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  "path": "/ottawa/things-about-ottawa-canada-life-i-thought-were-totally-normal-until-i-moved",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-08T20:00:02.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.narcity.com",
  "tags": [
    "Moving from canada",
    "Living in ottawa",
    "Living in canada",
    "Canada life",
    "grew up in Ottawa",
    "gorgeous hiking trails",
    "After moving abroad",
    "moving abroad",
    "See on Instagram",
    "_public transit_",
    "_moving to Toronto_",
    "_digital nomad_",
    "_pressure of rising costs_",
    "_Canadian winter_",
    "_Christmas markets_",
    "_hot chocolate_",
    "_budget-friendly stores_",
    "_grocery trip_",
    "_bumper-to-bumper traffic_",
    "_your closet has to be ready for anything_",
    "_road trips_",
    "_Timmy’s_"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nI grew up in Ottawa and lived there until just a few months ago. It shaped so much of who I am today — my family's there, my friends are there, and some of my most formative experiences happened in the city.\n\nIf I'm being real, though, there are more than a few things I'm happy to leave behind in Canada.\n\nOttawa has a lot going for it. I loved the familiar neighbourhoods, green spaces, and local hidden gems, plus the gorgeous hiking trails just a short drive away.\n\nAfter moving abroad to Japan and spending time travelling, though, I realized that there are certain parts of daily life in Ottawa that I don’t miss __at all__ , and I’d honestly struggle to go back to them.\n\nAlessa moved away from Canada.Alessa Hickman | Narcity\n\nThese are the seven parts of Ottawa life that I'm glad I left behind since moving abroad.\n\n### Never knowing if the bus will actually come\n\n\n\n\n> See on Instagram\n\nFor most of my time in Ottawa, I relied on _public transit_ to get around.\n\nI’ve lived everywhere from Ottawa South to Barrhaven to downtown, and getting across the city wasn't always easy. A trip that would take 20 minutes by car could easily turn into a one or two-hour journey by bus and train.\n\nThat wouldn't be such a big deal if the systems were reliable — but longtime residents know that isn’' always the case…\n\nI lost count of how many times a bus showed up late or drove past me while I was clearly waiting. And sometimes, the LRT would just stop running in the middle of winter. I’d leave early on purpose, and still end up late.\n\nAfter _travelling_ to places where transit __actually__ runs efficiently and on schedule, it's hard not to notice the difference.\n\n### Rent that made me rethink my life choices\n\n\n\n\n> See on Instagram\n\nRent in Ottawa was one of the biggest reasons I eventually left.\n\nBefore moving, I was paying close to $2,000 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. It wasn't a bad place, but once you added Wi-Fi, mandatory tenant insurance, hydro, and everyday expenses, it started to feel overwhelming.\n\nIt's definitely cheaper than _moving to Toronto_ or living in Vancouver, but I got tired of watching so much of my paycheck go straight to rent.\n\nNow, living abroad as a _digital nomad_, I'm paying less but getting __way__ more value. Right now, I’m in Japan, where my apartment is bigger, has plenty of space to work and relax, and includes utilities in the rent.\n\nI'm really grateful that I had the ability and flexibility to make a move like this. At the same time, I know that so many people back home are feeling the _pressure of rising costs_, and the issue is Canada-wide.****\n\nMoving away really put into perspective how expensive everyday life in Ottawa had become — and honestly, I couldn’t go back to that full-time.\n\n### Surviving winter (and endless snow shovelling)\n\n\n\n\n> See on Instagram\n\nI'm sure anyone who's lived through a _Canadian winter_ knows the struggle.\n\nThe temperature alone can be bad enough, but the windchill**** is what really gets you. A perfectly manageable -10 C can turn into \"why did I leave the house\" in about thirty seconds.\n\nWhen you add heavy snowfall, freezing rain, and early mornings spent digging your car out of snowbanks, navigating winter quickly starts to feel like a full-time job.\n\nI really enjoy local activities like skating on the canal, tobogganing, and going to _Christmas markets_ — but only in small doses. _Winter in Ottawa_ can be beautiful (especially when you're sipping a _hot chocolate_ and watching the snow fall outside), but sometimes it feels like it just never ends.