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Who wants to drive several hours through a blizzard to the airport on the day of your flight, and pay to park your car in the airport parking lot, and go to a place where you have to rent a car without any of the stuff in your own car, like camping gear? Sorry, that's a non-starter.
The thing that makes winter very tolerable for retirees is that when the car is snowed in, you don't really ever have to go anywhere. Unless it's distribution day at the food pantry.
My wife and I were birdwatchers, and there is plenty of good winter birding, the farther north, the better. Duluth is wonderful for that in February. And its nice to schedule a birding trip to the south every winter. We spent ten years of retirement in northern Michigan, and it was great.
I can't relate to this at all...We have cold winter weather, but no blizzards. The airport wouldn't be open in a blizzard anyway. Just take a shuttle or Uber to the airport, or have a friend drive you (NOT in a blizzard), and go where you want for a couple weeks or a couple months. Nothing wrong with renting a car for a few weeks, or driving and taking your own with you. If you need "stuff, like camping gear" you can ship that to where you're going, no big deal. Some people around here have RV's/travel trailers and leave in November in their RV's and don't come back until early March. Some fly or drive to FL or AZ and come back whenever. Some retirees do want to go somewhere, and not just be snowed in for weeks on end. (That doesn't happen here anyway, just cold and, rarely, ice). Sitting in a house snowed in, now THAT'S a non-starter, as you say.
We experience just about the same weather here in R.I., and with this week having a humid heat wave with temps low 90s I would have no problem waking up tomorrow morning with a dusting of snow on the ground.
As a native northeasterner, I thrilled at the novelty of warm winters when I moved to Houston for a great job. In the ensuing 26 years, I dreaded the the arrival of March and the onslaught of heat and humidity that lasted well into October, rendering outdoors a place to be avoided. Near or at the top of the list in criteria we sought for a new retirement home was 4 seasons. Nearing two years in Philadelphia, we couldn't be happier. I love to bundle up and go for long walks in the crisp winter weather. If the novelty wears off, we can always do the snowbird thing for a few weeks. I don't see that in the near future, however.
6 years after this post and we still enjoy winter. After all, who would want to miss this:
(my pic)
Last edited by Pine to Vine; 07-04-2018 at 06:15 PM..
6 years after this post and we still enjoy winter. After all, who would want to miss this:
(my pic)
Well as a Northeasterner I can tell you that I wouldn't mind it if..... I didn't have to shovel it. I don't mind driving in it but not during the storm. No fun feeling like you are in space doing warp speed going 25 miles per hour. If living in a condo downtown is my ultimate fate I would rather see the snow from the window and take a walk to the corner store for a coke or a stroll in the park. Not sure if I would like to live in a city as big as Philly or Boston either.
To answer the question of the OP I did retire and it is a four season state. Have we decided if we will stay residents of Massachusetts? No we haven't decided if we are staying or going but our income works well in this state. 2/3's of my income is exempt from state income taxes. All of my income is taxed federally but that would be the case everywhere I lived even in another country I believe. But in the meantime MA is a good state in which to live in retirement. That is if you can afford the housing costs. Even as far out of Boston as we are there are homes that in other states would go for half or less than what they go for here. Few states have as good of a housing market as MA does too.
You completely missed my point. Completely. I agreed entirely with the position that winter is perfectly livable. What I sniffed at was the expectation that you can fly (specifically) to your winter escape. Yes, live in a 4-season place. No, do not realistically expect that you just hop on a plane when you want a bit of relief.
This is complete, total, absolute nonsense.
For example, Tampa to Providence RI is 2 hours 27 minutes flight time. Southbound into the jet stream, it's 2 hours 45 minutes. All the New England regional airports are stuffed full of Florida nonstop flights. Orlando. Miami. Fort Myers. Sarasota. Fort Lauderdale. Jacksonville. And the islands farther south. Nassau. Puerto Rico. St Thomas. Havana. Turks & Caicos. The list goes on and on.
If I booked it today, I can do Providence, RI to Orlando for $112 each way in mid-January. $224 round trip. I see $112 fares though March 6th which is the latest date you can book on Southwest. Providence/Tampa is a bit more since there is less competition but it's still only $131 each way.
