It really was a vital part of our emigration. You should think of it as one of the golden rules and no-one should leave the UK without one. On the other hand, don’t mistake a holiday for a reccie. They are absolutely not one and the same thing. Never think you can live somewhere you have fallen in love with on holiday. Not without some serious research anyway. We’ve all been places and convinced ourselves we could live there and have wanted to escape the dreary everyday conveyor belt of ordinary life. But it’s simply not realistic because unless you have a lottery win, the lifestyle you lead when you get there will be entirely the opposite of what you experienced on holiday.

So in a nutshell, if you’ve never been you should, and if you had a holiday and loved it, come back and experience some reality.

A few things you might want to think about building in to your itinerary are for example, spend an hour or two in a supermarket. Yes I know that sounds bizarre, but we did just that. We took a notebook and pen and went round the supermarket and priced up a ton of everyday products and food. I’m sure people wondered what on earth we were doing but it gave us a good insight into the cost of living.

Get a hire car and do some motoring at rush hour (not that it’s anything like the rush hours I remember). If you have been researching areas and know roughly where you would like to live, try doing the route to the city or Dartmouth depending on where you see yourself being employed. Calculate the cost of gas if your commute ends up being longer.

If you are coming over to also try and gain employment or have some interviews with prospective employers, spend some time before you come formatting your employment history and skills to appeal to North American Employers with our Automatic Résumé template. We will host your new Résumé and also supply a unique sharing URL you can utilise on many levels, for example on LinkedIn or send it directly to employers.

http://www.reduk.ca/

Also don’t be afraid to have a bunch printed and hand them out. We took ours in to all the banking and financial institutions. You never know when it may land on someone’s desk that needs you! If you can, arrange interviews ahead of time and don’t forget your suit!

Let us know what you have planned and if those of you that are already here have any good ideas for things to research, please feel free to comment below and share this blog with your emigration friends and community.

So I’m not far from my trip back to the UK. Much as I love it here I still get very excited to pay a visit to the birthplace. Some of you may remember my blog about the flight fiasco. Less said the better lol. I’m starting to get organised and part of that organisation included buying an outfit for one of the two weddings I am attending while there. After much searching I was thrilled to find and fall in love with a dress from Debenhams. It turned out they would post to Canada and at a cost of £10, I was happy to pay it. Away I was to order and wait patiently (not) for my purchase.

Ten days or so later I excitedly answered the door to the Canada post delivery guy. Hang on a minute, we never normally get parcels delivered to the door. Ooooh now I see why. As the parcel had the value of the item on the address label (they have to declare it for overseas postage) I was faced with a bill for $64 for duty on the item. Damn! I hadn’t calculated that one!

Now I’ll have to be honest, on this occasion, even with the unexpected duty fee and the postage fee, for me it was worth it given that I can wear the dress for both weddings. Absolutely not the norm I know but thankfully there will be no crossover in guests (phew).

Before you order online you need to be aware that sometimes this will happen and sometimes it will not. I have ordered before from the UK and the States, some get through with no fee, some don’t. There’s no reason. Just the way it is. I mean when you think of really how little it costs for Canadian delivery, it’s easy to get carried away and order in bulk. Yikes! Also I would recommend checking with the company delivering to you if they cover the cost of any returns. Believe me when I say, the cost of sending anything larger than a birthday card back to the UK is astronomical! That’s a whole other store for another day.

Have you been stung on duty before? Or have you so far been lucky? Please leave your comments below!

A week last Thursday, the middle of March Break, we were housebound due to ice pellets and snow, the roads were treacherous. Then last week reached an all time record high for March of 28 c….and I mean it was scorchio. Especially on my little sun trap, the back deck (yes I know you’re chuckling at that Orla lol).

I was out running the trails, we got the deck furniture out, we all had our shorts on, we even ate supper outside (on our back deck ). And then! Yesterday morning I had a 7:30 meeting to get to, I drew the curtains back and YES you guessed it, gusting winds, minus 10 and snow. I mean c’mmmmon….they say that nature is confused by the freaky weather, never mind nature, what about me?

Anyway, as weird as it’s been I’m confident the little blast of winter we are having won’t last long. If I’m honest the kids had a ball playing in it as they always do so it can’t be all that bad. I am however now more than ready to don my shorts and flip flops for a more sustained period of time.

So with Spring, some of you may or may not know, comes the dreaded black flies. For those of you who don’t know about the black flies, here is a brief description. They are pesky little black flies (guess I didn’t need to say that bit) that bite. The bites itch and feel similar to a mosquito bite. But don’t panic, they aren’t everywhere and they don’t last forever. When we first came here we were told you will usually see them from around Mothers Day (which is in May here) to around Fathers Day (June) which I have to say has so far been the case. You don’t get them in the suburbs so much and definitely not in the city. We get a lot as we have land with a stream running through it and lots of trees.

Best advice, stock up on your bug spray and if you’re not here yet but will be soon, there is a product that Avon sells that actually does help to keep them away. I have to confess, I don’t like the smell so I don’t use it on myself but I use it on my children rather than the Deet type bug spray as it’s not harsh on their skin. It’s called Avon Skin So Soft and it’s a spray. Smelly (in my opinion lol) but it works!

