Decisions decisions...

I arrived in Toronto with a fair bit of naiveté with regards to how I was going to spend my days here...

I had a 'rough' idea of what I wanted to do, just not very clear on how I was going to do it (put that down to working late hours and hardly getting any free time to plan in the run-up to my departure!)

The basic plan was:
- arrive
- crash at Paul's place for a few days till I get accommodation sorted (most likely in Vancouver)
- wing it over to whereever I was going to live
- move into the apartment
- travel around the area
- move on and live somewhere else for a while.

Sounds simple eh? In fact it sounds just like the Australia trip I did in 2003!! That's where the problem was.. I was expecting this to just be like the Australia thing (living out of a van, travelling whereever I wanted, carefree with no responsibilities). But it's different this time.
This time I have a responsibility: WORK!

In all this moving and setting up apartments I have to able to work Mon - Fri, 9 - 5, for the guys back home. I've already started working remotely from Paul's apt and it's working out pretty good so far.

The guys back home require that I'm available pretty much full time from Jan - March while we develop some major projects!

All I need is a fast broadband connection, extra monitor (for dual-screen programming), a table and relative peace and quiet (during the day).

That pretty much puts "living in a hostel" out of the window. I'll have to rent an apartment (shared or, most likely, a single 1 bedroom).

The downside to renting an apartment in Canada, though, is that they usually come unfurnished unless you get shared accommodation. Also it's rare to get anywhere that is less that "1 year lease minimum", so wherever I choose to live will have to be where I setup base FOR THE WHOLE YEAR.

So after much huffing and hawing I've finally decided what I'm going to do...

Set up base here in Toronto!

The reasons I'm going to setup base in Toronto as opposed to Vancouver (the initial plan) are numerous including...

- Being able to work at Paul's place while looking for an apartment

- If I get a single apartment and have to furnish it, then I can give Paul any furniture that I don't manage to sell before I leave.

- I know people here. This is especially important considering I will be working from home and the only outlet I would have for socialising would be meeting strangers in bars or on ski slopes!!

- Toronto is the place to go for IT. If I decide to get work in Canada, then I would probably end up having to move back to Toronto for an IT job. Now imagine that I had a 1 year lease in Vancouver.. it would mean that I wouldn't be able to move to Toronto till my lease was up!

- Toronto is fairly close to Montreal and Quebec ski slopes. OK so it's no Whistler, but at least I can drive (when I buy a car) from TO to Montreal and nearby ski slopes on weekends!


So it really makes a lot more sense - and savings - (Vancouver is pretty expensive to rent in!!) to set up base in Toronto and then TRAVEL around the country on week-long trips etc sporadically throughout the year.