I love reading about people who are enamoured about living '‘off grid’'or '‘living the life of adventure’'from the comfort of their living room.I live in Lappland in a small village of 5 houses,i have my own well & septic tank & a wood burning stove,BUT i also have electricity and a car,snowmobile & quad snowplough.The idea of chopping own wood each day,going 100mtrs to a little hut with a torch for a dump in -30c snowstorm or sawing a hole in the ice for a bath,these things belong in the dark ages.Yes its fun for the odd day or even a week,but as a way of life to ‘‘find your inner self’’,forget it.Anyone that chooses that type of life is either a social outcast,antisocial or mentally unwell.And yes,I have done it for a few weeks in Canada and the odd night here whilst snowmobiling.The hunting & trapping way of life are almost extinct,even the reindeer herders have second jobs and live from government subsidies.Like many things,the dream is nice but the reality is something else.
Was there some sort of a scheme where you could go work on the harvest for a short duration of time . I think that you could apply for an extension after the harvest work was done.
AgentSime:
I think you need to look at the drivers hours regulations:
13 hours driving allowed or should I say expected, in a day!
maximum 70 hrs a week or 120 over two!
only one mandatory day off, every two weeks.
No thank you.
Erm not quite what you may think . 4 on 4 off circa shy of twice the wage in the OP , finish Saturday for 12 days off . Two deer currently hanging at the butchers and now resorting to hand feeding them from the back deck . All depends what you want out of life but Canada offers opportunities , the summers make up for the harsh winters 10 fold .
Never be quick to judge 
alamcculloch:
Was there some sort of a scheme where you could go work on the harvest for a short duration of time . I think that you could apply for an extension after the harvest work was done.
Yes H2A visa for harvest work in USA.
From what I’ve been told you can now stay there for max 3yrs before returning home but can go again after a few months for another 3yrs AFAIA.
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Forget so-called big money
In Canada as truck driver basically 17 years over there running all usa with few trips back to uk all the adverts saying 70grand 80grand etc don’t tell you some of that is made up by fuel bonus,safety bonus be a gd boy bonus etc,as for working conditions if you have job in uk and treated fair forget listening to all the rub is the companies come out with but each to there own ,I don’t regret going in 2005 done what I went for but personally seen uk guys broken and returned home but gd luck to anyone going
Money wise it is not worth it.
Doing it for a few years for the experience of it sure.
adam277:
Money wise it is not worth it.
Doing it for a few years for the experience of it sure.
… your judgement is based on experience or ? You haven’t got a clue fella 
Get yourself a good rubber boat, no need a for visa chuck your id over the side then a few weeks in hotel and tell a few porkies and you will be thundering through the rockies in no time …good luck
I knew one guy who emigrated to Canada as a truck driver, he was back within the year with nothing good to say about it. Maybe it was just him, maybe too much of a culture shock, maybe the Canucks just didn’t like having a gobby Geordie on the team…
Any way you slice it, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, until the other side of the fence becomes your side of the fence.
I think for many people it is a lack of research before going which disappoints,also when moving to a foreign country & expecting it to be the same as the one you left but with more money doesn’t work.When I moved to Holland it took a long time to adapt,the same,or more so when I went to Quebec.Strange,but moving up here to the north of Sweden has ,perhaps been the least stressful,due to the welcome of the people.Perhaps because I was so much older helped & had already done sufficient travelling so was ready to settle for the last time.I think adapting ones mentality is the most important factor,Expect another country to be very different regardless of what language is spoken.If you are not prepared to adapt then stay where you are.
hutpik:
I think for many people it is a lack of research before going which disappoints,also when moving to a foreign country & expecting it to be the same as the one you left but with more money doesn’t work.When I moved to Holland it took a long time to adapt,the same,or more so when I went to Quebec.Strange,but moving up here to the north of Sweden has ,perhaps been the least stressful,due to the welcome of the people.Perhaps because I was so much older helped & had already done sufficient travelling so was ready to settle for the last time.I think adapting ones mentality is the most important factor,Expect another country to be very different regardless of what language is spoken.If you are not prepared to adapt then stay where you are.
Spot on there fella as was your earlier post.
Adapt to the new country, or stay where you are. Can we tell that to the boat people who keep fetching up on our shores. Or would that be deemed racist?
Its called being honest so therefore would not be allowed.
robroy:
What happened to Robin Hood?
