[doggiebus]

Originally Posted by JennyMominRI

I have some friends in FT Lauderdale and Miami. I just worry about expenses and access to military flights. We will be going to Europe a lot.
Miami is more my speed that further north though

Friends of my parents live in Miami and fly Military all the time to Europe. So I wouldn't worry about catching a flight with the military from Miami. You should take a trip to South Florida and check it out.

[JennyMominRI]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

Friends of my parents live in Miami and fly Military all the time to Europe. So I wouldn't worry about catching a flight with the military from Miami. You should take a trip to South Florida and check it out.

Do you happen to know where they fly out of?

[JennyMominRI]

Originally Posted by annerk

I work with the public transit sector in the State of Florida. Tampa's bus and trolley system, HART, is fairly comprehensive. You can get to MacDill from most any point in Tampa, although to my knowledge you can't to get to the beach via a transit bus or trolley.

The Federal government mandates (and subsidizes) what it known as "Paratransit" which is a van service for those who have physical or mental conditions that keep them from using the regular buses. The paratransit bus/van will pick up at your door and rop off at either your destination or a bus stop that will allow you to get to your destination if your situation is that you are unable to walk the distance between your doorstep and the nearest bus stop. Generally these trips need to be reserved in advance. I'm not sure that they would do a beach run though...

In all honesty, you might be better off looking at the Cape Coral/Fort Myers area. It's more affordable and much more liveable. One of the national magazines recently named it one of the best places to live in the US. The mass transit system there is LEETRAN, and it's pretty darn comprehensive--and not that you asked, but they are working diligently to reduce their carbon footprint by using new hybrid technologies if that's something that's important to you. You can get to the beach on LEETRAN, although of course it could require a transfer. They have a trolley that connects with the transit bus and runs up and down Fort Myers Beach. LEETRAN also has a reservation based paratransit service. You can take Greyhound from Fort Myers to Tampa, the buses run several times a day and it's about a 2 1/2 hour ride. Even if you are flying to Europe every other month, if it were me I'd readily trade the liveability of the Cape Coral area for a bus ride a few times a year. Amtrack would be another option. As an added bonus, there is a ferry that goes from Cape Coral to Key West. I haven't taken it (yet) but a friend uses it a couple of times a year and really likes it.

Even though Miami has a larger mass transit system, it also covers a much larger area. If you take square miles and population served and compare it with the number of transit vehicles and routes, Miami is far from the best system in the state. In my opinioni it's overall not a very liveable area for any number of reasons--a big problem you'll run into there is the number of foreclosures within the condo market, and while the low costs might be attractive, the insolvent HOA as a result of the foreclosures is a big problem.

I'd be happy to try to answer any questions you have, and if I don't have the answer I can contact the people who do. I wish you luck in your move, Florida is a wonderful place to live as long as you do your homework and choose the right area for your wants and needs. It sounds like you are definitely doing that, so it should be a great move for you.

Thanks for the info. We can actually get around using regular public transit, at least most of the time.
I'll definitely research the areas you mention a bit more. How is the Sarasota area?

[doggiebus]

Originally Posted by JennyMominRI

Do you happen to know where they fly out of?

Not sure actually, I will get back to you with this.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by JennyMominRI

Thanks for the info. We can actually get around using regular public transit, at least most of the time.
I'll definitely research the areas you mention a bit more. How is the Sarasota area?

Sarasota's system is SCAT. The parts of Sarasota that it serves, it serves well. But there is a large amount of Sarasota that isn't serviced by it. As long as you can live on the bus line, you can get to the beach via SCAT. You can also connect up to Bradenton and use MCAT to get around up there, which really gives you a lot of coverage. Both are considered nice places to live--I know there's a lot of retired military in Bradenton if that's something that interests you.

[JennyMominRI]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

Not sure actually, I will get back to you with this.

No problem. I know Homestead AFB is in the Miami area and that it has occasional Space A flights. I just never seem to hear much about them.

[deedee3003]

You say you will be going to Europe a lot but is that really going to happen? It is so expensive over there even if you fly free with Space A travel. The American dollar isn't worth that much over there. Also sometimes you are stuck in Europe and can't get on Space A home. I thought they wouldn't let disabled vets on the Space A unless they are also retired military. That might have changed recently, has it? Dolores

[JennyMominRI]

Originally Posted by deedee3003

You say you will be going to Europe a lot but is that really going to happen? It is so expensive over there even if you fly free with Space A travel. The American dollar isn't worth that much over there. Also sometimes you are stuck in Europe and can't get on Space A home. I thought they wouldn't let disabled vets on the Space A unless they are also retired military. That might have changed recently, has it? Dolores

I am rated as disabled by the VA and I am medically retired from the Marines,so I qualify like any other retiree. Yes, we will definitely go to Europe frequently,most to the UK. We have a lot of friends in the UK that we will stay with a lot and hopefully they will want to come and stay with us in Fla. MacDill actually has semi-regular flights to Mildenhall UK. They tend to go there 2-3 times a month.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by JennyMominRI

Thanks for the info. We can actually get around using regular public transit, at least most of the time.
I'll definitely research the areas you mention a bit more. How is the Sarasota area?

Sarasota is a great place to live. We have a beautiful airport here, and within the city a pretty good bus system, including free trolley service on some of the keys/beaches. They are working on combining with the Manatee bus service as well, as annerk said, pretty comprehensive coverage in the area. Not sure what your budget is, but there are some pretty good condo deals here, and we have a great downtown, one of the nicest I have seen in Florida for such a small city. This is a place you should really give serious consideration to. Also, Tampa is only an hour's drive to the north. Given your circumstances, it might actually be the most ideal situation for you.

[JennyMominRI]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

Sarasota is a great place to live. We have a beautiful airport here, and within the city a pretty good bus system, including free trolley service on some of the keys/beaches. They are working on combining with the Manatee bus service as well, as annerk said, pretty comprehensive coverage in the area. Not sure what your budget is, but there are some pretty good condo deals here, and we have a great downtown, one of the nicest I have seen in Florida for such a small city. This is a place you should really give serious consideration to. Also, Tampa is only an hour's drive to the north. Given your circumstances, it might actually be the most ideal situation for you.

We pay around 2000$ a month here for a small 4 br house, heat(Oil) and electric. IN the winter it can be more like 2200$ for Heat/housing/electric. Id like to keep my house/electric in that range or maybe a bit lower.
I'm assuming that most houses are gas or electric and I won't have to pay for oil heat. I paid 800 foor 270 gallons of heating oil on Jan 1st and needed more by mid-late Fust had another 500$ worth oil put in March first. That's on top of a 200$ electric bill . It costs a fortune here to heat your house

To put it simply we would like to find something with 3 bedrooms for around 250,000.