Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

hjd

All suggestions for accommodation in Calgary/Banff/Vancouver (and suggestions what to do in Vancouver) gratefully received! The only things we have booked/paid a deposit on are the cruise and the Rocky Mountaineer train. Hope to book flights next, then accommodation and excursions.

zagubov

I've visited Canada twice and was amazed by it. It's like the US without the poverty racism and crime. Toronto is a strange futuristic hybrid of America and Britain.

I'd love to visit Vancouver. My p and m have been there done the Alaska cruise thing, loved it. I gather there's a train journey you can do across the rockies with an observation dome, which I'd love.

Kab, what's the age limit for emigrating? I know Aus is 45 and NZ is 49 (or they were a few years back). Does Canada have a limit as well?

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Well I've been hellishly busy with work lately so no time to progress the big trip plans. Also struggling to find a good rust free example of the vehicle we need anywhere close to me. I've looked at far too many that are just too much work to get in good order. That is one of the problems of living in Scotland with our relentlessly salted roads for 5 months of the year every year.

I did however finally find a reasonably priced mechanic to have the motorbike stripped down and rebuilt over winter with a load of new parts.

So now toying with the idea of doing the trip on two wheels instead of four. It would be much more fun in many ways and saving 20K on the vehicle/prep cost is really appealing.... That buys a lot of extra time on the road. But it's also a fair bit less comfy and means camping in a proper tent rather than 'glamping' in the converted rear of the vehicle.

Briefly mentioned the idea to Mrs McT.... On a positive note she didn't say no. On a not so positive note she did say she's tired of seeing nothing but the back of my helmet on bike trips....

She's actually been hinting at this idea for a few years now. So I've bought her a wee learner bike to see how she gets on.

This may or may not end well - we shall see once the weather gets warm enough to actually get her out riding regularly.

Spirit_2

michaels wrote: »

Not buying house. Tax bill paid grudgingly. Missed you, glad trip was such a success. Wish I could retire

micheals, you need to have fun in life now. not promise yourself a future that may, for reasons beyond your control, turn out less well than planned.

This trip was only because I am retired but essentially I was putting myself into safe storage away from the cold and wet.

Cyprus is very easy and cheap, I think you have connecttions n the Caribean. Could you take a career break rent your house out, rent a villa, put children in to school and live a different life for a year or two?

GDB2222

Spirit wrote: »

micheals, you need to have fun in life now. not promise yourself a future that may, for reasons beyond your control, turn out less well than planned.

This trip was only because I am retired but essentially I was putting myself into safe storage away from the cold and wet.

Cyprus is very easy and cheap, I think you have connecttions n the Caribean. Could you take a career break rent your house out, rent a villa, put children in to school and live a different life for a year or two?

How easy is it to take a career break, though? There must be a lot of anxiety attached that you won't be able to find a decent job when you return. Plus your skills will be rusty.

Spirit_2

GDB2222 wrote: »

How easy is it to take a career break, though? There must be a lot of anxiety attached that you won't be able to find a decent job when you return. Plus your skills will be rusty.

Some employers will offer to take you back on a no dterument basis, similar job, similar pay, terms and conditions, could dress up the request as carer or parental leave. Length of break influences rustiness. A year would make little difference for most jobs,you can stay up to date online and do cpd during your time off. I dont think micheals job has critical skills. For doctors we would organise updates and supervision on return.

Hamish is planning a career break and redundancy often forces one upon people who would not naturally have done it. I hink yhr perception is worse than the reality.


When I read on, other NP had urged or discussed a life changing move.

OH's downshift Worked for us, my retirement is working. Different to our thinking in our late 30's but good nonetheless .

Spirit_2

Terry Wogan. The soundtack of my journey to take DD to school. i saw the bereft Pudsey cartoon and wept.

A grand man/

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

GDB2222 wrote: »

How easy is it to take a career break, though?

Risky for sure.

But that has to be balanced against the risk that you don't take one and wake up one day too old/unhealthy to enjoy/achieve whatever it is you wanted to do.

Spirit wrote: »

Hamish is planning a career break and redundancy often forces one upon people who would not naturally have done it.

Yep.

I'd love to get redundancy... That'd pay for the entire trip.

I keep wondering if I could make just enough of a nuisance of myself to get offered a VR package.... :rotfl:

zagubov

If you've kids the key is to get them back in the UK three years before school leaving age. Living outside the EU makes accessing HE a bit of a problem when you return.

We used to see this a lot in a previous job; people sending their kids abroad for school and looking baffled that they're charged overseas rates for post-16 study. There was a chap on another thread was looking into the possibility of working around the world with a kid in tow and he hadn't a clue what effect it would have on his child's eligibility for education, especially returning to the country with the third highest university fees in the world.

vivatifosi

Hamish, if you go down the two wheel route, Investment Biker by Jim Rogers, Red Tape and White Knuckles by Lois Pryce and anything by Austin Vince (who is married to Lois and they ride bikes together as well as writing and producing DVDs on how to do it). Plus of course Ted Simon's Jupiter's Travels... though that was written in a different era.

I'm not a biker and never will be, but love reading about Lois's exploits and its written from a lone female perspective. A couple of years back she rode her bike solo round Iran. I'd love to go to Iran. It is absolutely on my to do list but DH thinks I am absolutely bonkers.