We’re moving to Vancouver, Canada, in about a month. Here are all of the reasons why.
o Clean air and beautiful light
o Vancouver has the most festivals annually of any city in North America
o Vancouver has had about 17 murders so far this year. Los Angeles had about 24 murders last year BY MINORS. Los Angeles County had about 19 murders LAST WEEKEND.
o The Canadian dollar is cheaper and more colorful
o It’s on the ocean, near the mountains, on a river. It’s heaven for people who like prepositions and wilderness, like me.
o We hated the censored version of Trailer Park Boys
o Weather. Not necessarily good weather, but there’s lots of it.
o Some of Travis’ closest highschoolfriends live here
o Candied salmon—it’s delicious!
o Because we want to
o Living in Vancouver’s downtown, we can sell one car and walk a lot more. (That’s the theory at least)
o The cost of healthcare per month for a couple in B.C.: $76 U.S., with no co-pays or deductibles
o British Columbians listen to country music less than any other province except for Quebec. And they listen to French pop less than Quebec.
o Progressivesocialpolicies
o People are nice
o No, really, they’re very nice
o We’re beating the rush to be there for the 2010 Olympics
o In the U.S., 70.3% of all American workers put in more than 40 hours a week. The average that B.C. residents work per week? 31.1 hours. (Sorry the stats don’t directly compare, I couldn’t find an exact match, but one source says Americans average 46 hours per week.)
o Stanley Park abuts Vancouver’s downtown, and it’s spectacularly large and verdant
o No Taco Bell
To be fair, we’ve also listed reasons we shouldn’t move there:
o No Taco Bell
o None of our close L.A. friends (but they’ll come visit!)
o Sun, sun, sun
o So many things to do, restaurants to try
o Our house is swell
o No TiVo
o No Netflix
o No Comedy Central
o No Pink’s hot dog stand, The Hat, Cha Cha Cha’s, Le Petit Bistro, Philippe’s or Bupa di Becco
o We’ll need to get a whole new cell phone plan
o It gets cold there. And wet. Wet and cold.
o Will Hop Studios continue to do well? Dunno!
Please, add your own suggestions using the comment tool!
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You know the real reason for moving is that you'll be able to run out and get Canada's own Ketchup Flavored Potato chips any time of the day or night. Best of luck!
ps. Is there really no Tivo in Canada? That just sucks.
Posted by Rob at 8:21 pm on Sep. 3, 2004
Wow. You folks are all pretty hung up on the No TiVo thing. For me, I think it's going to be the rain and cold that will take the most adjusting.
Just had a brainwave, Travis — why don't you go to Vancouver and leave Susie here with us? On the other hand, Vancouver sounds really nice — perhaps I'll go with Susie and you can stay here! : )
Basically, it's a VCR with a) a hard-drive instead of a tape, and b) a great interface that's really easy to use, and c) two weeks of detailed, searchable listings of what's on. So you can get it to tape all your favorite shows, then watch them whenever you want, and can skip commercials and pause it and come back to it and you never have to watch "live" tv again.
Posted by Travis Smith at 2:37 pm on Oct. 22, 2004
first of all there is tivo in canada, it's only called a different name and please, if someone wants to move to vancouver i think that's the smartest decision they can ever make. specially if they are moving from states.
Posted by at 7:15 pm on Dec. 5, 2004
Hey Travis,
My wife and I are seriously thinking of re-locating to Vancouver (we live in Toronto)
I know it's quite a bit different than moving from L.A. but how do you like it so far?
Posted by Adam at 11:51 am on Feb. 23, 2005
Well, the weather has been great, the people, great, the food, great, the real estate, expensive. Overall, we love the city. Spectacular.
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