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hows the west coast for you guys? i'm planning on moving there in a couple of years from edmonton. i just wanted to know how living down there is as far as living exspenses, traffic, crime, jobs, you know the usual stuff when considering a move. I'm 21 so by then i'll be 23 no kids yet...knock on wood lol... my line of work is video production so thats what i'm looking for in jobs. what you guys think?

 
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hey you should post in Vancouver...
no one hardly reads the general can west forum

 
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living on the west coast has been the worst 2.5 years of my life.

my opinion may be biased, though, im not a city boy. i moved from the interior of BC, in search of work... here comes the rant.

the rain here is unreal. some days welcome, most days not. especially not after 4 months of nothing but rain. I recall hearing on the radio last spring that we'd been over 40 odd days since the last day without rain.

also, its busy here. people everywhere... everyone keeps to themselves for the most part... and im still an hour away from vancouver... again, im not a city person, at all. i want to go back to the okanagan where starbucks is empty most of the time.

insurance is okay compared to private insurance rates. however if you get on ICBC's bad side, you may not find their rates all that nice. I have remained in their good books, so I'm relatively okay with them.

cost of living is expensive in the city, but if you don't mind a commute, you can venture out to living in surrey/langley/abbotsford/maple ridge/chilliwack. i'm currently paying $700/mo for a 1000 sq. ft, 2 bedroom apartment/townhouse with 5 appliances in abbotsford for me and my wife. only found it by doing an extensive apartment shop in which i found out how much you can get ripped off out there.

surrey is the car theft capital of western canada. i dont bother with a club since civics have the immobilizer, and a club won't stop someone who *really* wants it bad enough to bypass that. so far i still have my emblems... but strangely enough my valve stem caps were stolen a while back.

traffic is retarded. it continually mystifies me how people cannot understand 'construction zone - lane ending' signs. they're only the brighest signs on the road and are extremely clear as to what is going to happen. yet people continually merge into the lane that is going to end, then wonder why traffic gets all plugged up.

also, a 3 months after i moved here, i got rearended by a drunk driver on valentines weekend. grr.

job market -- well, its BC. if you're willing to work for minimum wage there is plenty of work. If not, the job market is very slim. thats as far as Info. Tech is, anyways. Don't know about your line of work.

One last thing I will mention as a positive thing about living on the west coast... Canuck fever rocks. It's a really neat thing to see the widespread support which gets stronger the closer you are to GM Place in Vancouver.

okay, a 2nd last thing -- your alberta plates will make all of us BC drivers hate you, so change those soon...

~B

 
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one other tip -- gas is always around $0.10 cheaper per litre in everything east of Langley. the langley/aldergrove border is where the GVRD (greater van regional district) Transportation tax cuts off... so a gas station in Langley will be 91.5 meanwhile a gas station in abbotsford will be 77.5. i witnessed these exact numbers last week.

 
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why will my alberta plates **** you guys off? are we really that different? lol

 
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everyone will automatically expect you to drive like a mad man when its straight and flat, then "whooooa nelly" when you approach an... OH NO... *gasp* TURN! hit the brakes!

its unbelievably frusterating when its a turn you know you can take at 120kph yet the albertan infront of you thinks he needs to slow down to 80. albertans are well known for it 'round these parts.

no offence or anything...

in any case, i do often shout "go home" in frusteration at the albertan drivers. these are the joys of growing up in a tourist hotspot. around Vernon in the summer, there are more alberta plates on the local roads than BC plates. its nuts.

 
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yeah io agree with you i hate the drivers out here so bad. everything you said is exactly true.

 
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i laughed my *** off when i took a trip to alberta last summer... you get thru rogers pass then its all open highway. you get in near cochrane and most are driving well over the 120k/h speed limit... i was following a train of vehicles at around 190k/h (fastest I've ever driven my civic)... then something happened, everyone slowed down to 110 or slower! I was confused, until i passed the corner advisory speed sign of 110k/h.

this "corner" that had the 110k/h recommendation on it... wouldn't even be called a corner here... certainly nothing to merit any warning sign. It was a slight bend in the road, there was no trick to it, it didn't creep up, just a slight bend.

my passenger & i didnt stop laughing for a while after that one.

after the bend, the train of cars i was in resumed speed in excess of 180km/h.

 
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in edmonton people are slow as ****. actually more like inconsistent one second fast the next slow. On the highway well near edmonton anyways most people drive normal but there's always someone just given'r. two lane divided highways are usually nuts. another thing is no one signals here and everyone cuts each other off like mad. i don't drive slow but i don't drive insanely fast either. i don't understand how people feel the need to obey a corner speed limit sign but not the actual highway speed limit. isn't it funny how a "border" changes the way people drive.

 
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i suspect its not so much the border, its just what lies west of the rockies, and the adversities faced when learning to drive. BC drivers are probably considered psychotic in other areas because when you drive in BC, you know exactly how fast you can take turns, hills, without losing control... and don't dare drive slower than that

i used to commute from Vernon to Kelowna on a daily basis. Instead of taking the highway, i would take Glenmore road -- the speed limit on Glenmore is 80, and there are countless sharp corners where even a civic should be going around 60... but i knew my car could manage it just barely OK -- so i'd set the cruise control @ 85 and sit back and enjoy the ride. Occasionally albertans would get stuck on that road... and you could bet they wouldn't breach 50... slamming on the brakes at every corner that i usually would take @ 85.

That's just one thing that seems ultumitely consistent about AB drivers. UGH.

 
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yeah i know from going down groat road it's the same here. very windy road but it makes for a fun drive unless there's someone in front of me.

 
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you sound like an albertan driver that may be trustworthy not to f*** up the flow of traffic. you still carry a plate of shame though

 
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well that's cause i hate alberta drivers and don't want to be like them. what a gay plate anyways with the stupid flower. don't get me wrong alberta is not a bad place to live i just hate the drivers.