By all accounts you will have the lifestyle that many if us in the UK would dream off. A close and dear friend and her family left for Canada (Vancouver) as her husband had an 18 month contract there, with the bank he worked for. That was 12 years ago, they never did come back, So enjoy, do not hesitate, you will love it there.
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Thatās what I like to hear! Haha weāve got 2 years guaranteed but thereās a high chance after that that more funding opportunities will open up for my OH with his research being in climate change. & who knows what Iāll be doing by then too!!
I think I may try and stick to schools because then I at least benefit from the holidays which will make visiting others easier- and the holidays will marry up a bit more with my husbands.
Lots to think about though! Iām glad your friend is still enjoying it!! 
Congrats and well done (to you both!!) 
Iāve been to Canada and it is lovely. We emigrated twice when I was small (Germany and South Africa) but have been in UK for years now. Itāll be a fab adventure and itāll be fun to hear how you are getting on, thanks to the power of the internet!
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What an adventure youāre going to have! Canada is a place I would love to visit - it looks stunning. Lots of luck to you and your husband. The world is a much smaller place than it used to be with the availability of the internet - so youāre never really that far away from your friends and loved ones anyway 
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Yeah thatās how I feel to be honest. Itās not like people are a phone call away anymore either, with Skype and things like whatsapp being free it just makes life even easier!
Iām not the sort of person who feels incredibly attached to my home and my family anyway- Iām not one for feeling home sick at all- so just seeing it as a whole new fresh start somewhere! where the lifestyle will be a bit different, and weāll be able to take part in new hobbies and get outside more basically!
Itās exciting!! Haha and I know the next few months will just fly by.
Yes, I understand that feeling of not feeling incredibly attached (whilst still loving them!). Iām pretty self-sufficient too - Iāve always enjoyed my own company. Itās nice to know that family and friends are there when you need them though - just to lend an ear even! I like to think me and my husband have an adventure left in us once the kids have all left education and are settled in their own lives. Youāll have to try and give updates on here 
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Iām sure you do!! Life is what you make it and all that!
My husband and I wonāt ever be having kids so weāve got nothing stopping us in that respect. Just a house bunny!! Haha But fortunately my husbands grandma is going to take her on- and sheās fab with animals and doesnāt have anything at the moment so itās a good match! So thatās a weight off!
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Good timing with the house bunny! And yes youāre right - life IS what you make it. Exciting times ahead - enjoy every minute!
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Oh wow Susannah @curiousseagull a move to Canada sounds super exciting. What a brilliant opportunity. 
Karen
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ooooh - exciting! Iāve been coast to coast in Canada, but I donāt remember Calgary (except for cowboys and the stampede 
) but so much of Canada is beautiful - I recommend visiting Vancouver Island in the west, and Quebec City, and Nova Scotia (where I spent my summers when I was little). Iām an expat American and just realized Iāve been in the UK for nearly 14 years now - eeek! Iāve got two ankle biters now so the chances of moving back are slim (and even slimmer depending on the results of the presidential election). But it will be such a fun adventure and a chance to start something new!
Yeah, itās going to be an opportunity to really explore the continent. Iāve only been to America once. Most of my travelling has been in Asia. But thereās so much of North America I want to see- so having a base there will make it all much easier & more affordable. Weāll be on much more money when we move as well so really looking forward to seeing as much as we can.
I think time just flies by so itās best to move on when we get the opportunity.
more money is good . . . VERY good! 
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Wow! Thatās fantastic news! How exciting wishing lots of luck.
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Wow, lucky you.
We bought a house 8 years ago (in May) in France with the intention of moving out when the children were still young enough not to have an opinion. But what with one thing and another we still havenāt taken the plunge and with now 16 and 14 year old, they now have opinions!!!
Its now a case, we are waiting for them to finish their education and decide what they want to do, if they cant make up their minds they will have to come with us, even if they class it as their gap years, to help us move/ set up the business over there.
In the meantime we are getting it ready - doing work to the house, furnishing it etc, so when we are ready we can just sell everything in this country, pack a bag of clothes and jump in the car!
We have even timed it so that the animals we have in this country (we got two 8 year old cats from the RSPCA 3 years ago rather than getting kittens, so that they would be the same age as the dog) will all peg it, so we donāt need to hassle with pet passports etc. Haha! Although I would like to bury my dog in France so she is always with me.
We have just had to accept its our dream not the childrenās and we have to wait until the time is right, in the meantime we are saving like crazy!!
It sounds like you donāt have children (might of missed it tho in another posting) so go for it, if it was just me and Mark nothing would of got in our way, you only live once after all. And I dont understand anyone who can live in the same house all their lives.
Aaah thatās awesome though!! Itās definitely something for you to look forward to though. And having it as a gap year for them if they arenāt sure what they want to do sounds great! I can think of worse ways to spend a gap year!!
And no- we donāt have kids. Never will either so weāll only ever have animals getting in our way! Haha Iād always said by the time Iām 30 Iād love to have emigrated- and Iāve just turned 28 so for once in my life something has actually gone to plan!! Haha although- I donāt tend to plan much ahead. With my husband working on his PhD for the last 5 years and his degree for the 3 years before that I was always the one to just plod along and make enough money.
So even the main bread winner not being me will be a nice novelty!! Hahaha
I intend to make the most of it!! Debating on just getting a part time job over there but part of me would like to just make even more Ā£ so we can do things without thinking about it as much- havenāt had that privledge before.
I hope you get to France soon!! It does sound like a great idea!!
I hope you are going to be blogging this experience Susannah, could turn into a best seller and boost you into a new career!!!
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Hahaha always secretly wanted to be an author.
Funny you should say that though actually- 10 years ago I went travelling for the year in asia with my now husband. And we decided to have a blog for the whole trip. I really like writing so I was the main writer for it- (my husband despite his PhD doesnāt actually enjoy writing). So I kept writing this blog every few days when we came across an Internet cafe. And loads of friends and and family followed it. One day my husband wrote the entry- and everyone complained asking for me to do it again. Haha which was a nice compliment! I am very sarcastic and have a very dry sense of humour- and that seemed to appeal in my writings!
Althoughā¦itās also what Iām most scared for with moving!!! Theyāre all going to hate me because theyāre going to think Iām insulting them all when really Iām just very British in my humour!! Hahaha
I really like your style of writing, your posts always stand out to me and usually make me smile!! I definitely think you should blog this, I think it would be great to fun to follow!!
Really? Aaah thatās so kind and strange at the same time! Haha simply because Iāve never really thought about it I guess!
Hmmā¦maybe I will! Iāve been hunting around online for information- I guess like anyone would in this instance- as soon as you find out youāre moving you just head to google to try and find out everything you possibly can!
A lot of it though, even the first few things that come up on google are really quite dated, so Iām not sure how reliable they are. Or theyāre very technical in terms of visa jargon and that sort of thing and it just confuses me. So maybe writing about my experiences would be helpful!
I āemergratedā from Surrey to the Isle of Wightā¦not quite the same level of paperwork but I felt like I could have written a book at the time!! Swore Iād never move again and to be honest I wouldnāt want to. This is where I want to be. You will definately need to blog to keep you saneā¦and you can look back and see if it was all worth it!!! Besidesā¦youāve got us all hooked now, we need to know what happens!! x