All in all, nothing to worry about, just part and parcel of living in Nova Scotia. Believe me it’s nothing compared to sitting in a traffic jam on the M6!

If you have any questions about living and working in Nova Scotia, please do not hesitate to fire away in the comments box below.

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful, very warm and sunny, it really did feel like spring was here. I was ready to get my deck furniture out and find the sun cream! But don’t let the good old Nova Scotia weather fool you…I learnt this very early on. Because while I could smell the daffodils yesterday, by tomorrow I will be shoveling snow again (by that I mean my husband will be hehe). It’s not uncommon for this time of the year. One year we were sat in shorts early April and it snowed a week later at Easter. You get used to it. All part of the fun!

The schools are out this week for March break. The holidays are different here. Our kids get 2 weeks at Christmas, a week in March and that’s it apart from their summer break which is usually about ten weeks. Then there are the public holidays in between. In fact there are ten :

Good Friday – April 6th

Victoria Day – May 21st

Canada Day – July 1st

Natal Day – 1st Monday in August (6th)

Labor Day – 1st Monday in September (3rd)

Thanksgiving Day – 2nd Monday in October (8th)

Remembrance Day – Nov 11th

Christmas Day

Boxing Day

New Years Day

The children also have Easter Monday off but this is not a public holiday and most people have to work. This took a bit of adjustment after years of enjoying the 4 day weekend, we felt a little robbed at first, but again you do get used to it.

It’s funny actually how quickly you get used to a lot of things. There aren’t huge differences but you still have to be prepared to adjust. That’s why we wanted to move here. To experience a different way of life and different things.

Let me know in the comments box below which differences you are most looking forward to and which ones worry you (if you’re not here yet). If you are already here, what differences challenged you the most?

Have a great day wherever you are!

The one thing everyone does when they move to Nova Scotia is buy a car, usually within the first two weeks of arriving (especially with the price of car hire being so high).

This often means trawling around car showrooms and dealing with many car sales people; this can be quite confusing and frustrating.

We’ve just introduced a dedicated page at UK 2 Nova Scotia whereby our clients can select the type of car they are interested in; price range etc and Steele Auto will connect with our clients directly. Steele will then meet our clients when they arrive and search not only their own showrooms but also the auctions for the ideal car. This means huge savings and a thorough knowledge of types/ do and don’ts etc.

We’ve had clients use this service already who have saved thousands on their initial car purchase, so it works extremely well.

If you’re arriving this year, why not check our ‘buying a car’ page.

I digress…what happened to us may have affected some of you or your families or it may not. I felt I should share because somewhere along the line there’s a wee bit of advice that may just help someone.

We booked our flights back in September for a two week trip to the UK through Canadian Affair. Not a bad price to be fair, we actually booked over the ‘phone via the UK office as it’s often cheaper that way than booking it online.  Several weeks later we used up some airmiles and $160 to book a flight with BA from Gatwick to Manchester as we will be staying in our hometown, Morecambe and traveling around the North West. All was good………until……….

About a week ago we get an email from Canadian Affair marked urgent, oh oh…so as requested we called them immediately.

“We’re sorry to inform you Mrs Saunders that we have actually cancelled your flight and put you on a flight the day before”

Now, we can be flexible so this in itself did not present too much of a problem, however the BA connecting flight really did. We called to try and change the flight giving “it isn’t our fault” as our reason for change but we were told it would cost $800 to transfer the flights! All I want to say is “I can’t believe they can get away with this” and a whole stream of other things, but in reality I know it’s in the small print.

After about another, what felt like, 3 days on the ‘phone to Canadian Affair and BA we didn’t get anywhere with changing the flights for free. We DID however get free seat selection on our Halifax to Gatwick flight and we got the seats with extra leg room. Not brilliant but better than nothing. As for BA, well I would sooner lose the $160 than pay them another $800. Silly I know but there you go. What bugs me more is losing the 40,000 airmiles.

So in the end we have booked a car, for one day to get us up north and for one day to get us back down again. OK we have the drive ahead of us but it’s much cheaper than the proposed $800 flight change fee.

Now (finally) I get to the lesson we learnt. We always thought that Canadian Affair only flew from Halifax to Gatwick, or Toronto to Gatwick etc. Never realised we could have actually booked our internal flight from Gatwick to Manchester too. Had we done this in the first place we could have saved ourselves a whole heap of hassle.  As they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Let us know if any of you have been affected by Canadian Affair’s recent flight changes.

An increasing groundswell of opinion put him 25 points behind his leading opponent, Mike Savage in recent polls.

The incumbent mayor has been in office for 12 years and, as a career Politian, presented a populist mandate that drew large support from more rural and aging areas of Halifax. Having posted large (if not landslide) wins in 2004 and 2008, a fourth term seemed beyond reach, and this was confirmed this week.

Change is certainly in the air; councilor numbers being reduced from 23 to 16 seats, now mean that the way may be open for some fresh ideas and possible new hats thrown into the ring.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/02/groundhog-day-2012-shubenacadie-sam-predicts-early-spring-punxsutawney-phil-calls-for-more-winter/

According to legend, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on Groundhog Day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter.

