BC
 

Heya,

Alrighty so on the 8th of July I'm flying to Vancouver. I have 2 nights accomodation at Global Village Backpackers...and thats it.
I don't know anyone of anything really, but will I need to book more nights accomodation in advance? How hard is to find living arrangements and work?
I have admin and customer service experience and can really do anything - but am thinking about just doing a few days in Vancouver then heading to Victoria so whats the work like there?

Heya back acha.
The Thorn tree site at Lonely Planet is what you are looking for.
This site is more geared to 3* hotels.
Do not mean to put you off, but working under the table is not what we are best at. Drinking under the table, well for some of us, but that is a different story.

Having said that, google the ocean island ( either hostel or backpackers inn) in Victoria. They are plugged into the agrotourism thing.

Haha thanks for that - just to clear things up, I do have a working visa for a year! So i won't be doing any of the shady business! But cheers for your help!

Kelly services is by far the biggest temp office services type org. You might be able to line something up before you arrive through their website.

There is a real labour shortage here right now, so most stores have a now hiring sign in the window. Most are minimum wage ($8 per hour) but you can subsist on that. I hear that KFC has upped the ante to $10.43 per hour, so maybe others are following suit.

An admin assistant position would pay more than that.

Accomodation is trickier in that we have a 0.4% vacancy rate. There are few furnished apartements to rent, but they would all have websites. The Ocean Island place I mentioned does daily/weekly/monthly rates in dorm like conditions.
July is summer hols, so the University of Victoria should be renting out dorm rooms until September.

Anything else?

Thanks a bundle for that.
Was a big help, i think thats all I need to know! Just starting to freak out about everything now... Everythings starting to sink slowly in!

Good luck. Enjoy your year. Maybe I will see you on the sidewalks of victoria.

I think UBC does summer rentals as well - or you can check out the Fraternity houses out there - we used to rent out our rooms in the summer as well, but there are new houses and I'm not sure if they're still doing it.

&quot;<i>Maybe I will see you on the sidewalks of victoria.</i>&quot;

That is <u>not</u> a compliment(!)#-O

I guess everything is open to misinterpretation.
I pass by Ocean Island every day.