A one-way ticket back to America (Miami, Midway: best cities, sales, crime)

[illini84]

Today was a day of great joy. I logged on to the American Airlines website and booked a one-way ticket from Miami to Chicago. I'm literally counting down the days to July 24. I realized today how bitter and negative Miami has made me, how much I dread dealing with people in Miami (worst customer service I've ever seen in my life), how much I miss the progressiveness of a city like Chicago, how I miss having seasons, and how I'm looking forward to returning to a truly diverse city.

My mother was recently in Miami for the first time. After picking her up from the airport, we stopped at a Walgreen's around Calle Ocho. She was shocked by the fact that all of the aisle names were in Spanish only. Neither the cashiers, nor the pharmacists, spoke a word of English. This has become so commonplace to me that I didn't even think twice until she brought it up. I've almost forgotten what it feels like to live in a city where speaking English is a given. After maneuvering throughout the city for a few days on her own while I was at work, my mother said she couldn't stand to live in Miami and was happily packing her bags to leave. Me too. July 24 can't arrive soon enough and I cannot wait to say "adidos Miami" from the airplane.

[compelled to reply]

Hmm, I noticed you didn't mention anything about the corruption in this thread (and you do bring it up a lot). Hmm, that's probably because Chicago is the only American city that is more corrupt than Miami. Otherwise, safe travels, great city!

[heydade]

Don't let the door hit you on the way out !

Enjoy crime infested Chicago.

[intelfan11315]

It's almost june and I was wearing a sweatshirt today... (michigan)

[kevinkagy]

As sad as it is to see anyone leave, I won't miss your constantly negative comments. But, I wish you the best of luck and I hope you're happy!

[illini84]

Wow, thank you everyone for the cruel comments. Apparently Miami is getting to you, too.

FYI, Chicago is consistently named of one the top three "best cities in the United States" (only falling behind New York and San Francisco)--anyone ever see Miami on that list? It sure tops the lists of anything with "worst" in the title, though (worst public transit, worst crime, worst schools, etc.). Check out these links: Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed
Note that on the Chicago site people are all very positive about their community, as are most people about their city, and say things like "I've only been in the Chicago area for about 3 months and am loving it", "I can tell you that living in the city never gets old. You name it, and Chicago has it", "Chicago is an amazing city", and "I LOVE MY CITY!". Go to the Miami site and people post the following: "Miami is a third world cultural wasteland", "Welcome to Miami - the most overrated city", "Quality of life in Miami is decreasing at an alarming rate", and "you don't want to come here".

I'm not necessarily trying to advocate for Chicago over Miami, just pointing out that people are generally very negative and down about Miami and it wears you down after awhile. That's not the way it should be. Miami citizens take no pride in their community and it's quite sad. Maybe it's the way Miami is portrayed on TV--a glamorous paradise--that causes people to have false expectations (or overly high standards) when they move here. Maybe it's the fact that Miami is very divided (immigrants from "Gringos", Hispanics from whites, the obscenely rich from the incredibly poor)--I don't know. I guess it is what it is and as I've read many times before, Miami is not for everyone.

I apologize for all the negativity. Best of luck to everyone.

[chisoxfan]

Best of luck up there. It's a great city, despite the smelly politics and harsh winters, and I do get nostalgic about it quite often. But be sure to budget for the 10.25 percent sales tax soon to be in place in Cook County. I guess trying to make ends meet in South Florida can be good practice for things like that.

[doggiebus]

illini84 best of Luck to You. Glad to hear you are on your way back to AMERICA. I hope to do the same one day too. Chicago is a great city, cold, but a power house city. Miami dreams to be considered with NYC, Chicago and LA. Best of luck to you again.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by illini84

Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

While I don't mean to detract from your overall point, Sperlings DATA supports a weak cause for any city. They do not reference where they got their data from, virtually all of it is outdated, and a lot of it is inaccurate. For the user reviews however you make a good argument, but Florida in general has the largest online force of malcontents in the land.

A lot of those reviews look like they were written by some banned trolls who have passed through our website in the past but did a really good job at rallying up some of the malcontents...

[roloh12]

Are you kidding me, I just returned from a 7 day business trip to your beloved Chicago, I couldn't wait to get back to Miami. I spent time in many different areas of Chicago, including downtown and by the Midway airport and those areas were definitely not safe, even 2 guys I was working with that lived there talked about how bad it was. Plus the girls here are sooooo much hotter!!!