You can do Boston/Miami on American for $231 round trip.
San Juan, Puerto Rico is 4 hours scheduled flight time from Boston and about $400 on JetBlue. The Red Eye is a bit cheaper. The day flight is a bit more.
So booking a few winter flights to Florida or the Caribbean from New England to cut the edge off is cheap and no big deal.
I'm a very frequent business traveler. I fly pretty much weekly. Last winter, I was in Denver almost every week from November through mid-March. In all that time, I had to change flights due to snow and canceled flights twice. Snow removal and de-icing is really good in the New England airports. It takes a very big storm for the airports to close completely. It's not like a southern US city where it's paralyzed with 3" of snow. If it snows enough to disrupt the airlines, you change your flight. No big deal. Even less of an issue when you're retired.
My dad used to have a condo on Longboat Key. Before he semi-retired, he'd do 4 day weekends twice per month in the winter using Tampa. At 50 cents per mile counting depreciation, I spend more than that per month on automobile costs going skiing every weekend.
I relocated from semi-tropical Miami Florida to the PNW . When most people retire from living in the frozen tundra and move to Florida, I did it backwards
I miss the palm trees, I miss the balmy ocean breezes, I miss sailing in the Keys, I miss the warm winters and I'm not getting any younger Yes, the frozen mornings do impact my activities because I don't want to drive on black ice or snowy conditions. I'm getting tired to having to bundle-up with 3 layers of clothing, including long-johns - and that's INDOORS
So, consider your options very carefully
Well, someone has resurrected a very old thread, because your location is now listed as Sarasota, Florida.
Apparently you retired to the PNW and then, after being uncomfortably cold in the winters, you moved back to Florida, this time just switching to the Gulf Coast.
How long were you in the PNW before moving back to Florida?
You replied to Cebuan, who said "No, do not realistically expect that you just hop on a plane when you want a bit of relief."
I think the point Cebuan made is valid because flying has become such a pain that many of us don't want to fly anywhere, let alone just to escape some weather.
It is not nonsense for someone who does not like to fly.
You replied to Cebuan, who said "No, do not realistically expect that you just hop on a plane when you want a bit of relief."
I think the point Cebuan made is valid because flying has become such a pain that many of us don't want to fly anywhere, let alone just to escape some weather.
It is not nonsense for someone who does not like to fly.
No.
He specifically said directly to me:
Quote:
No, do not realistically expect that you just hop on a plane when you want a bit of relief.
I've flown about 40,000 actual miles so far this year. About 10 Denver trips that are far longer than Florida. Boston/London-Heathrow/Lisbon/Boston. I have my private pilot certificate. I've always flown a lot for business and traveled extensively on vacation. A 2 1/2 hour air time Florida flight is pretty painless.
I can't relate to this at all...We have cold winter weather, but no blizzards. The airport wouldn't be open in a blizzard anyway. Just take a shuttle or Uber to the airport, or have a friend drive you (NOT in a blizzard), and go where you want for a couple weeks or a couple months. Nothing wrong with renting a car for a few weeks, or driving and taking your own with you. If you need "stuff, like camping gear" you can ship that to where you're going, no big deal. Some people around here have RV's/travel trailers and leave in November in their RV's and don't come back until early March. Some fly or drive to FL or AZ and come back whenever. Some retirees do want to go somewhere, and not just be snowed in for weeks on end. (That doesn't happen here anyway, just cold and, rarely, ice). Sitting in a house snowed in, now THAT'S a non-starter, as you say.
Well, there you go. I can't relate to that at all. First, I can't imagine retiring in a metro area where I can call uber for a quick run to the airport. I also cannot imagine spending a couple of day packing and shipping camping gear and then trying to figure out how to retrieve it at the destination, and repeating the ordeal for the trip back home.
I lived in retirement in Northern Michigan for ten years, and there was never a day that I could not go out within 24 hours with relative ease
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. When most people retire from living in the frozen tundra and move to Florida, I did it backwards 
