberni may be a better choice (brand new hospital to boot) it's has most of the amenities found in Nanaimo and housing is much cheaper. Just have to get used to a little fog and rain in winter.
A couple small points:
When you take the ferry from the mainland to Victoria you still have another thirty kms or so to travel to get to Victoria. If you take a ferry to Nanaimo, it takes you right into the center of town.
Here are some images of Nanaimo:
Google Image Result for http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/17/ea/1a/shot-of-nanaimo-harbour.jpg
When you take the ferry from the mainland to Victoria you still have another thirty kms or so to travel to get to Victoria. If you take a ferry to Nanaimo, it takes you right into the center of town.
Here are some images of Nanaimo:
Google Image Result for http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/17/ea/1a/shot-of-nanaimo-harbour.jpg
I lived in Victoria for five years, it's a little like a commune, if you weren't there from day one you don't fit in. Most Victorians don't know the existance of anything north of the Malahat. It's windy there all the time. Parksville is worth checking out 20 minutes from Nanaimo 40 minutes from Port Alberni and the driest climate on the Island.
There are some new buildings in Nanaimo but none that change the skyline. Some of it is maybe eighties but not seventies. 98 percent of those pictures can be taken today with very little change. They are very good to give someone from outside the country an idea what Nanaimo is like, regardless of what some old guys think...;-):smile: