Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Tampa Bay
 [Register]
Tampa Bay Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-04-2010, 06:44 AM
 
Location: Seminole, FL
569 posts, read 1,058,872 times
Reputation: 445

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by craigm1841 View Post
you say that now- but you will spend an hour in traffic just to go to the grocery store on the weekend, nightlife is terrible or non existant. Everyone that actually lives near the beach is old as dirt. I dont know anyone that is relatively young that lives near the beach. Id rather have great nightlife and resturants right outside my door and travel to the beach.

If you live near the airport, there are redneck beaches along the CC Causeway. on the bay right outside your door. the good beaches are a tourist/old people nightmare and life ceases to exist after 9 or 10 pm. St Pete might be a more viable option as far as living near the beach goes. i cant provide much insight there.
ah. This is good info to have . Spending an hour to get to the grocery store would suck. I also don't want to be entirely surrounded by old people. I don't have anything against them and don't mind having some, but I want some people from my demographic in there.

I'm actually not all that huge on nightlife as most youngish people think of it. Like I said, I'm not really into the whole clubbing / yuppie bar / hard-partying / showing off thing. I like having a couple of bars with some decent drink specials, and I like to eat so I want decent restaurant choices. That's one thing I'm going to miss about this area. DC, and Alexandria (where I live) has so many great food choices...

Anyway, thanks for the info everyone Keep it coming. This is how I learn about the place, at least until I can visit!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-04-2010, 06:45 AM
 
Location: Tampa
1,317 posts, read 2,309,108 times
Reputation: 508
Quote:
Originally Posted by wsamon View Post
Well, I was actually looking a little more at the St. Pete or Clearwater areas originally for this reason . I don't really know much about anywhere though as I've never been to the Tampa Bay region. Roughly how long would it take to get to the airport from St. Pete or Clearwater if you assume that I was going during rush-hour?

The traffic's not as bad as DC. From everything I've read, the only US cities that rival DC traffic are LA, NY, and Houston, with Boston and Chicago in the mix as well. I've been to Houston and Chicago and can tell you that they're not as bad as a whole. LA and NY are probably worse. Our rush hours last from 6-930 and 330-7. A couple years ago I used to live in a suburb 20 miles outside the city. The 10 mile drive to get to a closer suburb so that I could then take the metro from the end of the line took me about 35 minutes on average. Bad days would be pushing 50. Keep in mind that this is suburb to suburb. That's not even the city traffic. You'll also find huge traffic at the weirdest of times. A random Saturday morning could find you in bumper to bumper traffic for miles with no apparent reason.

I've actually been to Jacksonville before. I went there to watch my college (UMD) play in a bowl game . I didn't spend much time there but I felt that it was an OK city. It didn't leave much of an impression either way on me. It also doesn't appear to have the bigger college influence that I like.

Jacksonville is NOT florida. It is Georgia at best. I have been to jacksonville a few times and IT IS NOTHING like central/south florida.

I have also driven DC rush hour. Tampa doesn't even compare. DC is a nightmare. I live right by the airport and it takes me about 20-30 minutes to get to tropicana field to watch rays games in rush hour. the trop is pretty much in downtown st pete.

I hang out in tampa and cant provide much info about st pete. I dont go there much because it isn't as fun IMO.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2010, 07:18 AM
 
17,534 posts, read 39,131,539 times
Reputation: 24289
Quote:
Originally Posted by craigm1841 View Post
Jacksonville is NOT florida. It is Georgia at best. I have been to jacksonville a few times and IT IS NOTHING like central/south florida.

I have also driven DC rush hour. Tampa doesn't even compare. DC is a nightmare. I live right by the airport and it takes me about 20-30 minutes to get to tropicana field to watch rays games in rush hour. the trop is pretty much in downtown st pete.

I hang out in tampa and cant provide much info about st pete. I dont go there much because it isn't as fun IMO.
All I got to say is - craigm1841 is giving you EXCELLENT advice, and I would listen closely. I am actually retirement age, but I grew up in the Tampa bay area, and if I were a younger person, I would definitely live in the areas that have been recommended by craig. Even as a "mature" person myself, I find it a little too "old" sometimes in the beach communities. When you live in this area, you are never that far from a beach. A lot of people think it would be great to live "5 minutes from the beach," but sometimes the idea of something is a lot better than the reality. It is much, much better to live convenient to your job, grocery, nightlife and other important amenities, believe me. And compare to the traffic in DC that you experience now, the traffic here will seem like nothing.

