Traveling to Canada alone

rlad

hey guys
just wondering if any of ye could give me some advice, im hopefully moving to canada in 2014 in the IEC visa, i was ment to be going with a few friends but for reasons there unable to go now,

iv never traveled alone before so i find it a bit daunting but still determined to go, have ye got any tips... or advice they would be greatly appreciated

cheers:):D

NewsMeQuick

Hi buddy. The first time that I travelled alone, it was about a 10-12 hour trip and in another language. It was very hard. To travel more easily, this time:

1. I'm choosing a later flight, preferably lunchtime. So if I sleep poorly the night before, I won't be travelling 10 hours or so with 3 hours sleep. If you never have trouble before big travel, you can skip this! Though, a later flight suits me for calm goodbyes with family, not at 6 in the morning.

2. You might wonder 10,000 times 'am I doing the right thing, can I do this' etc. Take a calm look around now and note just how many people travel and move abroad. Yes you can do it, and as for 'the right thing' you'll never know until you try. Even if it doesn't work out, you'll have travelled further than many. You become a story, not just read them about others.

3. Moving abroad, for me, the adjustment period was maybe 2 months. After that, I had set everything up and was comfy.

Social life
I can be introverted at the best of times, but within 10 minutes of arriving in a foreign country to live, realising that I knew no one, I went downstairs in the hostel and chatted to people. I didn't know it then but the first two people that I talked to I ended up apartment-hunting with living with them for the year. I made great friends in minutes.

You can make friends easily with a little effort. Other guys/girls on here keep mentioning pubs - if you like that, after a few drinks you'll leave with 50 phone numbers, 3 job leads and possibly a date. That's just the kind of welcome and sociability I'm reading here from Irish in Canada.

Money
Every single person that I know that has lived abroad says 'if only I budgeted at the start'. Me too! Take it easy with money at the start, you'll find very important needs for it soon enough! You save for the things that you don't see cropping up, not just the things that you do. I'm the last person in the world that likes to budget. But I do it now. It gives you peace of mind. Money management is a life skill.

Cultural differences
Sometimes people have issues here. I keep hearing through my own social circles 'I don't get the humour' or 'I don't understand why they don't do it like this e.g. a policy, a government division, a business, a service'. You can't fight that forever. Countries are different from each other. The sooner that you can respect that - and fit it at least a bit - the sooner things run smoothly. I don't think any foreign person wants to hear 30 million times 'it's done better back home'. My experience is that some things are done far better abroad and some things aren't. That's that. I just live with it. As for humour, hopefully it doesn't become a huge issue and you can adapt.

Adventure, a big adventure!
If you are even slightly curious, or remotely culturally interested, or adaptable, you'll have the time of your life. You'll grow like you never knew possible. You'll lose fear of travel or living abroad or indepdenence concerns. You'll get a whole new perspective of 'the world is your oyster'. You'll see adventure and possibilities!

media101

i totally agree with newsmequick, but the one thing that helped me over the fear of travelling alone was having a place sorted before coming over plus the added advantage of my new house-mate collecting me from the airport, but you can just get a taxi! Canada is certainly different from what i expected but its still great, just be realistic about getting work, ie dont come in January unless you have a in-demand skill, (depending on the city) research the public transport and be willing to apply to every job you can even if you think its beneath you because you need to work to get your dream job.

rlad

alright cheers guys that gave me more confidence in goin it alone was thinking of goin to Toronto is anyone is going/already there

goingitalone

rlad wrote: »

alright cheers guys that gave me more confidence in goin it alone was thinking of goin to Toronto is anyone is going/already there

Thinking of doing the exact same myself rlad

rlad

goingitalone wrote: »

Thinking of doing the exact same myself rlad

oh yeah? cool!! when approx would ya think of flying over goingitalone? i was thinking of goin around may or june as i still have a bit more saving to do, all going well the visa is got........

goingitalone

rlad wrote: »

oh yeah? cool!! when approx would ya think of flying over goingitalone? i was thinking of goin around may or june as i still have a bit more saving to do, all going well the visa is got........

