FYI for anyone looking to move here (Tampa, Spring Hill: lease, new home)

[saltzman143]

(Re-posting for all of the people who said it was a great post and should be its own thread.)

I am a Florida native. I have lived here most of my life. I moved away for 15 years (NY, LA) to gather new experiences, and now I am back. I love it here. LOVE IT. It is the perfect combination of fast and slow, the weather is gorgeous 7 months of the year, the people are nice, traffic is tolerable, pollution is low, and it's cheap compared to many large metro areas. It has positives and negatives like any other city.

Before you move here you must know that you will often run into people (on the Internet and in person) who hate living here, complain about it and have a very negative attitude about Tampa and Florida.

It is absolutely true that Tampa Bay and Florida are full of people who moan, groan and whine about Florida. Most of these people have moved here from somewhere else for various reasons (weather is not the only reason, but it's a popular reason). Many of these people were derelict in their duty to put in the months of time and conduct the appropriate research about living here before they made the move. And they are constantly comparing Florida to where they came from.

See if one of the following groups applies to you, and do your research before you too become one of these complainers.

1. The Midwesterners whine about how they miss how "nice" everyone was back in Iowa (insert any Midwestern state here), they miss the Ohio White Castles, the lakes, the Detroit pizza, they miss the Chicago L, shopping at Zingermans and Meijer, the rivers, they miss the cool summers, and on and on. They are really intolerant of the Florida weather. A lot of them move back.

2. The people from the Mid-Atlantic whine about how they miss the DC job market, the "highly educated" populace, the food in Pennsylvania (grinders, cheesesteaks, pizza, etc.), the VA countryside, the transit options, tulips, Delaware beaches, etc.

3. The people from the Northeast and New England REALLY love to moan about how they miss their autumn leaves, the apple picking, the pizza, the lakes, the rivers, the change of seasons, the trains, the seafood, the mountains, Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, etc. These are some of the worst offenders. They can really whine your ear off.

4. The people who move here from the West Coast and Southwest, they are absolutely miserable because they are not used to humidity and hate the whole Southern attitude found in Florida. They are used to political correctness and liberal towns and In and Out Burger. They are here because they can't afford California. And they hate it. They think Florida is very backward. (Actually so do most of the other people.)

One thing all these groups have in common is they all say Florida drivers are the worst. As if the drivers in every other part of the country are perfect.

To the people thinking about moving here, many of us LOVE IT. But don't say you were not warned.

[Not_liking_FL]

While the highlights in your post are true to some extent there are different situations for different people. I didn't fall into any of your categories. A lot of the people I've known who are negative towards Florida loved it at first and over time became disenchanted for various reasons. Some have moved and others stayed.

[ColtsFan1978]

I am still a newbie to Tampa (lived here for just over a year), so my opinion may change over time....

First off, I love this town, the weather, the people and the food. I hope I am not in the honeymoon phase, since we did quite a bit of research and visits before making the move. Time will tell.....

That being said, my feeling is that people who move to a new city and constantly complain about the new location or compare it negatively to where they came from are always going to be unhappy. I have a feeling the even if they move back to where they came from, they will still have issues. Florida won't change anything about how they approach life. Some people didn't have much of a choice on the move to Tampa, and I have more sympathy for those people but at some point you have to embrace what your new home is and not what it isn't.

I know...I know...easy for me to say.

[OSUbrew]

I'm originally from Ohio, moved to St Pete last year which I absolutely LOVED, then made a decision to let a company move me out to Austin (Lakeway), TX for a very good job offer a couple of months ago. I'm not a fan of Texas at all and I will be moving back to St. Pete when my lease is up here. It's definitely the place for me. It fits my personality the best and feels like home.

From my experience, all 3 states I've lived in have terrible drivers, i'm sure it's pretty much everywhere. Texas has had the worst of the 3 though in my opinion. It's all about perspective and where exactly you live.

[Spring Hillian]

Excellent summary.

Originally Posted by saltzman143

(Re-posting for all of the people who said it was a great post and should be its own thread.)

I am a Florida native. I have lived here most of my life. I moved away for 15 years (NY, LA) to gather new experiences, and now I am back. I love it here. LOVE IT. It is the perfect combination of fast and slow, the weather is gorgeous 7 months of the year, the people are nice, traffic is tolerable, pollution is low, and it's cheap compared to many large metro areas. It has positives and negatives like any other city.

Before you move here you must know that you will often run into people (on the Internet and in person)

[Spring Hillian]

I laugh when I hear my fellow ex-new yorkers complain that no where in FL can they get a slice of pizza at 3 a.m. They refer to things like "egg creams'', dirty water hot dogs, deli food (cold cuts, cold salads i.e. potato salad, coleslaw), lousy Chinese food, lousy Italian food, crummy drivers, unfriendly people, lack of public transportation, Broadway shows, the list goes on and on.

