We're thinking of moving to Vancouver. Talk me out of it.

[kay1864]

Probably in five years or so.

People say that taxes are much higher in Canada than the US, but when you break it down, that really ain't so.

I know all the reasons for such a move, but what are the reasons against it? Education? Culture? 12 varieties of potato chips to contend with?

[imperialismispasse]

1. Sorry no can do

I hear it's great.

[kay1864]

3. I know, I know...

It's almost too good to be true. Even the weather's nice (unlike, say, Toronto). There's got to be some downside though...

[Guy Fawkes]

2. Only 12 varieties of potato chip!?

So it ain't so! :scared:

[HEyHEY]

5. And they're fucked up Canadian varieties like "Ketchup"

[kay1864]

11. "Ketchup"? Oh well that does it then...

No way can we raise our daughter in such a morally corrupt city :rofl:

[Guy Fawkes]

13. What about "Salsa and Cheese"

Or "Bacon"? Bacon potato chips? Why not just eat Bacon!?

[HEyHEY]

16. My favourite is chile and sea salt!

[Guy Fawkes]

17. Yuch.

We have flavors like that here. Lot's of new sea-salt combinations, in fact. Perhaps its some crazy potato-chip-making fad?

[Bassic]

61. Ketchup chips are the best. nt

[Sufi Marmot]

24. 12 varieties in one package - "All Dressed Chips"

In Canada they sell something called "All Dressed" chips, which contain chips coated with what I suspect are the dregs of all the normal flavor coatings (BBQ, sour cream, salt & vinegar, ketchup, bacon, etc.) all mixed together. They're an acquired taste... :puke:

[HEyHEY]

4. As a resident of the third greatest city in the world

I will say nothing more than "COME HERE" cause it rules.
Plus, you actually get services for your taxes, so it ain't that bad.
Only thing is real estate is up the ying yang expesnsive

But, for a good reason

[kay1864]

6. *sigh* Like I needed that picture...

But now I'm curious...what are the first two greatest cities?

[HEyHEY]

8. Geneva and Zurich

It switches up, sometimes Vancouver is number one, sometimes it's one of the other two

[Arugula Latte]

59. Geneva and Zurich?

Hmmmmmm.

I don't know. There's something about Swiss cities -- I think they're pretty, but they don't DO anything for me compared to, say, an Italian city. :loveya:

[grace0418]

10. *double sigh* I could be making plans to move there right now.

Instead I'm stuck here in Chicago, wondering how to convince my husband to take a fucking chance for once in his life.

I love Vancouver. I would move there in a heartbeat if I could do it without having to file for divorce.

:( :( :(

[TrogL]

12. What's with the buildings with the wierd green glass?

Only city I've ever seen them in.

[kay1864]

14. Atlanta has a couple buildings like that

Looks kinda cheesy IMHO.

[HEyHEY]

18. Like these?

Pretty well every Vancouver apartment building (And there's tons of them) has that glass... just the style I suppose, combined with needing tint from the sun kicking off the ocean maybe

[uncle ray]

42. i think it's moss from all the humidity.

;-)

[grace0418]

7. As someone who's husband is currently blowing off a possible job offer in

Vancouver, you won't hear anything negative from me. I'm just so sad to be losing out on the chance to move from Chicago because my husband is too scared of change (he claims he's too busy but if he really wanted to do this he'd make the time). If you have the opportunity to move there, TAKE IT. I'm sorry if that wasn't what you wanted to hear. :hi:

[kay1864]

9. No no, that's good...

Helps reinforce our decision (which we don't really have to act on for at least five years...)

But I do like to weigh the pros and cons, especially on a decision as big as this one. So I'm trying to find the cons, in order to see that the pros vastly outweigh them.

[slide to the left]

15. Just go.

Appearently, taxwes are only high for nationals, not for people moving there.

[kay1864]

19. Actually, the taxes aren't high for nationals either...

But Americans think they are. An American friend claimed Canadians had a 50% income tax, so I asked a Toronto friend what they were, and she emailed me the details. Turns out they're on par with U.S. taxes. It's just that we Americans don't think about all of our taxes--state, FICA, Medicare, etc.