Same once I have my visa I plan on getting outta here so were talking the same June or July prob same with the saving.can't have to much

rlad

goingitalone wrote: »

Same once I have my visa I plan on getting outta here so were talking the same June or July prob same with the saving.can't have to much

good stuff, yeah ya can never have save too much especially when not working now lol

goingitalone

ahh i know that all to well rlad lol tell me about penny pinching what work ya looking to get into ?

rlad

goingitalone wrote: »

ahh i know that all to well rlad lol tell me about penny pinching what work ya looking to get into ?

ah stop il be living on beans on toast for about 6 months lol!
im a a science graduate so was hopeing to get into a pharma company or something like that, impossible to get work here if ya dont have experience, id work at anything over there tho i wouldnt be that fussy at all, what kinda work would ya be hopeing to get yourself goingitalone??

NewsMeQuick

Pretty much in the same position as you lads ^^

Where's everyone heading to? Vancouver anyone?

rlad

NewsMeQuick wrote: »

Pretty much in the same position as you lads ^^

Where's everyone heading to? Vancouver anyone?

ah right cool wel have a big gang of us goin yet lol, ah i was thinking Toronto?? its a bigger city so work would be that much easier to get......

goingitalone

ahh yeah either engineering or IT but really im not fussy with what i do anything initially that pay bill . same im heading to toronto bigger city ,i know rent whatevers gonna be more expensive but city's are better then heading to any the smaller towns simple because of transport. plus i may have a few contacts there through some family possibly.

NewsMeQuick

I went to have a look for more up to date info. on the jobs market in Vancouver (still working on Toronto) and found lots of young Canadians saying companies don't want to spend money on training young people, so it's very hard to start off. I found quite a few young, recent expats online saying without recent experience, you're destined to work at a coffee shop, even with a good degree.

I know instantly that Toronto is the backbone of the economy. I didn't save the sites, I'll go have a look but I read '9 out of 10 company HQs are in Toronto' and '3 out of 4 jobs created since 2010 were in Toronto'. Hmm. So, I wonder are there many Irish working in coffee shops in Toronto? I'm not knocking that, just wondering is there much difference or not.

Lots of Irish on FB groups getting jobs within weeks in either city. So confused.

goingitalone

NewsMeQuick wrote: »

I went to have a look for more up to date info. on the jobs market in Vancouver (still working on Toronto) and found lots of young Canadians saying companies don't want to spend money on training young people, so it's very hard to start off. I found quite a few young, recent expats online saying without recent experience, you're destined to work at a coffee shop, even with a good degree.

I know instantly that Toronto is the backbone of the economy. I didn't save the sites, I'll go have a look but I read '9 out of 10 company HQs are in Toronto' and '3 out of 4 jobs created since 2010 were in Toronto'. Hmm. So, I wonder are there many Irish working in coffee shops in Toronto? I'm not knocking that, just wondering is there much difference or not.

Lots of Irish on FB groups getting jobs within weeks in either city. So confused.

intresting im gonna be looking myself to but id like to hear what ya find out too news might be hand getting info other people are finding

NewsMeQuick

OK for the sake of keeping the thread on topic I created a thread about work for young uns like us heading over.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=87719162#post87719162

rlad

NewsMeQuick wrote: »

OK for the sake of keeping the thread on topic I created a thread about work for young uns like us heading over.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=87719162#post87719162

good stuff NewMeQuick, il have a look

rlad

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/11/22/best-cities-canada-jobs-work_n_4324749.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business

rlad

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/11/22/best-cities-canada-jobs-work_n_4324749.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business
heres a bit of info...

NewsMeQuick

rlad wrote: »

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/11/22/best-cities-canada-jobs-work_n_4324749.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business
heres a bit of info...

I've read the first, it's quite good. I wish they would remove house price from livability, I may be the only person on this island not interested in house buying...I don't mind that houses cost a fortune in some Canadian cities, I'm not in the market.

