Who has moved to Victoria from Calgary - Page 2 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

RW99 · 01-08-2009, 08:41 PM

I've been contemplating a move to Victoria. Living in Banff and only skiing only occasionally makes for loooong winters. I'd like to think I would prefer a lot more rain as apposed to up to 7 months of winter, but it's hard to say what will happen after I get there

nfotiu · 01-08-2009, 10:10 PM

I went to Uvic for 5 years as well. Great weather during my stay. A couple winters we barely saw rain. I remember one spring where I didn't see a cloud for 4 months. A couple of the winters were a bit gloomy, but how much can you complain when they are only 3 months versus Calgary's 9 months!

It seems that ocean currents very much effect Victoria's climate though, and can last a year or 2, where you may get a long stretch of warm dry weather or a year or 2 of crap. I may have just been there for a good stretch.

I love Calgary, but I don't see how anyone could live just about anywhere else and still think that it has a decent climate.

habernac · 01-09-2009, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nfotiu

I went to Uvic for 5 years as well. Great weather during my stay. A couple winters we barely saw rain. I remember one spring where I didn't see a cloud for 4 months. A couple of the winters were a bit gloomy, but how much can you complain when they are only 3 months versus Calgary's 9 months!

It seems that ocean currents very much effect Victoria's climate though, and can last a year or 2, where you may get a long stretch of warm dry weather or a year or 2 of crap. I may have just been there for a good stretch.

I love Calgary, but I don't see how anyone could live just about anywhere else and still think that it has a decent climate.

9 months? I know Richmond is warm, but it isn't exactly Nunavut here.

kevman · 01-09-2009, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanisleflamesfan

I'm a bit surprised at the number of people that are complaining about the weather. The weather here in Calgary has got me wanting to jump off a bridge. Endless cold, snow, wind-chill with no end in sight until June... maybe. The other night I read the weather before I went to bed and it said plus 3 tomorrow. I wake up to -16 and snow, fog and miserableness all day. I think that the people who report the weather in Calgary are just lying to us now so that we don't commit suicide.

I was back on the island over the holidays and it was beautiful (even in the snow, at least it was warm).

I will take 2 degrees and rain every single day for the rest of my life if it meant I never had to see another flake of snow or some horrible -48 wind chill.

Is this your first winter in Calgary?

There is something terribly amiss with the weather in Calgary this winter (and last summer for that matter). I'm a born and raised Calgarian who loves winter but this year is really starting to get to me! Where the hell are our chinooks?!

cKy · 01-09-2009, 08:52 AM

Thanks for the input guys. For the record, my gf is transferring her job over to Victoria, so thats covered. I do Desktop Support, and have a friend who is a job recruiter (her company also has an office in Victoria) so I am very comfortable with the prospect of getting a job out there.

So far the only 2 viable options for actually moving my stuff is a U-Haul or an expensive (yet reputable!) Moving Company.

Sittler · 01-09-2009, 09:24 AM

I moved out here in late 2007 with the family and wouldn't go back to Calgary (not that Calgary is a bad place to live, just not for me and mine anymore). Victoria is awesome in so many ways and there is just so much to do outdoors-wise here. A comment on the gigs here - yeah we don't get all the big shows, but it's surprising the number of bands that do roll through town. I'm a huge music fan (CD collection of over 2K) and like to check out 2 or more gigs a month.

As far as moving I came out with a U-Haul trailer and once we sold the Calgary house we moved our stuff via PODS (www.pods.com). Check them out as they were fantastic. I don't know if they have their office in Vic opened yet as they didn't when we moved. However, you can arrange for them to come across the ferry with your stuff (for a very reasonable charge - I think it was ~$200 which includes their ferry here and back). I think I still have the manager's contact info just in case you wanted to go that route. He was awesome as he even helped unload the POD when he got here.

Hope you enjoy Vic as much as me and my family do. Much more relaxed pace here and another added benefit over Calgary (and there are many) is that they have way more local micro-brews (not to mention brew pubs) that kick the crap out of everything Big Rock makes (Phillips, Driftwood, Lighthouse, Vancouver Island, Swans, Spinnakers, am I missing any). Yummy.

vanisleflamesfan · 01-09-2009, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sittler

Hope you enjoy Vic as much as me and my family do. Much more relaxed pace here and another added benefit over Calgary (and there are many) is that they have way more local micro-brews (not to mention brew pubs) that kick the crap out of everything Big Rock makes (Phillips, Driftwood, Lighthouse, Vancouver Island, Swans, Spinnakers, am I missing any). Yummy.

STOP, please, you are killing me! I want a nice pint of Swans Oatmeal Stout so bad right now... or a Racerocks... or a Longboat or Granville Winter Ale...

tvp2003 · 01-09-2009, 11:03 AM

Ali Baba's Pizza FTW

driveway · 01-09-2009, 12:05 PM

Lived in Victoria for 10 years and had a great time there. Like a lot of people I had to move because of the job thing. I probably could have stuck it out there, but most of the friends I'd made in school had left and it was time for me to go too.

As for moving, it being winter I would highly highly recommend not trying to do the drive in a single day. Calgary - Kamloops is the hard part of the drive and should take 7 - 8 hours depending on traffic and weather. Spend the night in a crappy motel, then get up early the next day and do Kamloops - Vancouver. Should take about 5 hours and, if you're up nice and early, you can be in Victoria just after lunch.

Also, when you're driving into Vancouver do not follow the Trans-canada into the city. You'll end up in the hellishness that is Vancouver traffic and it'll probably add an hour to your trip to get to the ferry. Look for route 10, also called the Ladner Trunk Road, it'll send you almost straight to the ferry and help you skip Vancouver.

Enjoy Victoria.

BuzzardsWife · 01-10-2009, 10:03 AM

Lived most of my life on the Island. It costs so much to get off the Island to do anything. Cost me 900 bucks to go for a weekend to see 2 shows in Van. Victoria isn't what it used to be. It's not even beautiful anymore, they don't keep it clean and watered, and the street people have taken over the downtown. There are no good beaches there either. On the plus side: no snow to shovel (very rare), you are only 2 hours from the Parksville Beaches.

DynamRyan · 01-10-2009, 03:46 PM

I moved to Vic from Calgary for School in 2004 until 2008. Now I'm in London, England furthering my studies, but Victoria has a special place in my heart. I just made so many friends there and the place is awesome. I didn't realise how much I missed it until I got to London. London is big-city awesome, and fantastic and eveything that goes with a giant megalopolis of the world, but I'll always like Victoria.