Thinking of moving to London

rayjen2k

Hi folks.

I have been thinking of taking the step and moving over to London Ontario.
I just randomly decided on this particular area and I'm not definitely opposed to trying other areas in south Ontario.

My girlfriend and myself plan to save up for this year and focus on moving there next spring/summer once we feel we have a good few quid to cover us if we don't get jobs immediately.

Couple of questions.
1- is there many Irish in London area.
2- what can we expect weather temperatures in winter and summer to be.
3- is it expensive to live, we live in London uk at he moment and I assume it would be a lot cheaper than that?

Any tips or hints ye have would be great

retalivity

Hey, i live here, and have done for almost 2 & a half years now.

1) There's not too many, when compared to Toronto or Calgary. Ive met maybe 15 in the time ive been here. There are a lot of second and thurd generation around though, just not that many new immigrants.

2) Warm summers, snowy winters. It was 28 last weekend, then dropped to -2 on thursday night. Summer days should be consistently 20+, with a few days that you would really need aircon. Winter would be -5 to -15, plenty of snow, but never really feels that cold. It doesn't rain here very often at all.

3) Compared to Ireland, yes. Compared to Toronto, no. Im paying $700/mo for a one bed apartment. Fruit & Veg are cheap, meat can be expensive. Clothes are cheap. petrol is cheaper, cars and insurance however are not. Pints and going out i find is more expensive, a pint will cost anywhere from $4.50-$8 before tax & tips. its been a few years since ive been in london UK so i couldnt compare prices. I find that is more expensive than when i lived in ireland though.

The city itself is alright, 2 hrs from detroit and 90mins from toronto. population of 350,000 so about the size of cork, and is a big university town.

rayjen2k

Very nicely explained retalivity
To be honest I don't really mind eitherway if there isnt many other Irish in the area as I'm not much of a pub person myself, I'd prefer to spend the day under a classic car.

The weather sounds better than I had expected in the summer.
I am rather looking forward to going somewhere where you actually get four seasons.

It sounds like a decent sized area, I'd assume there would be no shortage of jobs in a city of that size.

What are the laws with crossing the U.S border from time to time?
I have cousins in phillydelphia and Pittsburg that I'd love to visit.

As for accommodation. That price doesn't sound to bad, we're paying more in London uk for a crappy damp bedsit.

If other people have more info I'd greatly appreciate it

retalivity

Re: Jobs, i suppose it all depends on what you do. I know there was something in the news recently that had London as one of the highest unemployment rates of medium-large cities in Ontario. There was a lot of industrial work here that seems to be gone or going.

Crossing into the US is straightforward enough, you need a temporary visitor visa to get in, so if you don't have one, you'll be broughy into the office at the crossings and asked a few questions, if everything is alright, they'll issue you with one for $7 and you can cross over and back as often as you like for 3 months. After that time you've got to get a new visitor visa if you cross again. pittsburgh is drivable from here, philadelphia would be a good bit further away

rayjen2k

Hhhmmm, surprised to hear about the high unemployment.
I'm a carpenter by traded, but not worried if I have to try a different field.
At the moment I'm working on maintenance of train lines.
Im not to worried as I'm positive I will get something.

Crossing to U.S is a lot more straightforward than I had expected.

Thanks again.

And if anyone else has any tips for the area it would be greatly appreciated.

retalivity

http://www.lfpress.com/2013/04/05/londons-unemployment-rate-soars-to-96

Its still not 10%.

I know a few people involved in house building and they've plenty of work.

rayjen2k

Ok, 10% is still pretty good really.
Going to have a good read of that article later on.
Thanks for that.

Danteryu

I've yet to meet any other Irish here (living in London too), but I did meet a guy who had a granny from Arklow (my hometown). I do really like London though, despite that.

retalivity

danteryu, where are you in london again?

Danteryu

Oh, I'm near Westmount Mall, around Wonderland & Pine Valley.
Just got a new FreshCo opened right in front of me so that's pretty handy!