I'll read the second tonight...

rlad

yeah same here maybe when im older it might interest me a bit, ah sorry dont bother its the same link i didnt think it posted the first time....ill delete it now

goingitalone

Vancouver isn't. Looking great in comparison really I've looked at blog posts and forums even here everyone's opinion seems to be vans very expensive with not allot to do .then again everything relative. Toronto's still looking like my choice hopefully

shellellen

Hi everyone! I'm a girl in my late twenties and I'm planning on moving to canada on my own in January! Was supposed to be going with friends but it fell through! Planning it with ages so said I'd bight the bullet! Toronto is obviously waaaay bigger so way more opportunities for jobs but way more competition too! Vancouver from what I read is much more chilled out but far less jobs! I have a hostel booked for a few days in Toronto and everything after that is wide open! If I do stay there il definitely try and get a cheap room in a share house! If anyone else is in the same boat any tips or pointers would be great

goingitalone

shellellen wrote: »

Hi everyone! I'm a girl in my late twenties and I'm planning on moving to canada on my own in January! Was supposed to be going with friends but it fell through! Planning it with ages so said I'd bight the bullet! Toronto is obviously waaaay bigger so way more opportunities for jobs but way more competition too! Vancouver from what I read is much more chilled out but far less jobs! I have a hostel booked for a few days in Toronto and everything after that is wide open! If I do stay there il definitely try and get a cheap room in a share house! If anyone else is in the same boat any tips or pointers would be great

ill be doing the same in march hopefully if get the visa and all goes well so look forward to hear how ya get on

NewsMeQuick

Oh but how can you say no to this....:rolleyes: (I would like to post a whole gallery but one is probably as brazen as I could get without being moderated!) I'll be in the forest if anyone wants me...

dcoyle277

NewsMeQuick wrote: »

Pretty much in the same position as you lads ^^

Where's everyone heading to? Vancouver anyone?

Thinking of Vancouver myself

zweton

NewsMeQuick wrote: »

Oh but how can you say no to this....:rolleyes: (I would like to post a whole gallery but one is probably as brazen as I could get without being moderated!) I'll be in the forest if anyone wants me...

where this? pretty cool.

NewsMeQuick

The west coast seems to be nearly totally forrested. Vancouver city officials keep talking about trying to make the city 'an urban forrest'. Frankly, I think they're already there. Glass and trees everywhere. That photo is on the north side of the city, an area called Capilano. 100 foot trees with all sorts of walkways, paths, trails, mountainbiking, horticulture, tours, just about anything you can learn or enjoy in a forrest.

They light it up for Christmas too.

http://www.capbridge.com/explore/canyon-lights/

rlad

shellellen wrote: »

Hi everyone! I'm a girl in my late twenties and I'm planning on moving to canada on my own in January! Was supposed to be going with friends but it fell through! Planning it with ages so said I'd bight the bullet! Toronto is obviously waaaay bigger so way more opportunities for jobs but way more competition too! Vancouver from what I read is much more chilled out but far less jobs! I have a hostel booked for a few days in Toronto and everything after that is wide open! If I do stay there il definitely try and get a cheap room in a share house! If anyone else is in the same boat any tips or pointers would be great

hi shellellen yeah im in the same boat myself, think alot of people are aswell. yeah Toronto seems to be the best option from what i can see anyway although Vancouver looks nicer from pics but that donnt count when ya just looking for work. ill be going to Toronto later on in the year hope to be there by the summer sooner if i can

goingitalone

rlad wrote: »

hi shellellen yeah im in the same boat myself, think alot of people are aswell. yeah Toronto seems to be the best option from what i can see anyway although Vancouver looks nicer from pics but that donnt count when ya just looking for work. ill be going to Toronto later on in the year hope to be there by the summer sooner if i can

exactly the rlad the job marker for me too is way better options in toronto all good to have a nice views in van but if theres less jobs and its slightly more expensive . not really feasible well for me anyways

shellellen

Ya Toronto seems to be the best option to begin with! I dont want to go solely for work though! I want a nice long break and to leave my plans open, the beauty of travelling alone I guess. You never know who you might meet or what roads open up for you. I think best thing to do is get there and not to ruin your trip with planning too much. Im open to anything! The more spontaneous the better Can always pick up a job in a cafe or bar til ya get your dream job

goingitalone

shellellen wrote: »

Ya Toronto seems to be the best option to begin with! I dont want to go solely for work though! I want a nice long break and to leave my plans open, the beauty of travelling alone I guess. You never know who you might meet or what roads open up for you. I think best thing to do is get there and not to ruin your trip with planning too much. Im open to anything! The more spontaneous the better Can always pick up a job in a cafe or bar til ya get your dream job

