any new people in tampa? i'd lke to hear your oulooks (Orlando: ski resort, motel)

[mikewu9900]

i am new here in tampa, about 8 1/2 months in so far. i often give my outlooks about being here on this forum. i jokingly say to my friends " i live on vacation " but its not all great. this is life, not a movie, and i am aware of that. i like it better then where im from ( providence RI )

i would love to hear of other newbies opinions, outlooks, and experiences on the tampa bay area. like/dislike. i am sure everyone including myself could learn from what people have experienced. thanks

what i know is for me it wasn't easy. i didn't know anyone. i took a plane here for less than one day to check it out. i was tired of living back home, and the cold weather. i landed at 10 30 am, drove around, checked out some apts. jobs, and i was back at the airport at 7pm that night

2 weeks later i packed up and drove my s-10 down. i had no job, apt. lined up, all i had was $4K dollars and i left on sat. 5pm. got to the florida border at 12pm sunday. drove straight through. got to Tampa around 4pm and settled in a motel for the night.

i woke up Monday morning, and by the afternoon, had a place to live, a job set up, and i was at Busch Gardens riding roller coasters and drinking my 2 free beers. i made this happen for me. it was tough, but i met some great people along the way, and learned a lot about life, and my self in the process......THEREFORE, IM LIVING ON VACATION!!!

[mikewu9900]

so.. hmmmm i guess im the only new person in tampa... kinda funny since everyone i meet is from somewhere else.

[JustMeInBrandon]

Hi Mike. We are new here too. Hubby came down in October and I waited until December until my daughter finished her semester of school. I have always loved going to the beach so when Tampa came up for a job change for my husband I was excited. I have always loved driving into Florida and seeing the the palm trees and I know most people take that little thrill of my for granted. As you can see from my SN we live in Brandon. We came down and had two days to pick an area and picked it because it was 10 miles from my husband's work - that is all we had to go on. Though Brandon is crowded and very congested, it is convenient to everything. One funny thing I noticed is left-hand turn signals have a VERY short arrow, and unless you are car #1-5 you will miss it and have to wait for a long time for it to turn green again. I am amazed too at all the U-turns you have to make here. Every road has a concrete barrier/curbs separating lanes. We tried to make a left-hand turn out of a drug store one day, turned, and realized we were headed the wrong way (as we saw the curb in the middle after we had turned into the street). Thank goodness no cars were headed our direction. Cars in Tampa need U-turn signals - ha ha. Anyhow, we loved the winter and are realizing (though we are just in the start of June) that summers are going to be extremely hot. We have not ventured much outside of Brandon/Riverview/Valrico, etc. other than heading to the airport, the beach (we love Fort DeSoto as my husband fishes from the pier and daugher and I hang out on the beach below), and Oldsmar where my daughter's fastpitch softball team is out of. So all-in-all we like it here and the only thing I would change is having the temperature not get above 90, but since that's not going to happen, we will stay inside or in the water during the summer (except for softball games).

[rogercobb]

Originally Posted by mikewu9900

i am new here in tampa, about 8 1/2 months in so far. i often give my outlooks about being here on this forum. i jokingly say to my friends " i live on vacation " but its not all great. this is life, not a movie, and i am aware of that. i like it better then where im from ( providence RI )

i would love to hear of other newbies opinions, outlooks, and experiences on the tampa bay area. like/dislike. i am sure everyone including myself could learn from what people have experienced. thanks

what i know is for me it wasn't easy. i didn't know anyone. i took a plane here for less than one day to check it out. i was tired of living back home, and the cold weather. i landed at 10 30 am, drove around, checked out some apts. jobs, and i was back at the airport at 7pm that night

2 weeks later i packed up and drove my s-10 down. i had no job, apt. lined up, all i had was $4K dollars and i left on sat. 5pm. got to the florida border at 12pm sunday. drove straight through. got to Tampa around 4pm and settled in a motel for the night.

i woke up Monday morning, and by the afternoon, had a place to live, a job set up, and i was at Busch Gardens riding roller coasters and drinking my 2 free beers. i made this happen for me. it was tough, but i met some great people along the way, and learned a lot about life, and my self in the process......THEREFORE, IM LIVING ON VACATION!!!

Congratulations. Sounds like a good move from New England and I believe you chose the best part of the state to move to. I lived in Tampa and just outside the city for a few years and enjoyed all the area has to offer. 2.5 years ago I moved to Orlando and want to get back to Tampa/St.Pete area. There is much more going on where you are. Best of luck and get over to see the Devil Rays.

[BJS1981]

I enjoyed the posts in this thread. Sounds a lot like my spouse and me. We are moving from 920 miles away. Some people give us a hard time about the heat and the hurricanes. Meanwhile it is just as hot in our hometown in the summers, plus freezing all winter, and hundreds of miles from any beach or anything. We don't have kids and we sold our house. The last time I was in Florida I watched we watched the sun set in St. Pete Beach. I thought to myself, 'For once it was a pleasure to wake up this morning and I am grateful to be alive today.' It had been like ten years since I felt that way. People (suckers) elsewhere work all year long just to go to Florida for a week once a year. A reasonable cost of living but proximity to places of natural wonder. What an unbeatable combination.