(Not the guy in tights with a bow and arrow, the Brit on here who drove in Canada.)Anyhoo this other Brit managed to get work over there.
youtu.be/FshU58nI0Ts
Just checked in here for the first time in a year or so. I’m still in Canada, been here for over 13 years now. Some of my original mates who I met when I first arrived are still here but well over half are now back in the UK or Ireland. Every year the bunch gets smaller.
Knowing what I do now, I wouldn’t have come. The only thing I can’t say I regret is meeting my Canadian wife and having our two kids, but if they were willing to move back to England with me, I’d be seriously looking in to it.
As for money, I grossed $79,000CAD this year just gone, I largely just work Monday to Friday and out all week, so similar to UK driving but I do far more work for it than would ever be allowed in the UK but absolutely every week is an unknown battle as it’s mileage pay so one week you may take home $1400, but the next could be dire as $850 because a multitude of things out of my control went against me and despite putting the same amount of days away in, I’m hundreds of dollars down and personally, I’m utterly sick to death of working this way.
Some companies here are now starting to pay hourly and that’s where I’ll be looking in the near future I think. I’ve been at my current firm for over nine years and I’m settled and don’t particularly like change as much as I once did but as I say, I’m burnt out from 13 years of relentless chasing miles and for much of that time on paper log books and rewriting every day to make up for all the delays other people heaped on to me, just so I can make my money back. All that running bent day and night caught up with me and I totally lost interest in the job, hence my absence here for many years.
If a person with no ties wants to come here for a few years alone for an adventure, absolutely, go for it. But if you have a wife and kids in tow, I would never recommend it, especially in the part of Canada I’m in (New Brunswick, Maritimes in general), maybe somewhere like Alberta might work but even then you’ll probably be on with one of the crappy companies until you get PR, unless immigrations regulations and avenues have changed, which they may well have.
This is just my take on things and it’s ultimately worth what I’m being paid for it, nothing.
stevejones:
Forget so-called big money
In Canada as truck driver basically 17 years over there running all usa with few trips back to uk all the adverts saying 70grand 80grand etc don’t tell you some of that is made up by fuel bonus,safety bonus be a gd boy bonus etc,as for working conditions if you have job in uk and treated fair forget listening to all the rub is the companies come out with but each to there own ,I don’t regret going in 2005 done what I went for but personally seen uk guys broken and returned home but gd luck to anyone going
How’s it going my old mate, are you back in the UK now?
Hi m8 yeah about 6 wks glad you ok m8 seems long time since we met up that 1st time my son here got into serious trouble so daddy had to come back and try to sort it lol so here for now who knows eh stay well and gd new year for you and family
robinhood_1984:
robroy:
What happened to Robin Hood?
(Not the guy in tights with a bow and arrow, the Brit on here who drove in Canada.)Anyhoo this other Brit managed to get work over there.
youtu.be/FshU58nI0TsJust checked in here for the first time in a year or so. I’m still in Canada, been here for over 13 years now. Some of my original mates who I met when I first arrived are still here but well over half are now back in the UK or Ireland. Every year the bunch gets smaller.
Knowing what I do now, I wouldn’t have come. The only thing I can’t say I regret is meeting my Canadian wife and having our two kids, but if they were willing to move back to England with me, I’d be seriously looking in to it.
As for money, I grossed $79,000CAD this year just gone, I largely just work Monday to Friday and out all week, so similar to UK driving but I do far more work for it than would ever be allowed in the UK but absolutely every week is an unknown battle as it’s mileage pay so one week you may take home $1400, but the next could be dire as $850 because a multitude of things out of my control went against me and despite putting the same amount of days away in, I’m hundreds of dollars down and personally, I’m utterly sick to death of working this way.
Some companies here are now starting to pay hourly and that’s where I’ll be looking in the near future I think. I’ve been at my current firm for over nine years and I’m settled and don’t particularly like change as much as I once did but as I say, I’m burnt out from 13 years of relentless chasing miles and for much of that time on paper log books and rewriting every day to make up for all the delays other people heaped on to me, just so I can make my money back. All that running bent day and night caught up with me and I totally lost interest in the job, hence my absence here for many years.
If a person with no ties wants to come here for a few years alone for an adventure, absolutely, go for it. But if you have a wife and kids in tow, I would never recommend it, especially in the part of Canada I’m in (New Brunswick, Maritimes in general), maybe somewhere like Alberta might work but even then you’ll probably be on with one of the crappy companies until you get PR, unless immigrations regulations and avenues have changed, which they may well have.
This is just my take on things and it’s ultimately worth what I’m being paid for it, nothing.
Great and honest post.
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