On that im Pretty sure you have to do some course to get a very to be able to serve food or drinks could be wrong tho

shellellen

A shop then

goingitalone

shellellen wrote: »

A shop then

lol nah exactly just letting ya know thats as far as i know lol same im gonna be looking for a technican job once i get my visa there loads up on offer atm and then look for a systems admin work once i have something secured . should be good tho ! we may all have to do a boards toronto piss up at some point in the future lol

emigrate2012

Howya folks just seen this thread, have been to Canada a couple times, just to let tis know, travel north from ant city over there about 2.5/3 hours and it's lakes, forest etc, bloody lovely country
Hope all goes well with the visas, cos there's gonna be a fcuk ton of applications (last yr, gone in 48hrs apparently ) hope yis get lucky, mates over there on his second yr havin a ball

NewsMeQuick

Well this would be exactly why I'm not going to Alberta:

Sam Swarek wrote: »

Ah sask isn't the backwater people think it is, it's a nice city, bigger and nicer than what I thought it would be before I came and there's a lot of construction here at the moment, but the weather really is the pits, the winter everything revolves around the weather, I have to start my car for 20mins in the morning and leave it running before I can drive it then plug it in while I'm at work etc if you step outside in the weather for longer than 15mins it's actually v dangerous, seems there's no life here in the winter which lasts til the end of March (5months)...my other issues have been how costly the place is and taxes that you have to pay which I think is Canada wide, I remember asking my recruiter what taxes and charges etc were and he hadn't a clue, never thought I'd be losing as much money as what I am! Property prices are through the roof here too!
I dunno, I'm just a bit disappointed with the place so far, I was expecting a lot more to be honest but I'll definately give it more time and see, wait til winter passes and my mood might lift a bit, at least I've a secure job and enough money to get by which is a positive!

For anyone else interested in Vancouver, join the groups on Facebook. I would not call anywhere 'easy to get a job' but in the past year Irish have been strolling in and getting work just fine. Chat to people in Van there. Plus, tons of people here and there have already connected on LinkedIn and are happy to help other Irish with work. :rolleyes:

lemonade22

Hey,
This post totally put me at ease a bit. I am hopefully heading out to Toronto in 2014 and have major anxiety about it. I'm going on my own, but sometimes the thought of it makes me want to reconsider.
I think having common sense typed out in front of you can do wonders!

rlad

lemonade22 wrote: »

Hey,
This post totally put me at ease a bit. I am hopefully heading out to Toronto in 2014 and have major anxiety about it. I'm going on my own, but sometimes the thought of it makes me want to reconsider.
I think having common sense typed out in front of you can do wonders!

hey lemonade yeah i was the very same as i was ment to be goin with friends but still goin to on my own anyway loads seem to be traveling on their own which is a good thing as making friends should be easier then.. when ya thinking of going in 2014?

rlad

goingitalone wrote: »

lol nah exactly just letting ya know thats as far as i know lol same im gonna be looking for a technican job once i get my visa there loads up on offer atm and then look for a systems admin work once i have something secured . should be good tho ! we may all have to do a boards toronto piss up at some point in the future lol

that would be an excellent idea lol a boards piss up!

Uncle Mclovin

Hi guys. Nice to see others talking about going it alone.

I'll be heading to Canada at some stage in 2014 also (providing I get a visa). I'm in the same boat as you in that I'll be going it alone. I've never traveled alone. Its exciting as well as being a little scary not having a job secured over there and not knowing anyone over there so I'll be all by myself.

I'll be looking for jobs in the finance sector but would take anything to start really. Haven't decided where in Canada I'll go but I'll go wherever the best chance of securing a job is. I'd have no problem living anywhere in the country. Really looking forward to experiencing something new.

goingitalone

so apparently the first round in the uk iec was shut after 20 minutes

NewsMeQuick

goingitalone wrote: »

so apparently the first round in the uk iec was shut after 20 minutes

Holy sh1t. Thank God for the extra places we have on our's this year.

I'm surprised at the numbers ^^ they're indicating 2.4% GDP next year. That is not far behind Canada at all...

goingitalone

NewsMeQuick wrote: »

Holy sh1t. Thank God for the extra places we have on our's this year.

