I was born and raised in south east FL partly in Palm Beach county and partly in Broward county.
I lived there for 25 years until I couldn't take it anymore and got the hell out of that place.
I think FL is one of those places that to people who don't live there seems very appealing but living there isn't all rainbows and roses.
FL is hot and hotter, it's humid as hell, the Spanish speaking population is out of hand, its so bad that billboards, radio station, announcements over PA systems in stores are all done in English and Spanish. Have you ever gone to a national chain store and found you couldn't communicate with the employees because they don't speak English? People tend to be inconsiderate a-holes since 85% of them that didn't land on a raft on one of the shores of the state came from NYC and brought their attitudes with them along with their lousy driving. Beyond that there are the millions of old people waiting to die and trying to make your life a living hell in the process every time you go to drive anywhere or eat at any restaurant.
They call it "the sunshine state" but it should really be called something more appropriate like "the torrential downpour every afternoon at 3PM state" or "heavens waiting room" (which a lot of people do call it).
Now lets not forget the hurricanes! Have you ever gone through a category 3 hurricane? Not fun, nothing quite like feeling that any moment your roof in your $1,200 a month 1 bedroom apartment is going to be ripped off or coming out after it passes to find your vehicle crushed under a tree, having all the grocery stores, gas stations, traffic lights all without power and or destroyed. Have you ever taken a shower with no hot water for 2 weeks straight because your own city didn't have working power? Have you ever had to wait in line for gas for hours on end just to get to the pump and find out they're out of gas? I'll tell you it's a new level of hell.
I know I sound bitter to it but there are some good qualities about FL. Most of my family still lives there. There is about a 1 month period around April that's usually the nicest weather you could ever hope for. There truly are some beautiful beaches (and women on them
), especially down in the Keys. Fishing and aquatic activities are second to none also. That's about it, for my taste.
I do however like the west coast of FL much more, not so crowded, nicer beaches that aren't wrecked year after year from hurricanes like the east coast is.
I will say though that FL is very different from coast to coast and in between. SE FL is nothing like NW FL, central FL is nothing like either coast, etc.. and I wouldn't mind living in St. Augustine, that'd be a cool town to retire to.
This is partly just a rant, there are some great qualities of the area but there are some cons that might not be apparent if you've only ever visited FL.
As Aphex said, Sarasota was nice, at least what little I saw of it when I went there to buy a TV off of him a couple of years ago.
FWIW I now live in GA, in a northern suburb of Atlanta and love it. I don't foresee ever leaving this area. We get 4 season but none of them are to the extremes of some other places. It gets as hot as FL at it's peak but it cools off at night unlike FL, it gets in the teens for lows but it rarely snows and it's usually only for a few days before it's back up to 40/50/60f highs.
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