Funny thing was, even my Toronto friend thought Canadian taxes were higher. But when I added them up, they were over 40% for both countries. And the individual taxes were on par with each other.

[jukes]

20. i'd sugg

5 months rather than 5 years. you may have to go "wet" by then...

[kay1864]

21. Yeah, tell me about it...

I don't know if we can take 2 more years of a GOP-controlled Congress...

(what does "go wet" mean?)

[jukes]

22. as in "wet-back"

or crossing the border illegally. a "freeper" term for mexican illegals, was meant sardonically here.

[Oeditpus Rex]

23. Talk you *out* of it?

Hell, take me with you!

[kay1864]

25. Self-kick for the evening DUers...

Hope y'all can help!

[u4ic]

26. Well, they're NOT the centre of the Universe

(Toronto is...);)

[kay1864]

27. I love Toronto!

I have several friends there, and I've visited about five times.
But it's too dang cold... :scared: :scared: :scared:

[u4ic]

29. You're talking to someone

who lives in Edmonton...:rofl:

I'm originally from the T.O. area, however.

Positively balmy compared to here...;-)

[kay1864]

31. Yep, my Toronto friends say that...

Toronto has 9 months of winter, and 3 months of bad skiing!

[no name no slogan]

34. Heh. Toronto is "cold". That's FUNNY

Southern Minnesota is cold. Northern Minnesota is even colder. But Edmonton is subarctic.

:hi:

[Hissyspit]

37. A friend of mine and I went to Toronto one summer...

and we were freaking burning up. And he didn't have air conditioning in his car. Montreal was even hotter.

[u4ic]

45. I had a friend from Iran

pass out from the heat and humidity in Toronto...it gets frickin' hot! :hi:

[u4ic]

46. I predict by 2020

we'll be growing palm trees up here...seriously, global warming is really concerning me, we're really feeling it up here...:cry:

[no name no slogan]

62. I hear you loud and clear on that one

it's been in the mid-70s all week in Minneapolis/St. Paul-- that's June or July weather for here. Pretty soon we'll be as warm as Mexico. Which kind of makes sense, because our wages are sinking to that level, and our rich are getting richer, while our poor get poorer and poorer. A few more years of Dubya + Pals and we'll be a third-world nation. :cry:

[Bassic]

63. Cold??

Oh man, don't go to Ottawa or Québec City in the winter then. Or Winnipeg, for that matter.

[HEyHEY]

48. Toronto is a shithole - couldn't even get an olympics

Nothing but a big Edmonton

[CanuckAmok]

57. Careful, that's where Master Control is.

They know when you're talking about them...

[u4ic]

65. Aye matey

leave the fishing to the East Coasters...I ain't taking your bait.

I may be stuck in Deadmonton, but I ain't attached to it...;-)

[Lisa]

28. not only is there a long winter rainy season ...

... but the locals snap at you if you comment on it. (Remember what happened to poor David Duchovny when he was in town working on the X-Files!)

http://www.mjq.net/xfiles/dd-sun-interview.htm


By the way, I live in Victoria, which also gets a lot of rain in the winter (same weather characteristics, thanks to the Aleutian Low). But we're in a rainshadow, so there's a bit of a difference.

Oh -- and after all that, even Vancouver can end up with watering restrictions in the summer (when we get a California-style dry season).

[kay1864]

30. Yes, I checked that out...

Oddly enough, Vancouver actually has less precipitation than Atlanta (where we live now) for Mar-Sep. In fact ATL has 3 times as much precipitation in the summer! Only in Nov-Dec is there a big difference. And to me that still beats the sweltering summers here.

(we've visited Victoria too, which we loved, but I think we want someplace bigger)

Thanks! :hi:

Any other downsides to Vancouver that you can think of?

