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Right. I grew up in Miami. If Miami is "walkable" then the word "walkable" doesn't mean much. You need a car to get almost everywhere, and the buses are awful. Its also extremely hot for a long period of time so, yea its "walkable" just have fun getting wetter than a frog from sweat. Yet again, the "Miami" people refer to here is not the Miami I lived in. People really only refer to downtown. They forget there's a ton of neighbourhoods further west. Where are you going to really walk to besides maybe a Publix or a Navarro pharmacy? I grew up like a 20 minute drive to the beach. Not like you could walk anywhere all that great lol. And I lived in one of the nicer areas, at the northern edge of Coral Gables.
Actually, Miami experiences nowhere near the hottest heat indexes that most other major cities in the south experience. As you can see from the link below, Miami had a heat index over 105 degrees faaar less than most other major cities of the south. It shows Miami had a heat index over 105 degrees only 72 times from 1978 to 2007. Dallas had over 105 degrees 352 times in that same period. Houston was at 460 times. That's a huge difference, and I think most people would be surprised by those numbers. Miami also gets daily cloud cover during the hottest part of the day in the summer, and that cools the whole area down immensely. Most cities do not have that kind of thing at all. It also has near perfect temperatures when a lot other places are very cold. Do you think most people enjoy walking anywhere in the winter?
This picture below is Coral Gables. Like I said before, of course you need a car in Miami if you want to have the best experience, just like almost everywhere in the U.S. Even in a place like NYC, I hate taking the subway, and a lot of people who have to ride it feel the same way. I feel like not having a car limits the amount of things you are able to do immensely, no matter what city you live in. To say that there are no places to park your car and walk around in Miami is just insane.
Yeah, go for it. I think Austin peaked a few years ago as the poster child for hip, young and the restless. It still appeals to people of a certain age who don't live there but they seem to fall out of love with it after a while. Being the state capital, a lot of folks have to live there (instead of Waco or Lubbock). Are there many native Austin-ites? It will be OK for a while unless you really want to be by the ocean.
Grew up in Miami, been to Austin. Hate Miami, don't care for Austin, but I think Austin's better. If you don't like the materialism and anti-intellectualism, Miami will tick you off, hardcore. I live in the North Texas area. Its not San Francisco or Boston. You're not going to find so many extremely well educated people but you're gonna find a much more average pot and more people who are willing to talk about something besides their new BMW or going to get laid or going to the club. Austin has UT which makes it the intellectual hub of Texas. Again, not the same culture as in Boston but less of the materialism and shallowness of Miami. Miami has the beach, and a couple of other things like some restaurants and cool sights but thats it. Its a party vacation town. The only way Miami could be appealing for me to move back is if I had the money to own a nice big boat and go fishing a lot. And even then I'd be bored and wanna leave after a few months. Its not for me.
I'm gay myself, though younger and honestly, being gay in 2017, you have a lot more options to be comfortable in this country. I've lived in west and now north Texas. Denton is the largest and most liberal city I've lived in here and it stills leans to the right and I've had no problem in any place. Small town or small city. No problem. Both Miami and Austin are LGBT friendly enough. Neither appeals to me really, but I would rather do Austin. Btw even though Austin is in central Texas and has no coast, there's plenty of hills, lakes and springs to go to. Barton springs is very popular. There's stuff to do outdoors and the longer period of cooler weather is an advantage in my opinion. Summers are slightly hotter than Miami, but there's more of a fall and winter to give relief. Just my 2 cents. South Florida is the most overrated corner of this country in my opinion, and I'm never moving back. Hell, every time I visit, I enjoy visiting family but I also look forward to driving north and getting the hell outta there lol.
My issue with Austin btw, is its too overrated and overhyped. Its extremely sprawly as well. But so is the DFW area. I am also not a fan of that virtue signaling millennial hipster junk. Portland has the same thing, though more concentrated, but at least Portland has more interesting geography and beautiful trees. Austin does have its niceness though, its in the Hill Country.