Oh, and forget Jacksonville, Tampa Bay area has a whole lot more to offer you.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2010, 07:38 AM
 
81 posts, read 231,768 times
Reputation: 69
Yep...craigm speaks the truth.

Yeah, I've worked in the DC/Alexandria/Fairfax areas on some long term projects in the past...the traffic is terrible there. Compared to there, it's only kinda crappy during certain times, in certain spots. If you're working from home...you wont even notice as it usually dies down quickly (about 1 hr typically unless a major accident).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2010, 08:06 AM
 
Location: Saint Petersburg, FL
1,881 posts, read 3,607,056 times
Reputation: 16547
Quote:
Originally Posted by craigm1841 View Post
you say that now- but you will spend an hour in traffic just to go to the grocery store on the weekend, nightlife is terrible or non existant. Everyone that actually lives near the beach is old as dirt. I dont know anyone that is relatively young that lives near the beach. Id rather have great nightlife and resturants right outside my door and travel to the beach.

If you live near the airport, there are redneck beaches along the CC Causeway. on the bay right outside your door. the good beaches are a tourist/old people nightmare and life ceases to exist after 9 or 10 pm. St Pete might be a more viable option as far as living near the beach goes. i cant provide much insight there.
Um, I live near the beach and am quite a bit younger than dirt. So are most of my neighbors.

I'm not sure a young single guy would enjoy the slower pace of life here, but lots of us with families do.

BTW, OP, yeah, $80,000 as a single guy? No worries. You will be amazed how far that takes you as compared to where you are now.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2010, 10:44 AM
 
Location: Beautiful Pinellas County
1,466 posts, read 3,079,489 times
Reputation: 1116
Oh boy, wish I was young, free and single again LOL!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2010, 04:47 PM
 
13,768 posts, read 38,197,572 times
Reputation: 10689
For some good info you should check out Tampaguy03's blog.
http://www.city-data.com/blogs/35540-tampaguy03.html

He has a lot of good info about Tampa.

Where is your job located? An hour to go to the grocery store is a bit of a stretch but driving from St. Pete beach to Tampa would be a horrible commute.. IMO
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2010, 08:17 PM
 
Location: Seminole, FL
569 posts, read 1,058,872 times
Reputation: 445
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keeper View Post
For some good info you should check out Tampaguy03's blog.
http://www.city-data.com/blogs/35540-tampaguy03.html

He has a lot of good info about Tampa.

Where is your job located? An hour to go to the grocery store is a bit of a stretch but driving from St. Pete beach to Tampa would be a horrible commute.. IMO
My job would be located out of my home, or anywhere that I can get sufficient internet access. I'd also be taking up to 2 flights / month. Considering that I have an hour commute each way every day right now, I really wouldn't mind 4 1-hour trips to/from the airport, so that's not really a big concern to me.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2010, 10:00 PM
 
Location: Seminole, FL
569 posts, read 1,058,872 times
Reputation: 445
Quote:
Originally Posted by gypsychic View Post
All I got to say is - craigm1841 is giving you EXCELLENT advice, and I would listen closely.
It totally agree, and I am Thanks Craig!

Quote:
Originally Posted by gypsychic View Post
A lot of people think it would be great to live "5 minutes from the beach," but sometimes the idea of something is a lot better than the reality. It is much, much better to live convenient to your job, grocery, nightlife and other important amenities
I can definitely see that being the case. Right now the idea still seems pretty cool since I like the beach and I typically only get to go for maybe 1 weekend a year, if that. I can envision myself getting a wireless card and an extra battery or two and working on the beach for a couple hours on a regular basis. However, I don't know how often that would actually happen or how enjoyable it would really wind up being. Plus it probably wouldn't be that great for the laptop lol

Quote:
Originally Posted by gypsychic View Post
Oh, and forget Jacksonville, Tampa Bay area has a whole lot more to offer you.
That was kind of my feeling too. I admittedly don't know much about either place though. That's why I'm trying to find out
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-05-2010, 07:17 AM
 
13,768 posts, read 38,197,572 times
Reputation: 10689
There are apts located around Tampa Bay not the gulf but it is water.. Depending on how much you want to spend you can find a place on Bayshore, Channelside, Harbor Island or Davis Island overlooking the bay on that side or on the west side Feather Sound or apts off of Courtney Campbell like Post Rocky Point, which are all very close to the airport and other young professionals.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Tampa Bay

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:39 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top