If he fails to see his shadow, an early spring is in the works.

The news didn’t really come as too much of a shock given the unusually mild winter we seem to be having this year. I keep wondering when the snow will really arrive. Although last week the forecast was for heavy snow for yesterday and today… we’re in Nova Scotia right? No snow! Why am I so disappointed? Well the truth is, I miss the snow and a real winter. I know, I know, you think I’m mad..but there are so many good things that come with the winters here.

As I drank my morning coffee one day last weekend after the snow we had Friday, looking out into the back yard, all I could think was “I’m not sure I always realise how lucky I am to live here”. The sky was a vivid shade of blue and crystal clear. The sun was bright and felt warm through the window. Despite being well into the minuses I was toasty. Every tree I could see was heavy with snow as there had been no wind to blow it away. It really was beautiful.

I love to be driving along and catch a glimpse of kids ice skating on a frozen lake, or giant snowmen in someone’s front yard. The tennis courts in our sub-division are flooded and have frozen to create a skating rink. It’s fabulous, although I have  to confess I haven’t thrilled the neighbours with my bambi on ice routine just yet! Still have a few excuses up my sleeve. My skates are in fact as good as new. Ahh who am I kidding, they are totally unused! Bought on about day 3 after landing here from our list of ‘must haves’. How shameful. learning to use them is on my to do list!

One thing I managed to take off my to do list of winter activities in Canada was the Polar Bear Dip. OK, strictly speaking it wasn’t the traditional New Years Day effort. It was Boxing Day. But it was still about minus 22 and the sea was frozen over in many places. Without doubt, one of the best things I have ever done. Not that I would recommend on every occasion but it’s the very best cure for a Christmas Day hangover you could possibly find. Add it to your list!

So whilst I thank Sam for his prediction and I am of course very much looking forward to Spring, I do love the winter and the fun it brings. Now….how many weeks before we can put the pool up?!!

One day I will tell you a funny story about asking for fresh tuna (chewna) at the fish counter in Sobeys…when I ended up having to spell it out to the girl she said “oh TUNA” (toona). Definitely a unique experience.

But sometimes it’s not just the different names for things that bring comparisons and occasional confusion. For example, ordering my first Tims was not your everyday coffee shop experience. I mean did I want a double or a double double? And what on earth was this tooney she said she gave me in my change?  I have enough trouble fathoming out in Starbucks why a small is a tall and a medium is a grande! Heaven knows what a large is. Nowadays I just point.

We no longer go to the ‘offy’ for a six pack and some alcopops, it’s a trip to the liquor store for A two four and some coolers. I stand in a line up with my cart in the grocery store. But this is all good. I am still a firm believer in ‘when in Rome’ so I try my best. Whilst in all likelihood I will never lose my Coronation Street accent, it’s funny how quickly you fall into the lingo and find yourself saying “call me on my cell” not “ring me on my mobile” …..at the end of the day, you know you’re in Canada when….

You order a single double by day and a Keiths by night, you hollar “where’s my toque” right before you head out the door to go tubing in the snow, you know what poutine is, you no longer say New-Found-Land but pronounce it Noofunlan, you look out the window to determine the weather (definitely an NS thing), you start taking an interest in ice hockey and you know what it’s like to have your nostril hair freeze!

That’s when you know you’re in Canada EH!

The thing is, I am actually a very social person which is why I do what I do and why I love it so much. I really didn’t have a problem literally knocking on my neighbours doors to introduce myself (I did this on day 2). I’m not a shy person, I can strike up a conversation with anyone, BUT don’t be fooled into thinking it is/was easy. Having never moved away from my hometown and birthplace in 30 odd years, I was surprised at how alien it felt to be in a strange place and literally know no-one. Everything and everyone was totally unfamiliar and changing that doesn’t happen overnight. Imagine being asked by the school secretary for an emergency contact and you have to tell her you don’t have one. That’s the day it really hit home.

I think the key to it is, get yourself out there. As difficult as that may seem at times, you’ll be amazed at how welcoming and generous with their time people here are. You can’t just sit back and expect people to come to you. Networking may not come naturally to everyone but if like us you are thrown in at the deep end, it becomes an everyday part of your life.

Of course we’re not all forced to like and be friends with everyone we meet. It can and will take time to establish the depth of friendship with our new friends that we had with our older friends back in the UK. Someone told me when we first landed that it could take up to two years to really find my feet and feel at home. I was horrified but they weren’t far wrong. It’s not that I wasn’t happy here, just that it takes time to feel like it’s really your home and yes you are here to stay, not just on a long trip.

Did I ever feel like packing up and going back? No I can’t say I did. More to the point, if I did, how difficult would that have been? Would I have found that all or most of my old friends had moved on, quite possibly. As hard as any of it was, did we make the very best move we could ever have made? YES we absolutely did………

What about YOU? How hard/easy did you find it making friends and settling? tell us about your experiences or anticipations. We’d love to hear your thoughts and feelings!