LIVING ABROAD: WHY WE CHOSE VANCOUVER

We have been living in Vancouver for just over a month now and thought it was time we began aLiving Abroadserieshere on Flying The Nest to give a little insight into the expat life. We thought we would start things off by sharing why Vancouver became our city of choice to call home.

Easy-To-Get Visa

The first thing we had to to consider was what country would allow us to easily get a working visa. Our first country of choice was actually the United States, however we found it difficult to get a simple working visa that would allow us to work in a cafe or bar whilst we travelled around. Thats when Canada came to mind. It's part of the Commonwealth and once we looked into it the visa process was simple. Within a few months we had ourselves 2 working visas for the next two years.

Once the visas were organised it was time to choose where in Canada we should base ourselves. After a lot of reading and research Vancouver became our city of choice. Why?

The Nature

Unique to Vancouver is the nature that surrounds the city. Mountains, oceans, rivers, rain forests ... all only a short drive away. We love that you can spend your morning sitting along the sea wall looking out at the ocean and 2 hours later be skiing down the slopes in Whistler! Vancouver's diverse, beautiful landscapes was a big factor in choosing it as our new home.

Hike Whistler

The People

I am sure you have heard all the jokes about Canadians being too nice and always saying sorry. Well, this stereotype  is one of the reasons we chose Vancouver. Stephen and I are non-confrontational, are friendly and nice (at least we like to think so) and tend to say sorry a little too often, plus we also love maple syrup - we are the perfect Canadians. So, stereotype or not, it did help our decision on wether we would fit in with the people of Canada.

One of the Most Liveable Places in the World

Australia is a pretty awesome place to call home and many others think so too as most major cities in Australia have been deemed as being some of the most liveable places in the world. The title is hard to give up and we wanted our new home to be just as liveable. We scrolled through the many lists scattered throughout the internet and Vancouver was always up there in the top 10. This reassured us that we were going to a place that was safe, had a good health care and education system along with good transport.

After only being here a month we can totally see why Vancouver is in the list of most liveable places in the world!

Access To More Travel

Another major reason we chose Vancouver was how easily accessible it is to travel from the city to other amazing places we have been dying to visit. Living in the land down under has it perks, but location isn't one of them. We are so far from all the other continents that it costs a lot and takes a long time to get to another country.

Being located in Vancouver we are able to then travel throughout Canada, Alaska and North America with amazingly priced flights. Perfect for a couple obsessed with seeing new cities every other week.

SAN FRANSISCO

Have you ever lived abroad? We would love for you to share what city you chose and why.

Featured image is sourced via flickr.com

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