[no name no slogan]

39. I love Victoria

I spent part of my honeymoon there. Great climate, wonderful people, and relatively cheap compared to the rest of the west coast. I wouldn't mind living there one of these days.

[Orsino]

32. Sorry, but I'm planning the same move myself.

You caught me on mls.ca, drooling over the purty pitchers.

[Taverner]

33. Sounds like a good deal to me

:shrug:

OK...if you move to Vancouver, you'll never be able to live in the US again - you'll be too spoiled.

[maxsolomon]

35. Rain. Incessant, ceaseless rain.

and i live in Seattle.

But otherwise, it kicks ass over most cities in Amurka. Super hot multiethnic chicks too.

[CanuckAmok]

36. I got completely sick of Vancouver... too crowded, rude, expensive, rainy

I moved to Victoria, which is sort of like "Vancouver Lite".

Vancouver, like Downtown proper, has really gone to seed in the past few years. It used to be the blight was concentrated in the Downtown Eastside (the most impoverished postal code in Canada, BTW), but now it's everywhere... grafitti, used needles everywhere, break-ins, break-ins, break-ins..... and it's fucking crowded, without any decent public trnasportation and NO highway/freeway infrastructure.

Now that I no longer live there, I can stand it for one, maybe two days, and then I'm clamoring to get back to the Island.

But it's a great place to live if you want to spend $400,000 on a 600sq ft condo with a sliver of a view.

To put things in perspective, yes, we pay more taxes, but we get more social services, too, so it's a good trade-off.

On the other hand, lots of things are insanely expensive. Example: gas is sold by the litre, and works out to about $4.40 a gallon.

on edit: and it never stops fucking raining.

[Hissyspit]

38. Yvr Girl is there! LynnTheDem is there!

Who else?

[HEyHEY]

49. me

[Hissyspit]

52. Oh, yeah! And HEyHEY!

:hi:

[chaska]

40. What's that city with the Socialist Government???

Seems like it was in Alberta, maybe it was Alberta. Edmonton, Calgary...????

[HEyHEY]

50. It WAS Vancouver

Not anymore

[CanuckAmok]

55. No...certainly NOT Alberta.

...... :eyes:

[chaska]

41. I just met a truck driver from Quebec. He was really big on Motreal....

...talked about how it was so much more layed back and less crowded than the states, and how much cheaper it was to buy a house, for example, than Toronto.

...Yeah, you read my mind ... hot, (psuedo) French chix.

[Bassic]

64. Pseudo french?

As a French-Canadian I resent that :P

But yeah, our chicks are hot :D

[Ignacio Upton]

43. I hear Vancouver is a really beautiful city

You should check some of these pics:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=100721
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=101116
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=103405

[yvr girl]

44. Here's my pro and con list

PRO

-It's beautiful
-Urban centre right on the water, mountains aren't far away, either is farmland - there's a reason so many movies are shot here.
-Great restaurants - especially ethnic restaurants
-Mild weather. Doesn't get really cold in the winter and summers are heaven (not too hot or humid.)
-Lots of green space
-Liberal city
-Lots of fun things to do
-Encourages a healthy lifestyle

CONS
-Real Estate is crazy expensive
-Commuting from the burbs can be hell
-Some people find the winters too dark - lots of rain and short days

[Dem2theMax]

47. Talk you out of it?

More like "Take me with you!" :)

I know, that didn't help. But I gotta do what I gotta do and I want out of here! LOL.

[Blue_Tires]

51. talk you out of it?

hell, i'll take your place!

[leftofthedial]

53. they say "eh" all the damned time

and they also say "aboot" instead of "about."

Trust me it will drive you nuts.

[LeftyMom]

54. there are a zillion veggie restraunts there

I'm not really a big city person, but that fact alone would tempt me. OMG, they have vegan soft serve ice cream! *runs off to apply for immigration*

[The Wielding Truth]

56. You won't be part of the Revolution.

[dpbrown]

58. There's no massive superhighway cutting through downtown!

How will you ever get anywhere?

[Bassic]

60. Taxes are higher

But we get shitload more social services and programs.