It's amazing how some people like to insult and generalize a whole population of people so rudely. Would you like it if someone insulted the place you live so blantently? It's probably pretty easy to do. Do you realize that like half the people who read your insults pretty much throw your arguement and any future arguments you have under your screen name right out the window? Please, show some class.
I would love to hear some things that you can do around where you live that you cannot do in Miami, since you said you would get bored of Miami quickly. Then, I'll name some things that you can do in Miami that you cannot do where you live, no matter where it is you live. If Miami is only a "party vacation town" than what does that make places like Atlanta and Dallas? Do those "towns" exist to only to do business?
If you have any proof or any videos that are anywhere close to what I posted, please post them. You keep talking about how Miami's urbanity is close to the other cities in the south, but you offer no proof. I notice you like to only talk about the Miami city proper and not include it's immediate surrounding areas. I wonder why that is..
I didn't say this. I said it is closer to it's Southern peers than it is to cities like Chicago, DC, Philly, and San Francisco and I stand by that.
As you can see from the link below, Miami had a heat index over 105 degrees, faaar less than most other major cities of the south. It shows Miami had a heat index over 105 degrees only 72 times from 1978 to 2007. Dallas had over 105 degrees 352 times in that same period. Houston was at 460 times. That's a huge difference...
Not really, considering that this could mean that an average summer day in Miami could have a heat index of 104 while Houston is sitting at 106. That same link also shows that Miami has more days with heat indices exceeding 95 degrees than either Texas city, but you failed to point that out.
So yeah, it does get hotter in Texas, but the summers are also much shorter. South Florida gets more rain but Houston still receives plenty.
Not really, considering that this could mean that an average summer day in Miami could have a heat index of 104 while Houston is sitting at 106. That same link also shows that Miami has more days with heat indices exceeding 95 degrees than either Texas city, but you failed to point that out.
So yeah, it does get hotter in Texas, but the summers are also much shorter. South Florida gets more rain but Houston still receives plenty.
I didn't point that out because the difference is much closer when looking at the days the heat index got over 95 degrees. Miami had 3098 of those days from 1978 to 2007. Houston had 2917. Dallas had 2467. Do you see how that's much closer than the days the heat index got over 105 degrees, which was 72 for Miami, 460 for Houston and 352 for Dallas. Look, I'm not saying Miami is on average cooler than these other places, I was just saying that many people would be surprised by the statistics I posted. I was responding to a poster who was claiming that you can't walk in Miami because it gets too hot. That's like saying you can't walk in northern cities because it gets too cold, and those cities even get hot in the summer also. A large majority of the people down there actually don't mind the heat as much as people think, and there are a lot of people there that come from much hotter climates than Miami. The ones that come from cold climates understand it's a trade off between hot and cold, and are able to enjoy the massive water culture down there all year round in case it gets too hot.
Yet again, the "Miami" people refer to here is not the Miami I lived in. People really only refer to downtown. They forget there's a ton of neighbourhoods further west. Where are you going to really walk to besides maybe a Publix or a Navarro pharmacy?
Still more walkable than any other major southern city excepting New Orleans.
Is it really that hard to believe that some people appreciate ALL of Miami and everything that comes with it?
Now I've got no dog in this hunt since I don't have a strong opinion either way. I'm approaching this as if you were my son (I'm a mom who is regularly approached by others for advice.) who was approaching me with this dilemma. If you were I'd be asking you the following questions:
1. How long do you want to stay there? Are you planning to view this as a post breakup pit stop or as a place to (hopefully) settle down? Both are equally valid.
2. Where do you hope to see yourself personally, financially and career-wise in 5 years? 10 years? Which one will get there?
3. All of those activities/hobbies sound great but realistically speaking which ones are you more likely to do? Which city has easier/more convenient access to the ones you're more likely to do? For example, if you lived somewhere where the hiking and beach scene are equally appealing which one would you be more likely to do often?
4. Which city attracts the sort of people (not tourists) who you'd like to befriend and date?
5. If you are interested in personal growth where are you more likely to grow as a person?
Statistics are nice but you're not a statistic. Both seem to have a lot that on paper will make you happy. Answering these questions though should reveal which city is right for you not which one is "better."
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