I’m lying on a half-deflated airbed, homesick and jetlagged, wishing I had Wi-Fi so I could talk to my family. This wasn’t how I imagined my first few days living in Canada to be.
A little over a year ago, I decided I needed a change of scenery. I had a great job, lots of friends nearby and (perhaps the greatest achievement of all) a spacious apartment that didn’t cost me 70% of my paycheck. But I was craving adventure, and my mind kept drifting back to the gloriously sunny June I’d spent on vacation in Toronto two years ago.
Plus, Canada was recently ranked the world’s most desirable country to move to, thanks to the quality of life, diverse landscape and famous Canadian friendliness. It felt like the universe was sending a message.
My partner agreed, so we booked the plane tickets, quit our jobs and packed up our lives into four (very overweight) suitcases.
It all seemed too good to be true. And, in some ways, it was.
Tackling the TTC
I thought living in London had prepared me for any transit system the world has to offer, but I was wrong.
The TTC map might be far easier to navigate than London’s spaghetti network, but the constant streetcar diversions and delays quickly rendered it useless.
To be fair, it probably didn’t help that the drivers had the aforementioned 40cm of snow to navigate shortly after we arrived — things have been running a little smoother since the weather turned milder.
Plus, at $3.30 for two hours of travel, I suppose I shouldn’t complain.
Surviving the snowstorm
Person walking in a snow storm in Toronto.
Ellie Hutchings | Narcity
I was prepared for Toronto winter to be a shock to the system, but we couldn’t have picked a worse time to move. Remember the polar vortex? The one that dumped 40cm of snow on the city? That happened less than a week after we arrived.
I won’t deny that it was a novel experience for us — London only gets a handful of snow days each year — but when the weather traps you inside an unfurnished apartment with only an airbed to sit on and a tiny laptop as a substitute for a TV, things can feel pretty bleak.
The blue skies that followed were welcomed, but the -20 C temperatures were not. It was so cold, in fact, that our windows and back doors froze shut, and we once again found ourselves practically imprisoned by the weather.
Furnishing failures
A Toronto apartment.
Ellie Hutchings | Narcity
I’ve already mentioned the lack of furniture in our apartment, and acquiring a bed, a couch, and a kitchen table were priorities one, two, and three when we arrived.
To keep costs down (neither of us had jobs lined up), we turned to Facebook Marketplace, which is always awash with moving-out sales.
I sent dozens of messages to people who insisted they needed items collected immediately, letting them know I could pick up their unwanted furniture at the drop of a hat. Only to be left on read while their ‘urgent’ listings stayed up for weeks.
We also hit up pretty much every thrift store in our area (Value Village, if you’re reading this, I love you), and thought we struck gold when we found a 43-inch smart TV for just $40. But after hauling it home through the snow, we discovered the screen had an irritating blue tinge.
Things got off to a rocky start
Open suitcases in a Toronto apartment.
Ellie Hutchings | Narcity
Things started unravelling the moment we landed at Toronto Pearson, where we were told the computer system that issues work permits had crashed.
Instead of stepping into our new life, we sat in a windowless waiting room for two hours, silently wondering whether we’d be sent straight back on the next flight to London.
When we were finally called up, we discovered we wouldn’t be getting our permits that day after all. Instead, we’d need to make the long trip back to the airport from our new East End apartment the next morning.
It wasn’t exactly the fresh start I’d been dreaming of, but, by that point, all I wanted was food and a good night’s sleep.
However, spending hours in immigration meant we’d now be travelling along the Expressway at peak rush hour, in a snowstorm. Things weren’t off to the smoothest start.
The true cost of Toronto
City of Toronto Canada.
Ellie Hutchings | Narcity
London is one of the most expensive cities in the world. I thought I could deal with overpriced coffees and grocery hauls that you need a bank loan to pay for.
But I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to ordering an overpriced coffee and then paying an extra 13% because the menu doesn’t include tax.
And, of course, there’s the tipping. In the UK, tipping culture isn’t as big, so that extra 15-20% always feels like a sting in the tail.
When you think you’re ordering a cheap pizza delivery, only to realize there’s tax, a restaurant tip and a rider tip that you hadn’t factored in, it’s pretty heartbreaking.
Navigating the red tape
We couldn’t buy all this furniture without a Canadian bank account, so we headed into a local branch to get ourselves set up.
The thing is, you need a Canadian phone number to set up a Canadian bank account. But to get a phone contract, you need a Canadian bank account. Thankfully, the bank staff worked some magic and made it work.
Two days later, I happily called the bank to give them my new Canadian number.
Of course, this now meant I couldn’t add my new card to Apple Pay without going back to the bank and waiting in a long queue to verify my identity, because I’d recently changed the phone number on my account.
That’s just a taste of the headache-inducing due process of moving to a new country.
Somewhere between the snowstorms, the TTC delays and the endless Marketplace messages, something shifted.
One afternoon, walking along Queen Street under a crisp blue sky, I realized I hadn’t checked the weather forecast or calculated the exchange rate in days. I was just… living.
Five weeks in, Toronto is starting to feel less like a logistical obstacle course and more like home.
Canada might deserve its status as the world’s best place to move to, but no ranking could have prepared me for the intensity of starting over in a new country.
And yet, I’m excited to find out what challenges it throws at me next.
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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
