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Just a thought that grew out of the 'snowbird' post further down......
Assuming I wanted to live in Oahu during the summer months and Chicago during the winter; how would I go about contacting 'snowbirds'. Might be an inexpensive way to split my time.
As a person born and raised in Chicago, the snow and the cold doesn't bother me in the least. I actually think the snow is pretty.
My wife is an ER Doc and belongs to a group that has hospital location is Oahu.
My talent allows me to get 6 months jobs pretty easy. I've actually had two offers in Oahu.
Thanks in advance
The thought of being a 'reverse snowbird' makes me ill! I have never heard of such a thing before. I was born and lived all my life in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, where the winters are longer and colder than Chicago. Most people here don't like winter and don't like snow, but they put up with it. There are a few who actually like winter and pray for snow, but those types almost never have to shovel snow. Driving in snow is a pain. The first major snow storm of the year, there are always people who do jack rabbit stops and are shocked that the car does not stop like it did in the summer. The same people make radical lane changes and are surprised they crash into people, things, or a stuck deep in the ditch. I always try to stay home the first couple big snow storms of the year and let the idiot drivers crash into someone else's car.
When spring is approaching, almost all people can't wait for the weather to warm up and for all the snow to melt, except for a tiny number of lunkheads that actually still want more snow. My brother in law came up with a slogan for them. If they like the cold, they should go stick their head in the freezer!
If you like winter so much, why not move to Minnesota where the winters are colder and there is more snow? You might think about northern Minnesota or Canada, that would be even colder and more snow.
There are a lot of people like me in the snowbelt, that can't wait till retirement to escape the cold and snowy winters. Although, there are a lot of retired people who decide to stay in Minnesota all year round during their retirement years. They simply decide to continue to endure winters in Minnesota, although most of them don't like the winter weather.
I think Florida is probably the number one snowbird location. The winter weather in Florida is great, and the cost of living is dirt cheap. You can also get their by car, which means no airline expenses, no long term car rental charges, no shipping costs for your car. I don't know about the car and license regulations in Florida, you might not have to change your car's registration or your drivers license to snowbird in Florida for less than 6 months. There are also huge retirement tax advantages in Florida if you snowbird for 6 months plus 1 day, although Hawaii also has retirement tax advantages. The vast majority of people in the U.S. have saved very little or nothing for retirement, so snowbirding in Hawaii would be completely out of the question due to the much higher cost of living there.
If you bought a house in Oahu, I think it would be easy for you to swap houses with someone in the snowbelt, so you could 'enjoy' the winter months in the snowbelt. Although, if you were willing to rent the house out in Oahu you owned during your absence, you'd just be another person doing VRBO rentals.
If doing a VRBO rental in Oahu for two months in the summer is too expensive, maybe you could rent out your house in Chicago with VRBO while you are gone for the summer to help offset some of the cost. Although, you would have to be willing to accept the costs and risks of renting out your Chicago house.
The thought of being a 'reverse snowbird' makes me ill! I have never heard of such a thing before.
If you like winter so much, why not move to Minnesota where the winters are colder and there is more snow? You might think about northern Minnesota or Canada, that would be even colder and more snow.
See? Just my point. I shouldn't have much competition.
Snow, traffic and temp don't phase me. You can always add more clothes when it gets cold. Doesn't work the same in reverse. I live in Chicago and rarely use my car. I'm half a block from a major street. So I walk half a block, get on the bus and 15 minutes later it drops me at my work. If the world dropped more than 3 feet of snow I have a 2 block trek to the subway.
I have a south facing townhome. During the colder half of the year the sun comes in the front windows and floods the house with light.
We have loads and loads of snowbirds who come down from Alaska. Perhaps you could swap living accommodations with one of them? A lot of them live in Oceanview on the Big Island but they are probably scattered all over.
Your picture is beautiful, (I wrote while sitting in my dining room on Oahu looking out the window at the palm trees and sunshine). West coast people are not flying or driving to Florida when they retire. They are moving to Hawaii, Australia or New Zealand. I did!
You've got that right, you won't have much competition at all! I don't see much snow in that photo at all, nothing like it is in Minnesota. You have a much milder winters in Chicago than Minnesota. Why would you want to leave Chicago in the summer when the weather is nice?
If you like winter so much, why not live in the southern hemisphere somewhere for 6 months during the Chicago's summertime? Then you could live in cold winter weather all year around. Or, maybe they have job openings in Antarctica. You could 'enjoy' winter all year round without traveling anywhere if you moved to Antarctica.
They have the 'polar plunge' here too. No one 'hangs' in the ice cold water more than a few seconds. They also have a lot of medical people there in dry suits, just in case people get into medical trouble doing the 'polar plunge'.
Nice comments and thoughts/ideas! Seems to me what I have always felt, that is, "paradise is individual and between one's ears" regardless of location(s). Berlin is beautiful, the islands, high desert California , Florida, Charleston, and San Antonio too.
Best parts include the diversity and wonderful people you meet.
When living some years back in South Florida, yearly migrations of those from up north, including cold locations such as
Canada, brought a mass of humanity down ... to... cheer us up. Initially, I learned the term " Snowbirds" and understood. Talking to a couple once from Quebec, where I had visited years prior, I asked what they would similarly call "residents in South Florida" that departed from that area, when so many extended family members from up north, came in herds for warmer weather, fracturing all plans and schedules. Without hesitation, he said, " Relatively speaking Escapees".
When living some years back in South Florida, yearly migrations of those from up north, including cold locations such as
Canada, brought a mass of humanity down ... to... cheer us up. Initially, I learned the term " Snowbirds" and understood. Talking to a couple once from Quebec, where I had visited years prior, I asked what they would similarly call "residents in South Florida" that departed from that area, when so many extended family members from up north, came in herds for warmer weather, fracturing all plans and schedules. Without hesitation, he said, " Relatively speaking Escapees".
I thought that they were still called snowbirds. After the cold winter up north is over and the miserable hot and humid Florida summer begins, the snowbirds fly or drive backup up north. It's more expensive to be a snowbird, since you have to maintain two houses, or maybe do a long term rental at the winter location. I think it is better way to transition to a new retirement location than moving. If you rent, then you could snowbird in different areas too. It might make more sense to rent the snowbird location economically. You could rent a long time if you compare the cost of buying and all the other ongoing expenses and risks to maintain two properties.
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