I'm surprised at the numbers ^^ they're indicating 2.4% GDP next year. That is not far behind Canada at all...

Well gross population there what 12 times the amount more of out population so chances the Irish iec will go as fast is far less plus it was only a portion of quota

NewsMeQuick

I think the population to quota amount is most important, even before this years near-doubling of Irish places, we still had a far better quota/capita rate than the UK. Plus, at the most recent job abroad fairs in Dublin, the Canadians were quoted as saying they were surprised by a drop in Irish job applicants. They said they don't know if most interested people are already gone or that the economy here is picking up.

Sam Swarek

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

Hi guys. Nice to see others talking about going it alone.

I'll be heading to Canada at some stage in 2014 also (providing I get a visa). I'm in the same boat as you in that I'll be going it alone. I've never traveled alone. Its exciting as well as being a little scary not having a job secured over there and not knowing anyone over there so I'll be all by myself.

I'll be looking for jobs in the finance sector but would take anything to start really. Haven't decided where in Canada I'll go but I'll go wherever the best chance of securing a job is. I'd have no problem living anywhere in the country. Really looking forward to experiencing something new.

I'd think wisely before you say "I'd have no problem living anywhere in the country"...I'm living in Saskatchewan and the weather is horrendous you'd have to experience it to believe, the place is a small bit backward and clannish at times I feel also, saying that, it has the lowest unemployment and the highest wages in Canada so it is probably ur best bet for work, so my advice is do ur research thoroughly and talk to as many people as you can, I know your bursting to come over here probably but really do ur research and plan your move thoroughly and try organize a job before you arrive as the recruitment process is slow and the place is very expensive and your setting up costs also so you'll fly through money! Don't move here on a whim, be realistic or else it could end up be a very bad experience

lemonade22

Well visas are opening mid to late january I think? So with processing and all that jazz....I'm hoping before April anyway!
I get this mad lurches of really looking forward to it and then a swing of untold terror! haha.
What about you?

NewsMeQuick

lemonade22 wrote: »

Well visas are opening mid to late january I think? So with processing and all that jazz....I'm hoping before April anyway!
I get this mad lurches of really looking forward to it and then a swing of untold terror! haha.
What about you?

Yeah we got hints from different people that it could be 'December or earlier' but now they're saying 'likely January'. I'm guessing it will more likely follow the 2013 format, which was Jan 29th opening.

Yeah I'm pretty excited. I just get occasional reminders in my head that it's not a holiday and a lot has to be done! It's another adventure I suppose! :rolleyes:

Rllisctsy

I'm heading to Calgary sole in Feb 2014, got my 2 year visa in March 2013 so have to activate it before it expires. Is there anyone else heading there. I know the cold weather harsh and temperatures well below -20. Anyone else on the same boat?

LilyCullen

Rllisctsy wrote: »

I'm heading to Calgary sole in Feb 2014, got my 2 year visa in March 2013 so have to activate it before it expires. Is there anyone else heading there. I know the cold weather harsh and temperatures well below -20. Anyone else on the same boat?

I'll be travelling to Calgary alone too probably around May 2014.

Want to sort getting my drivers license before I leave.

I did the year long J1 to the USA alone back in 2010/2011 and it was an amazing experience. Made brilliant friends who either come visit me here once a year or I go see them. One thing I would say to you is it takes about 3 months to make proper friends or be integrated into a pre-existing social circle. But once you're ok with the odd Saturday night in alone at the beginning and have the mental strength to sit through a few job offer rejections you should be fine

fergusb

LilyCullen wrote: »

Want to sort getting my drivers license before I leave.

Just so you are aware, you need to hold an Irish license for a minimum of 2 years to be able to transfer to a Canadian license (you still have to sit a test in most provinces).

If you don't transfer to a Canadian license you can only drive legally for 3 month on your Irish license.

LilyCullen

fergusb wrote: »

Just so you are aware, you need to hold an Irish license for a minimum of 2 years to be able to transfer to a Canadian license (you still have to sit a test in most provinces).

If you don't transfer to a Canadian license you can only drive legally for 3 month on your Irish license.

but it's still handier to have my full license rather than my provisional going over right?