By Now, I think you have the picture loud and clear that my
boyfriend and I moved from England to Canada. How did that happen? I am not
quite sure but I am going to share the journey with you in my blog posts. From
start to finish so make sure you follow me and keep an eye out for my next
post.
So here I go...
One night towards the end of spring 2016 Gary and I were
lying in bed. It was the only time we would get chance to really talk and
relax. Our weekdays consisted of Gary leaving our flat at 7:30am for work. He
would travel to work by train to Nottingham City Centre from the small town we
lived in, Hinckley, Leicestershire. He hated the traveling, which took over an
hour there and back each day. He works in the Gaming Industry and it is the kind
of job where you have to travel or move for work.
Meanwhile, I worked as a Social Worker in Child Protection.
My working hours were all over the place and I was constantly busy, rushing
around and worn out. The days when I would finish at a reasonable time, I would
go straight home and cook tea. Gary would arrive home tired at 7:00pm. Food was
served at 7:15pm; we would clear up and have a cup of tea. After watching
television a little while it was time for bed. As you can imagine, at the
weekend we were busy doing everything we didn’t get chance to do in the week.
At this point we had been together for over a year and we were stuck in a rut
and we knew it. We were in a routine and were fed-up!!
So that one night, we were tucked up in bed and actually
spending time together. We were exhausted after another busy day at work. Gary
started talking about how a few of his friends in the Gaming Industry were
planning to move to Canada. The companies were offering relocation packages to
cover the majority of the moving cost. This included the flights, visas
(including a work visa for partners), shipping of goods and accommodation for
the first month. What a great opportunity! We were amazed how much the
companies were helping out and it was free. In my career, I have worked for
councils and charities – I’ve been amazed when I’ve had free lunch at training
days so I was flabbergasted by this news. Then we asked each other, would you
move to Canada?
Would you move to CANADA?
What a question?
We had spoken about it before but this seemed more real and
reachable. Of course, we did get over excited and started to dream about our
life in Canada. Instantly, a lot of questions rushed through our heads. What
about our family and friends? Is it affordable? Gary was 29 years old and was
going to be 30 next year. I was 27 years old and felt like I was approaching 30
a lot sooner than 3 years. Our Facebook newsfeeds were overloaded with
beautiful brides, cute baby photos and people standing outside of their newly
brought homes. We're both ambitious and had the same plan of being more
settled when we were 30 years old. Our first goal was to buy a house, which we
were saving for monthly. We were always
practical and realistic; we could achieve this in a year. We could have done it
now but we wanted a good deposit. The move to Canada would put our plans
completely out of the window. We both worked hard; surely this is what we were
aiming for, especially at our age?
Yet, we were questioning our life! So we fast forwarded our
life by 10 years. We asked ourselves what we would like our lives to look like?
It was clear we wanted a house and children; but we didn’t want to be parents
who were working all the time. We wanted more time together to enjoy and share
our lives together. We wanted to get married one day. We wanted to look back on
our lives and not have any regrets. This all cost money though. Something
needed to change and we needed to think how to achieve these things? We needed
a new plan!
Is Canada the new plan? From what we knew already, certain
living costs were cheaper in Canada – properties were cheaper to rent and fuel
was cheaper. Also in comparison to the UK, people seemed happier and had better
lifestyles. None of this, working all hours under the sun! For Gary, it was a
great career move. Plus he would have an increase in his salary. The way I'd describe
it, it's like Gary going to Oxford University and having that experience on his
C.V. It would make him a very desirable employee and would open up many doors.
One door being working freelance from home in the future. This was perfect for the
lifestyle we wanted! The more we spoke about it, the more we were talking
ourselves into going. The list of questions was still endless! So I turned to
Gary, with a slight mischievous grin on my face, and said "what is the harm in
putting the feelers out?" It was agreed. We would go for it and see what
happens.
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