I’ve got the visa, now what?!
The letter approving my visa landed in my inbox. I re-read it several times to make sure I really understood it correctly. Now where do you start with planning? And what exactly do you need to plan?
Make yourself accountable
I am a person who gets excited for things very easily but I have sometimes problem to finish them. I get scared, comfortable or bored. But this was important to me. I couldn’t let myself to sabotage this by getting cold feet. I made myself accountable. I told everyone I’ve got the visa and I am going. Another step was to raise the stakes even higher and invest more money in it. So the second step was – book the flight!
So many options
One thing is clear. Canada is a HUGE country. You have an open work permit meaning it is not fixed for any specific job/employer or location. You have all the possibilities open. And this is the hardest part – to decide! Even now when I am already here (I might write an article on this later).
So what do you do these days when you are confronted with a decision and lack of information? You use your best friend Google, he “knows” it all, right? And so I googled. I needed to figure out 2 things. What date and where to do I book the one way ticket?
Based on one (!) blog (main message: before Christmas and opening of the ski season there might be higher demand for work) and one (!) personal advice (main message: do not come in the middle of winter because if you stay the whole year then you will have to survive it twice) I have decided for October! And I have decided for Vancouver as my first destination.
Why Vancouver? Several reasons. It always appeared in those “best cities to live in”rankings, my uncle emigrated to Vancouver in 80s so it has been part of family history (unfortunately we are not in touch anymore), I wanted to be close to nature and also to be close to city with all the cultural events it has to offer and Vancouver kind of combines it both (I hoped at least, not that I did much research on this).
Book that flight ticket!
It took me few months to actually book those tickets. Six months to go seemed as a very long time. But eventually I needed to tell at work that I am leaving. And because of the 2 months’ notice I needed tell them in summer if I wanted to leave in October. I booked the flight and 2 or 3 days later I told my boss.
I booked an Airbnb for my first 5 days about 2 weeks before my flight. I had my last working day 10 days before my flight. And I got my one year commercial insurance and cancelled my state health insurance at home a week later. I had my hard to remember forget goodbye party with my friends (it was really epic guys, thank you!). And on Friday very early morning I set off to my journey to Canada with a 3 days long layover in London (with my friends – made the epicness of the goodbye party even greater!).
Short side note at the end: If you can arrange a trip with friends seeing you off do it! Not only you get to see another place, it will also feel like having holiday! All the fun we had exploring together in the London city before me boarding the plane to Vancouver eased my nervousness and doubts about all of this tremendously! 😉
So finally moving to Canada, the first impressions coming soon…