Travel, grocery shopping, phones

Ok so I see some of the same questions being asked and I know I have asked the same questions myself. So I will try give as much information as possible or what I know.

Transit: Well there is the skytrain and the bus, both great ways of getting around the city (much more reliable than Ireland). As most new people to Vancouver wont take up driving for a while, its best to buy a monthly pass which allows you to travel on the bus and skytrain. The cost depends on the zone (map is broken into 3 zones) so zone 1 is $81, zone 2 $110, zone 3 $151. The cost of the ticket may also help you decide where you want to live.
www.translink,ca is a great website for details on the zones, fares, routes, bus times etc, and the bus is usually on time.

Shopping: It seems basic groceries are more expensive than Ireland and UK, so it pays to shop around. There is a variety of supermarkets, safeway has a club card that allows you to get the special offer price in the store so apply for this you get the card at the till. No frills is another store that has no name groceries with  brand names and is also cheap enough. I also find Walmart and Real Canadian Superstore offer great deals and are large enough to have a great selection of goods. They really could do with a Lidl and Aldi. There is so many fruit and vegetable stores around the city and its cheaper than the big stores. I also recommend Donald's market for good quality organic vegetables and good quality meat. For the meat lovers, it can be expensive. Chicken is pricey, and as meat products here are not as regulated as back home you cant always be certain what you are getting. I saw in one store recently that there was a warning sign saying fresh meat may be mixed with frozen meat. YUK! The larger supermarkets have good selections of meat at good prices. For the pizza lovers, a regular frozen pizza could cost anything from $8-$10 so its cheaper to buy a pizza from the many pizza places. You cant buy alcohol in these stores, it can only be bought in Liquor stores and does not come cheap.

Phones: I had my phone unlocked before coming over, which meant I only had to buy a new sim card. DON'T use the free one that USIT give you (if you are coming from Ireland) it costs a fortune. Most people probably used ready to go and bought about €20 of credit and received free texts or calls and maybe free Internet well that wont be the case here. The best deal I found was with FIDO. The initial cost was around $70 which included $40 credit. For $40 a month I get unlimited calls, texts and unlimited international texts (which is a must).I think Chatr offer something similar. Check out what deals are on offer. What I like about FIDO is that there is no contract, so if I decide to go elsewhere I can. I can buy the credit in London Drugs(pharmacy/store). Oh forgot to mention, this gets me caller ID. YES you pay for caller ID. You also have to pay extra for voice-mail and if you want Internet. So if you want voice-mail and Internet it will cost more than $40.

Must also mention about the tax: So tax is added at the till so be prepared to pay a bit more than the price you see in the aisles. Its annoying. Also if you buy anything in a plastic bottle you have to pay a deposit and recycling fee, you can get this back if you bring back the cans or plastic bottles to a recycling centre. You will see many homeless people with sacks of cans or plastic bottles as it gets them a few dollars. You can save them or throw them in the recycling bin. Up to you.

the following website has great information on the above topics for added information. Hope some of the above is of some use to people. Thanks for reading.

http://www.moving2vancouver.ca/