WHV in Canada - Testimonial

WHV in Canada - Testimonial
Canada Maple Leaf
Elodie and Thomas share with you their WHV experience in Canada and give you some advice if you too are tempted by adventure!

Can you introduce yourself ?

Hello,

We are Elodie and Thomas from the Planete3w travel blog. A little over 30 years old, married and from Lille, we are 2 passionate about travel and technology.

Elodie works in Marketing and Thomas is an IT Engineer. We are very complementary: Elo is the big mouth that speaks to everyone while Thomas is more measured. A great bond that we put to the test during a trip of almost 18 months through Asia, Australia and South America between 2016 and 2018.

Expatriates in Montreal since 2018, we have been sharing our passion for travel for nearly 10 years.

Tell us how was your WHV in Canada?

We arrived at the end of May 2018 with each our WHV in our pocket. Everything went very quickly: we both started working at the beginning of June. Thomas had signed a computer contract with Journées Quebec in Paris before arriving. And I had several Skype interviews from France, before doing a final interview the day after our arrival. We found our apartment in about 3 weeks.

We spent the first months discovering our environment and mainly Montreal and its surroundings. Then the 1st Winter amazed us. We were prepared and had listened to a lot of advice from Quebecers and locals. We loved it ! Then for our second year, we discovered many beautiful corners of Quebec and Ontario, not to mention some great getaways in the USA. There is so much to discover from Montreal!

Parliament Hill Ottawa Ontario Canada
What are your favorites in Canada (activities, places, etc.)?

We discovered a new culture and a lot of fun activities. Sunday brunches have become a part of our lifestyle as have fireworks competitions in the summer. Or the walks in the small streets of the Old Port.

But it was clearly winter that surprised us with the combo: chalet-snow-snowshoe (or ski) very popular with locals. We have the chance to spend beautiful weekends in sublime chalets in the heart of nature and snow.

On the activity side, Elodie has a crush on 40-degree spas when it is -30. While Thomas prefers typical activities such as snowmobiling, tube sliding or skiing (even if the peaks are not very high compared to France).

Winter during WHV in Canada
What are your disappointments or what do you like the least?

We don't have any particular disappointments. When we arrived in Canada on WHV, we just wanted to experience life here, without any particular apprehension. This avoids disappointments.

But it is true that there are more complicated things to deal with. Distance and separation from our loved ones are part of it. As much as we love our life in Montreal, it's not always easy to spend the holidays or birthdays at a distance. Video conferencing is not bad, but it doesn’t replace everything!

The other black point remains the functioning of the health system when you are an immigrant. Expect all costs to come up and pay more than Canadians. Not to mention certain waiting times that can reach several hours in the emergency room. We are far from the comfortable Sécu de France! Fortunately, our Globe PVT insurance is always available to advise us and cover our medical costs.

What's next after your WHV?

We have decided to stay and start the Permanent Residence procedure in Quebec. It’s a fairly long process of almost 2 years, which allows us to continue working and enjoying Canada. We're not done exploring the area and plan to settle here for a while!

Between extending work permits and insurance (thank you Globe Partner for taking over), looking for a bigger apartment and changing jobs, we haven't been bored for a few months! But it represents our life here and we are delighted with it!