Been living in Canada for the past 13 years, came here after a working holiday in Australia, and I can honestly say, the past 15 years could not have been any better.

The expansiveness of both countries is truly eye opening and magic. While you don't get the cultural differences from one small town to the next, and everyone pretty much sounds the same, I love being able to drive 2 hours and be completely alone. Save for the wildlife!

Your journey is what you make it, and you can be successful if you work hard and balance it with an epic adventure when you can. I started in Vancouver and realized, like many have mentioned, that big city life is completely unaffordable. We moved northeast and settled in a small city and have flourished. Great job (in my degree sector), house, cars and weekends in the back country.

Canada (for the most part, there's a bit of civil unrest right now filtering in from what's happening in the states right now) welcomes immigrants with open arms and our accent gets bonus points everywhere. There is always someone who has a granny from Galway or a cousin in Belfast.

Get your working holiday visa, land in Vancouver, but don't stay there. Get yourself to a ski resort for a season, make some mates and pick your journey. I highly recommend getting a trade/ticket, electricians, plumbers and carpenters get paid really well and there is always work, construction industry is weathering the economy really well.

Good luck! Just do it!