I always ask them when they lived in NY how many times did they go out for pizza, or anything else, at 3 a.m. Not too many and not very often. When I ask them where in NYC they can get an egg cream and they really have to think about it and their options are very limited. Dirty water dogs? Sabbrett wagons are in front of every Home Depot or Lowe's I have been to. Chinese food is hit and miss. Luckily we have ONE place in Spring Hill that does it right. I tell them Publix and a whole lot of smaller stores have Boars Head cold cuts, a NYC staple food. Publix also carries knishes. I swear Publix hired the cold salad guy from New York because their "sweet" cole slaw is IDENTICAL to my NY supermarket favorite. Publix also carries a wide variety of pickles and even pickled tomatoes. They have Ubet syrup in 3 flavors. I get pizza and Italian food that is just as good as the restaurants in Little Italy in Manhattan or the Bronx. These people are the same ones who used to curse the NYC subway system every time they were on it or even thought about it. Very few of them have ever been to a Broadway show, few ever visited the Statute of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, The Empire State Building, know anything about Grand Central Station, have no idea where the Waldorf Astoria is located, never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, never visited Trinity Church or St. Pauls church, never rode the Staten Island Ferry, or ever enjoyed any of the "good things" about NYC. Most of their time was spent at work,commuting or standing on lines at the bank, the supermarket, the post office, the pizza place, waiting to get a haircut, finding a parking spot.

Then they have the nerve to tell me "Yeah, but it's not the same here". I want to hit them upside their heads with the Sunday New York Times. Of course isnt the same here. That is why you left there in the first place!

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by saltzman143

(Re-posting for all of the people who said it was a great post and should be its own thread.)

I am a Florida native. I have lived here most of my life. I moved away for 15 years (NY, LA) to gather new experiences, and now I am back. I love it here. LOVE IT. It is the perfect combination of fast and slow, the weather is gorgeous 7 months of the year, the people are nice, traffic is tolerable, pollution is low, and it's cheap compared to many large metro areas. It has positives and negatives like any other city.

Before you move here you must know that you will often run into people (on the Internet and in person) who hate living here, complain about it and have a very negative attitude about Tampa and Florida.

It is absolutely true that Tampa Bay and Florida are full of people who moan, groan and whine about Florida. Most of these people have moved here from somewhere else for various reasons (weather is not the only reason, but it's a popular reason). Many of these people were derelict in their duty to put in the months of time and conduct the appropriate research about living here before they made the move. And they are constantly comparing Florida to where they came from.

See if one of the following groups applies to you, and do your research before you too become one of these complainers.

1. The Midwesterners whine about how they miss how "nice" everyone was back in Iowa (insert any Midwestern state here), they miss the Ohio White Castles, the lakes, the Detroit pizza, they miss the Chicago L, shopping at Zingermans and Meijer, the rivers, they miss the cool summers, and on and on. They are really intolerant of the Florida weather. A lot of them move back.

2. The people from the Mid-Atlantic whine about how they miss the DC job market, the "highly educated" populace, the food in Pennsylvania (grinders, cheesesteaks, pizza, etc.), the VA countryside, the transit options, tulips, Delaware beaches, etc.

3. The people from the Northeast and New England REALLY love to moan about how they miss their autumn leaves, the apple picking, the pizza, the lakes, the rivers, the change of seasons, the trains, the seafood, the mountains, Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, etc. These are some of the worst offenders. They can really whine your ear off.

4. The people who move here from the West Coast and Southwest, they are absolutely miserable because they are not used to humidity and hate the whole Southern attitude found in Florida. They are used to political correctness and liberal towns and In and Out Burger. They are here because they can't afford California. And they hate it. They think Florida is very backward. (Actually so do most of the other people.)

One thing all these groups have in common is they all say Florida drivers are the worst. As if the drivers in every other part of the country are perfect.

To the people thinking about moving here, many of us LOVE IT. But don't say you were not warned.

Very creative, a topic whining about the whiners

[roadtrip75]

Originally Posted by jambo101

very creative, a topic whining about the whiners :d

lol

[DUNNDFRNT]

Originally Posted by jambo101

Very creative, a topic whining about the whiners

That was my first thought, can't you just walk away from the "it's not like back home" crowd, after all is it not a lot easier to ignore someone than to relocate.

[wmatacritic]

Originally Posted by mr e

Florida drivers are not the worst.

Maryland drivers are the worst.

Sounds like you've lived around DC!