tendril

I've lurked on this forum for almost 6 years now since getting an L1 and moving to Florida almost 5 year ago in March. (Hope no-one is offended by my lurking!). All the negative points raised in the thread about someone asking about moving to Tampa inspired me to de-lurk to tell you about _my_ Florida experience

Moved UK to Space Coast area (think Nasa, hi-tech). Earn about the same in US as I did in UK (L1 salary transferred at whatever the exchange rate was back then).

In the UK I had a 4 bedroom detached house - in FL I have a 4 bedroom house - but every room is the FL one is at least 50% bigger. The garage is double instead of single, the driveway can easily fit 4 cars instead of squeezing 2. The front garden is 20-30 times bigger than the UK one - the fully fenced rear garden is 15-20 times, and also has a massive swimming pool and netted patio. I would describe my area as upper middle class - it's not 'high end' - if I drive down to the high end streets you can double that size again with proper mansions.

So I don't recognize the comment about FL houses being packed in like sardines Of course I'm not claiming all of FL is like this - of course it's not, but if you're moving here on an L1 you're probably not on minimum wage either, so you can afford a decent area.

Alligators - I've seen them, but not like on the street or anything! Have also seen manatees and dolphins in the canal right outside my old house. The manatees will come up and say hello if you put a hosepipe down (pretty sure this is frowned upon though).

Mosquitoes - not sure I've ever seen one.. maybe I don't hang about in swamps enough.

The heat - well, sure, it's hot. Living near the coast takes the edge of it though, both in temp and humidity - maybe 5-10 degrees cooler. Tampa/St Pete, etc, much more pleasant than Orlando in summer. I couldn't think of anything worse than walking around Disney in full summer to be honest.

Outdoor stuff - September to March/April would be great for outdoor stuff in my opinion - even at the coldest, it's not so cold you couldn't go out for a walk.

'Unhealthy AC' - not sure what this poster was referring to - my AC runs 10 months of the year if not more. I feel fine. In the UK I would always get a cold or flu without fail once or twice a year. Not had a cold for years now.

Hurricanes - not experienced one thankfully! You do seem to get more warning of them though than twisters or earthquakes though.

Schools - FL schools get a real bad rep on here.. I can say I'm very happy with the pre-kindergarden program near me - very experienced staff, and only 7 children in the VPK class. Kindergarden and 1st grade - very impressed with what I've seen. The high school I know less about but I'd be surprised if it wasn't well above the US average. Now again, I'm not saying all FL schools are like this - probably the majority aren't, but good pockets are around, you can't tar all schools the same way.

Stuff from home - branches of Publix (Supermarket) in better off areas in FL carry many UK imports - Irn Bru, ginger beer, Vimto, Cadbury's stuff, biscuits, etc. Many UK magazines are in Barnes & Noble (you'll just pay $10 instead of £4 though!).

I could go on, but some positive points above to balance the negative ones - if anyone has the chance to move to Florida on a visa they should definitely give it good consideration.

Cheers

DavidSum

I think Florida gets a bad wrap, but there's reasons people don't like certain parts of it that are understandable.

Pulaski

Aside from the weather and the gators, most of your experience could be applied anywhere from the southern part of Virginia all the way to Texas, including land-locked Tennessee and Arkansas, and some things apply across much of the US.

As per the other recent thread, if you're on an L-1, your choice of location is likely "take it or leave it", and I would wholeheartedly agree that "taking it" if Florida is the only option, is likely a good choice for most people.

scrubbedexpat099

Florida, or North Carolina, are my normal recommendations.

We do not have swimming pools here unfortunately, we do have ice skating rinks. My car park is currently one.

chawkins99

Mosquitoes... Rarely seen but regularly heard buzzing in my ear.

Also true about pretty much every state in the Union.

I wouldn't want to live in Orlando but the heat/humidity is not the top reason. I would also hate to live in New York, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago etc. (there's a theme there).

Guindalf

The biggest part of the 'bad rap' the FL gets is because of the number of immigrant wannabes that have visited the House of Mouse and think that it's representative of 'merca!

I have family in Kissimmee (in-laws) and The Villages (Sis-in-law and her husband) and we love to visit, just not in the height of summer!!

Pulaski

Probably Charlotte, NC too, for similar reasons!

Lord PercyPercy

Agree with most of what you said, but I think there's a vast difference from the Atlantic coast to the Gulf coast. The Atlantic is breezy and the body of water is much much cooler. On the gulf side the breeze we do get (if any) is coming off water that can be 90° in the height of summer making the humidity even worse.

Having said that, those a little further north, Alabama, Louisiana get summers a whole lot hotter than we do.

dj6372

The weather can be a drag/wonderful all around the US and changes in a short distanceCurrently I leave work (Inland) and its mid nineties and the AC is on blast mode, 30 miles later its a lovely 75, windows are down, the sea breeze makes conditions very nice indeed

Bob

Welcome to BE and out of lurk mode at last

zzrmark

That'll be 'Cadbury's stuff made by Hershey's under licence', not quite the same as the 'good stuff' but, that said, I doubt if it'll be long before Kraft make Cadbury's UK stuff bland and nasty too.

anotherlimey

Well I'm in SE Florida and I can tell you I agree with most of that except the parts about mosquitoes, alligators, the heat, hurricanes and schools.

robin1234

In FL as in many places, proximity to, and being bitten by, mosquitoes is often a lifestyle choice. Mosquitoes are often really bad in wetland state parks, nature centres etc., as you walk through the vegetation on the boardwalk. It's worth it for the wildlife, birds, butterflies etc though! If you stay in suburbs, golf courses, shopping centres, then you may not experience mosquitoes. Same in northern NYS, 1500 miles north of FL.

tendril

If interested in why the NASA area has less mosquitoes.. (not sure if other areas have similar things):

Merritt Island refuge is a tale of a mosquito extermination that drives the dusky sparrow into extinction but lures wading birds. - tribunedigital-orlandosentinel

Brevard County Mosquito Control

neill

Florida man dies in meth-lab explosion after lighting farts on fire | The Valley Report