\n\nAfter travelling to places where winter feels more like a brisk fall day back home, it's hard to imagine returning to months of cold and snow.\n\n### Everyday groceries that cost a fortune\n\n\n\n\n> See on Instagram\n\nGroceries in Ottawa always felt expensive, but moving abroad really put it into perspective.\n\nEven when I shopped at _budget-friendly stores_ like Food Basics or Walmart, my grocery bills added up fast. The everyday essentials — especially meat and fresh produce — kept creeping up in price, and because they're the things you buy almost every week, the increases were impossible to ignore.\n\nNow that I'm travelling, the difference is wild. Here in Japan, I can get a huge head of lettuce for around $1, a big pack of chicken for $10, and most vegetables cost about half of what I used to pay back home.\n\nI even spotted pure Canadian _maple syrup_ for cheaper than it would've been in Ottawa once, and that completely blew my mind.\n\nIt made me realize how normal it had become to plan every _grocery trip_ around sales and prices, often at the cost of buying items I actually wanted.\n\n### Roadwork everywhere, all the time\n\n\n\n\n> See on Instagram\n\nSometimes, it felt like Ottawa had two seasons: winter and construction.\n\nWhen I lived downtown, leaving my apartment almost always meant encountering roadwork, noise, or a new condo being built. Later, after moving to the south end, major construction projects popped up there, too.\n\nI remember getting stuck on Heron Road in _bumper-to-bumper traffic_ for what felt like forever, only to arrive at Bank Street and see it jam-packed even worse. Sometimes walking to my destination was faster than driving.\n\nConstruction exists everywhere — of course — but in Ottawa, it's always around, quietly (and sometimes very loudly), testing your patience.\n\n### Playing parking roulette (and losing)\n\n\n\n\n> See on Instagram\n\nI didn't have a car for most of my time in Ottawa, but when I did, parking could be a nightmare.\n\nWhile I was living downtown, winter parking bans happened often. That meant scrambling to figure out where to move the car, and hoping I found a spot without getting ticketed.\n\nBeyond that, so many streets just have strict or confusing rules. Time limits can be too short to run errands. You move your car, but not far enough. Or, you think you understand the signage, only to realize later that you didn't…\n\nI can't count how many times I came back to a bylaw ticket and had to fight it. And yes, sometimes I misunderstood a rule (or worse, I came back 5 minutes late). But other times, the tickets were flat-out wrong.\n\nDon't even get me started on how expensive they were.\n\n### Owning clothes for every possible forecast\n\n\n\n\nOttawa gets all four seasons, which means _your closet has to be ready for anything_.\n\nFreezing winters, humid summers, rainy springs, and unpredictable falls meant owning everything from winter boots to shorts and tank tops, thick thermal layers, and plenty of sneakers. My closet was constantly rotating and somehow always overflowing.\n\nTo be fair, I do love buying clothes, so __maybe__ that didn't help — but I'm still blaming the weather!\n\nNow that I'm travelling, I've grown to love having a smaller, more flexible wardrobe that fits right into my suitcase, and not having to prep for every weather scenario is such a relief.\n\n### Ottawa will always be \"home\" — just not forever\n\n\n\n\nLeaving Ottawa didn't erase the things I love about it. The city gave me lifelong friendships, my roots are there, and it's a place I’ll always**** come back to.\n\nI miss certain restaurants, spontaneous _road trips_ from the city, spending summers outside, and my (almost) daily steeped tea from _Timmy’s_.\n\nOver time, though, the day-to-day challenges started to add up, and the math just wasn't working out anymore. That's when I realized I needed a change.\n\nThe capital will always be my hometown, but I'm glad I left these parts of Ottawa life behind for the chance to live somewhere new.\n\n_The views expressed in this Opinion article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media._",
  "title": "7 things about life in Ottawa I thought were totally normal... until I moved away"
}