[ctcarguy]

I am new to St Pete area and am looking for some places to meet some new people. It seems I have gone to places where everyone is recently 21 or in their 50's. Just looking for a nice freindly place to have a couple drinks and meet some new people. Some place where its not awkward to go by yourslef and sit at the bar. Preferably someplace that serves decent food too. I am right off the Howard Franklin bridge in St Pete and I am sure there is a place pretty close by that I just haven't discovered yet. I have only been here a little over a month. Thanks for all your help.

[BucFan]

Originally Posted by mikewu9900

i am new here in tampa, about 8 1/2 months in so far. i often give my outlooks about being here on this forum. i jokingly say to my friends " i live on vacation " but its not all great. this is life, not a movie, and i am aware of that. i like it better then where im from ( providence RI )

i would love to hear of other newbies opinions, outlooks, and experiences on the tampa bay area. like/dislike. i am sure everyone including myself could learn from what people have experienced. thanks

what i know is for me it wasn't easy. i didn't know anyone. i took a plane here for less than one day to check it out. i was tired of living back home, and the cold weather. i landed at 10 30 am, drove around, checked out some apts. jobs, and i was back at the airport at 7pm that night

2 weeks later i packed up and drove my s-10 down. i had no job, apt. lined up, all i had was $4K dollars and i left on sat. 5pm. got to the florida border at 12pm sunday. drove straight through. got to Tampa around 4pm and settled in a motel for the night.

i woke up Monday morning, and by the afternoon, had a place to live, a job set up, and i was at Busch Gardens riding roller coasters and drinking my 2 free beers. i made this happen for me. it was tough, but i met some great people along the way, and learned a lot about life, and my self in the process......THEREFORE, IM LIVING ON VACATION!!!

Very interesting story. Good luck. Hope you don't get homesick.

[2MuchDuctTape]

I moved to Tampa exactly a year ago for a job. I loved the place, but I had a hard time adjusting without my friends and family from home. I couldn't "just meet people" at work because the youngest person is 50 and they all have wives that they go home to every night. I joined a young prof. organization to meet people (Emerge Tampa) and I met some nice people through there and some good business contacts.

Overall I am very happy with the Tampa area. I will say that working and living in FL is much different than visiting FL, I think working here kinda makes the place lose its luster if you will, but not by much.

I have to move though for this job....they are "promoting" me, but I need to move to Massachusetts. I originally moved from CT to FL, so I am going back....boooo! If this economy was in better shape I'd look for a different job in FL instead!

[Steven Hung]

I was relocated from Brooklyn NY to New Tampa at the end of Nov 2007 by my company because NYC was no longer considered a strategic location for software development. My two choices were either a relocation package or a severance package. In this bad economic time the decision was a no brainer and I don’t regret the up rooting leaving my childhood friends and family behind. I do miss the snow, the ice and the cold weather of the north east very much. Most of my winter vacations have been spent at ski resort on a ski slope in the mid west and I can still travel to the mid west during winter months. I have pickup a few hobbies. Gardening and bird watching at birds feeding at the bird feeder in the back yard from my kitchen are my favorite pass time. Instead of spending happy hour drinking beer with friends I mow the lawn and ride my bicycle around the community that I live in. On weekend I detail my M3 and drive to St Peter to enjoy the ocean view. Life in Tampa is more relax and a bit more healthy. Sometime I do wish I have friends outside of work that I can share things with. Kendo classes are the only regular activity that I really miss.

[BGF]

Originally Posted by Steven Hung

I was relocated from Brooklyn NY to New Tampa at the end of Nov 2007 by my company because NYC was no longer considered a strategic location for software development. My two choices were either a relocation package or a severance package. In this bad economic time the decision was a no brainer and I don’t regret the up rooting leaving my childhood friends and family behind. I do miss the snow, the ice and the cold weather of the north east very much. Most of my winter vacations have been spent at ski resort on a ski slope in the mid west and I can still travel to the mid west during winter months. I have pickup a few hobbies. Gardening and bird watching at birds feeding at the bird feeder in the back yard from my kitchen are my favorite pass time. Instead of spending happy hour drinking beer with friends I mow the lawn and ride my bicycle around the community that I live in. On weekend I detail my M3 and drive to St Peter to enjoy the ocean view. Life in Tampa is more relax and a bit more healthy. Sometime I do wish I have friends outside of work that I can share things with. Kendo classes are the only regular activity that I really miss.

Ah, the costs of moving, and I'm not talking about the Uhual truck. I left NYC 12 years ago to go to grad school, then onto California for, guess what, tech work and have bounced all over the place. American pundits like to wax poetic about the dynamicism of the American economy. I just wish that they would spend 15 seconds talking about the costs.