A little more than a year ago, when I first made the decision to move to Florida, I got a lot of the same sorts of questions from people:
What are you going to do there?
I’m going to work.
Why Florida?
I went to Florida because honestly, after living in Taiwan and experiencing absolutely not one snowflake of snow in nearly three years, I was not too keen on jumping back into the Chicago frozen tundras again.
Isn’t it really touristy?
It is really touristy, but that’s good for the economy, right?
Aren’t you excited? You can go to Disney World whenever you want!
And of course I was and still am so darn excited to be here! And no, I can’t go to Disney World whenever I want. One: it is hella expensive. Two: I, you know, have a job, so I can’t go hang out with Mickey on the reg, unfortunately for both of us.
I don’t know if you ever noticed, but Florida gets a LOT of flack sometimes. You know, usually because of the standard news stories that come from Florida: alligators on airport runways, people doing questionable things with even more questionable objects, silver alerts on highways, and of course, Trump and all of his shenanigans in Mar-A-Lago. Florida is a really interesting place. But I couldn’t be more happy to have moved here.
Here are just some of the many pros of living in Florida:
- Beaches, everywhere and easily accessible.
- Warm weather and sunshine.
- Most people are generally happier because of reason #2.
- Cheaper tropical fruits, which are my fave.
- Multicultural foods, people, stores, and communities make it mucho interesting every time I explore a new place.
- Meeting people from all walks of life, as there aren’t many native Floridians here.
- NO STATE INCOME TAX (Yes you read that right)
- Many people want to come visit you for more reasons than just to see you (it is true, and I am not at all offended by it because I would be the same way)
- Touristy things to do
- Island time, which is applicable to some of the way things are done here and how some of the people operate. Things just move at a slower, less stressed pace, because of reason #2 and #3.
Now, of course, there are some cons, but I like to look at them as challenges:
- Snakes
- Alligators
- The purple flag at the beach, or the red flag (purple is for dangerous marine life and red is for strong currents)
- Extremely hot temperatures in the summer and even hotter if you lack tinted windows, honestly a must in Florida, FYI
- Huge surges of tourist activity if you live in touristy towns, which I don’t as of right now
I mean, what’s not to love about living in a dream vacation spot? I used to think that I couldn’t live somewhere I wanted to vacation, but then I realized, why do I want to make a life I want to have a vacation from? Why can’t I just have a life that I love, every single day? Hence why I moved here.
So, that’s what is like living in Florida: life anywhere may not be sunshine and roses all the time, but in Florida, it is most of the time, on island time.
