Cost of Living..

[DoctorRain]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Well to be fair Portland has bike lanes and is a bike friendly city, that also has a light rail.

Tampa comes in right behind Orlando as the 2nd deadliest city in the nation for pedestrians and bike riders.

Driving in a car here is dangerous enough. Walking or riding a bike other than on paths is a death wish.

Tampa and Orlando are both ranked most dangerous in the USA for biking?

Above Los Angeles even?

[cheerbaby112]

Originally Posted by DoctorRain

Tampa and Orlando are both ranked most dangerous in the USA for biking?

Above Los Angeles even?

Yes.


America's Most Dangerous Cities for Pedestrians - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com

[tamparesident26]

I'm not surprised at all. I wouldn't consider Tampa a bike friendly city whatsoever. I'm an avid cyclist and you know...I ride the trails mostly because I've had some close calls. When I do ride on the street it's usually in my own neighborhood where there's not nearly as much traffic and I don't hit any main roads unless it's one with a bike lane. They do exist on some roads in the area and that helps somewhat, but there aren't nearly enough of them. You also have to keep in mind that even the bike lanes can be dangerous...some drivers don't respect them and cut you off anyway or merge into them like you aren't even there. (To be fair, I see a lot of cyclists who don't follow the rules either) You have to be really alert - don't count on the other person to be. Sometimes that doesn't even do you any good.

ironsmurf, the area that River Chase is really not bad...that's actually in Temple Terrace and not too far from where I live. There's some shopping within a couple of miles so you might be able to get away with cycling to some things...there are bike lanes along Bullard Pkwy (which is the road Busch Blvd turns into on the Temple Terrace side)

Also...no road cycling in Tampa? Baloney. Take it from someone who rides almost every day. The Pinellas Trail is hardly the only place to do it. (There are quite a few places that are closer, too.) I answered a thread about this a couple of weeks ago...there's a pretty detailed description of area trails and pros and cons about each.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Well to be fair Portland has bike lanes and is a bike friendly city, that also has a light rail.

Tampa comes in right behind Orlando as the 2nd deadliest city in the nation for pedestrians and bike riders.

Driving in a car here is dangerous enough. Walking or riding a bike other than on paths is a death wish.

True a lot of cities here are not bicycle friendly, but according to this article Jacksonville is the worst, followed by Birmingham and Memphis:

Jacksonville bristles over "worst" rank for bicycling | jacksonville.com

Where I live (Sarasota) is very bicycle friendly, and where we lived before (Lakeland) was even more so. Not all Florida cities are the same. A lot of Tampa is bad for cyclists, I will agree with that, and bad for pedestrians also.

[ironsmurf]

Originally Posted by Tootsfromscotland

Ally, overall, when I've recovered from the actual cost of the move (has cost us around £15k so far!!), and when hubby is over here and able to work, we will have a really good quality of life...better than at home. I'm earning a good wage on my own , more than I was at home, and so far I could sustain the 4 of us probably pretty easily on one wage alone, but of course hubby won't hear of it! He's determined to keep working the UK until we can sort something out for him to be able to work legally over here. We still haven't sold our house in Scotland yet either, so thats another reason he is still at home just now.
I absolutely love it out here and so do the girls. I mentioned moving back to Scotland in a couple of years time if we haven't got something sorted for hubby being able to work by then, and they gave me my head in my hands to play with for daring to mention such a thing!
Its natural for you to get nervous now...I was absolutely keiching myself! Seriously! I had given up a really good job back home and there seems so much more to lose when you're older. I also had the worries of the girls not settling etc etc.
One big thing Ive noticed....most people over here are happy and friendly! Unlike the miserable gits back home! LOL

THanks again Tracy,

Im seeing tons of positives there but have to say i almost choked on my buckie when I saw £15k!!;0) Me n rach are looking at around $12k to have banked for me coming over so now Im worried!!
IM so glad you and the girls love it there.. its a brill place.. totally get you regarding the miserable gits thing. People in britain have this stereotypical image of the states but give me their outlook anyday.. I found people nothing but friendly and happy.. even if there were a few loons in there they still made me smile.. BAck here people are going on about the snow like its armagedon!!

AL.

[Tootsfromscotland]

Ahhhh but our £15k includes buying a car outright (because we are trying to keep monthly outgoings to a minimum..and in any case, I couldn't get a loan or lease with no credit history!...so had to buy one outright) , shipping our stuff over (which cost over £3k alone!), various credentialing/licensure fee's for myself, visa fee's, then money used to pay for the deposits and buying stuff we have needed to buy whilst awaiting our shipment to come over ( had to buy beds, bed linen, towels, telly, some second hand chairs etc. We also had to buy all electrics again...toaster, kettle etc, as our UK stuff won't work over here). We have been spending money like it was going out of fashion! (much to our horror!) But with me earning again, things will start to balance out and we can start trying to replenish our savings..(she says hopefully!)

We spent more on a car than originally planned, because Keith was wanting to make sure we got a decent one, given he won't be around all the time to fix it if anything was to go wrong with it. We were planning on spending no more than $8K on a car but ended up spending $14, 500!..so thats where the majority of our "moving to florida" savings pot money went. We actually wired over $17k to the US ...and ran out of that within the first week!...had to do a quick scurrie round for more funds or else cheques that I had signed for rent etc were going to start bouncing!...not a good start to proving that we are a good bet! lol We even had to raid the kiddie's piggy banks until we could organise for more money to be wired over!..It was a white knuckle moment! But as I say, most of that was for the car.

You're initial outlay will not be anything like that, as you have Rach over here already and you won't have to go overboard on a car Dinnae fret pet!

Originally Posted by ironsmurf

THanks again Tracy,

Im seeing tons of positives there but have to say i almost choked on my buckie when I saw £15k!!;0) Me n rach are looking at around $12k to have banked for me coming over so now Im worried!!
IM so glad you and the girls love it there.. its a brill place.. totally get you regarding the miserable gits thing. People in britain have this stereotypical image of the states but give me their outlook anyday.. I found people nothing but friendly and happy.. even if there were a few loons in there they still made me smile.. BAck here people are going on about the snow like its armagedon!!

AL.

[asimegusta]

Originally Posted by ironsmurf

.. Im hoping I can bike most places.... We want to enjoy life together in tampa and be able to plan our wedding without additional stress..

You'll find alot of people cycling along bike paths on the gulf-side from Reddington Shores north to Clearwater Beach. In fact, someone else can fill you in, but a huge triathlon event was held here just a month ago and the place was crawling with cyclists.
This side of Tampa Bay is definitely cycle and jogger friendly.
You'll do fine.

[asimegusta]

Originally Posted by Tootsfromscotland

One big thing Ive noticed....most people over here are happy and friendly!

ditto that

[ironsmurf]

Right seeing as some of you have jumped off topic a bit heres's my view;0)
Anyone cycling in a city centre is taking a risk.. That goes for anywhere in the world. Some things I did observe in Tampa were cyclists moving in the direction of traffic and one guy who did this while carrying his groceries on his handlebars!!
I took part in the madeira beach triathlon this year and tons of people biked up the coast. I also attended the San Antonio ride which happens every sunday and brings out up to 200 roadies. Cycling in Tampa is huge, Its also the headquarters of Ironman Triathlon, if it wasnt any good for cycling I wouldnt go near it, however, I wouldnt commute in the city centre..