Moving from Boston to St Pete area

[tragos]

Originally Posted by History Rules

Go to therapy, lock yourself in your basement, get on meds, but whatever you do abort this crazy notion to move to Florida. If you are coming from a cornfield, maybe consider Florida but you will be horrified, mortified and petrified of how awful Florida is on every front: Hot, buggy, no sense of community, no change of seasons, transient get rich quickers, English second language, horrible schools, gangs, red ants, zero culture, strip malls, popcorn ceilings, cookie cutter homes, sweating christmas's, home invasion robberies, isolation from the rest of the United States, fairweather sports fans, no cold water from facets, mildew everywhere, giant roaches, hurricanes, halloweens too hot to wear costumes, low wages, fake grass which makes you itch, no big trees, flat, disgusting, high cost of living (used to be cheap). I can go on for hours. The biggest mistake in your life will seem trivial to this if you follow through. ABORT-Also people get very defensive defending florida because acknowledging these things would be admitting they made a mistake which is very difficult for most people to do. They can never rebut anything I mentioned above. I made a huge mistake moving to Florida which costs me years off my life, ABORT, ABORT, ABORT!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahaha. Sigh.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by tragos

Browsing some past threads on here added to everything I know about Florida has me really worried about being able to stand it.

I hate hot weather. I love being outdoors. I love the city. I hate chain stores. I don't love driving.

Can anyone give me some positives or survival stories about moving from the Northeast to Florida / St. Pete?

If I had the choice, I'd never leave. Am completely in love with Boston, which has always been my home. Starting to worry a bit more about being able to survive down there. I only ever hear negatives.

Also, I'm a vegetarian, which is pretty widely accepted here, with a decent selection of vegetarian-only or vegetarian-friendly restaurants. Will I find places to eat out in St. Pete?

Thank you so much for any advice or suggestions.

Unfortunately, when a person such as yourself is moving here with that much trepidation, they find they are not happy. You won't find anything to match Boston, and of course Florida is hot and humid. I am a native, I love the weather 7 - 8 months of the year, I put up with hot summers because I HATE the cold, and grey wet weather.

As far as hip artsy scene - downtown St. Pete has more of what you are looking for as does downtown Sarasota. Sarasota is where we live now - no chain stores downtown, and there is a street (Fruitville) north of downtown that is filled with fun colorful antique and vintage stores. Downtown also has Towles Court (artist colony) Burns Court (Art and Indie film house there) Rosemary District (more vintage, etc.) and other neat stuff happening. I think downtown St. Pete has some similar stuff, but since I don't live there, will have to let some St. Pete residents really fill you in. I do think you might like it if you don't expect it to be like Boston.

Good luck to you. If you have decided you are definitely coming, please just try to find what you like and make the best of what you don't. No place is perfect. Sometimes the only thing we can change is our attitude. Hope you find a good place here!