I Moved from France to Tampa about a year ago and yes Florida is boring. At first it looks like this:
Not too bad right? At first it seems like paradise gorgeous beaches, great restaurants and amazing springs to visit. You start renting Kayaks and plan to explore all of them. But after a year you realize that all these beaches and springs look exactly alike. So unless you love the beach enough to go there every weekend the outdoors are pretty boring after a year of visiting them.
Some may argue that you also have a great number of trails which is true. But let’s be honest Florida is flat so they all look pretty similar. Sure you have the Everglades and Bok Tower if you want to change things up a bit. But in the end you are left with trails that all look the same.
Then you realize that the weather does not change all year. In order to appreciate something you need to miss it from time to time. And believe me during the summer months all you do is avoid the sun. You can see it by observing most locals, they stay in their air cooled cars/homes/restaurants all year long even when outside temperatures are perfect in the winter. They don’t care anymore.
This hot weather also allows bugs to strive and infest everything. Make sure you move inside an apartment complex that has pest control every week or you will find roaches crawling into your home no matter how clean it is. You also have to pay attention not to move next to a dirty neighbor or no matter how much you try roaches will infest your home. This leaves you with the choice of living with roaches, or paying way too much for rent for a “Premium” or Luxury” apartment.
If you own a boat things can get more interesting but it is a really costly option. Boats are unreliable and expensive to maintain. You also need to rent a spot in a marina or have enough space at home to store it. At lets not forget that you need a car that can tow it.
Then you have the theme parks that are really cool but again they are expensive and it is not something you want to do every weekend.
The cultural offer is also minimal after you have done the 5 interesting museums and seen a couple plays at the Stratz Center you are left with restaurants, bars and “crafts events”.
And then you have the “locals” (even if most of them were not born in Florida) it feels like Florida attracts superficial people from all over the world like a magnet. All they like to do is to get drunk every weekend and avoid “deep subjects” . So you end up with people that talk about gossip,work and how beautiful the weather is, and lets not forget their favorite one “Tampa is such an up and coming place”. And never try to object anything or they will look at you with suspicion and disgust.
I have lived in many places around the world (England, Spain, Ireland, France and Hong Kong). In big cities like London or Paris and also in smaller towns like Hull or Bordeaux. It is the first time that I’ve lived in a place that I want to leave so bad.
And it has nothing to do with the country I know other places in the U.S with more things to do and more interesting people (Vermont, Georgia, Colorado…).
I understand how attractive Florida is for people coming from the crowded and overbuilt North East. But Florida is not the Tropical paradise it use to be. It is an overbuilt hot and humid place with intensive sprawl.
My wife and I will move to a more northern state as soon as she is done with her studies at USF.
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