Florida - 2012

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Well I think it might actually be happening! Me and my family have been talking about going to Florida, USA next year, and it sounds promising . Apparently we were going to last year, but no, we went to France again, them thinking I forgot about the Florida promise . Oh no I didn't.

My entire life I have gone to France every single year, which is great and all, we have a cool little house hundreds of miles out in the countryside there , but I've always really wanted to go to America, to generally to see what its like, and the sites etc. I also want to go to New York one day .

My Dad doesn't want to go as much as the rest of us, mostly because all he sees on TV is the US. You guys own nearly all the world's TV though! Also he would rather go to Yellowstone Park, which I also want to visit, one day. I saw an amazing documentary on it.

Plus he's been to every single other continent in the world, so he's just got to complete it, however reluctant he is . And I've never been outside of Europe. So do any of you live in Florida / have been there? What's it like? Also are there loads of alligators?

I live in Gainesville, which is a major college town about an hour and a half north of Orlando (the theme park capital of the world). When it comes to gators, there are some areas with a lot of them. On campus they are common in some of the ponds and lakes, but as long as you don't attempt to feed them, they normally keep to themselves.

In Florida we two main seasons seasons, summer and winter, along with rainy season (daily afternoon thunderstorms), hurricane season, lovebug season, mosquito season, snowbird season, and tourist season.

You might be interested in using Google Earth. Panoramio photos and the street view allow you to get a feel for what it's like over here.

I live in Florida, i don't like it here, i say go to Yellowstone, at least then you can say you have walked on a Supervolcano.

I live in Florida, if you travel between April and September the weather is unbearably hot and humid, it's unlivable if you don't have air conditioning. I live in South Florida and everybody that lives here is from somewhere else, i'm from South America myself. The great thing about living in Florida is that if you have kids they get to go to Disney and Universal Studios at least once a year. There are a lot of alligators, but fortunately they live in the swamps away from the city, although gators are found everyonce in a while wondering city neighborhoods. I live close to Fort Lauderdale, and they have great beaches, and for a serious night life you can go to the world famous South Beach. There are also lots of shopping malls, including the gigantic Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise.
If you have any questions about Florida let me know I will be happy to help you out.

I live in in Florida, and I want out. Contrary to popular belief, it's not paradise.

I've lived in Florida all my life (a rarity as, apparently, everyone else who lives here is from somewhere else). It's very hot and humid, then occasionally "cold" and dry. When it's hot, it rains a lot, when it's "cold", not so much.

We do have a fair amount of alligators; even in neighborhoods sometimes. I'm not big on reptiles, but that bit is pretty cool. In my area, we also have sandhill cranes which are really large and fun to watch

I live in Orlando and as the above posters have stated, Florida its not really that good of a place.

To give you an idea.. in college the majority of people who write 'My long Term Goals' essays for our english and life skills classes put on the top of their list: "Leave Florida".

If you want to visit and experience the US you'd be better off visiting New York city and the historic cities along the east coast (Boston, Williamsburg, etc) as they have a lot of American history plus are fine examples of city life in the US.

As for nature stuff.. you can visit the Niagara Falls (you can go there from New York City), Grand Canyon (you can visit Las Vegas while at it) and anywhere in Montana will provide you with incredible scenery and great things to do.

Excitement wise.. New York city is pretty good.. you can also come to Orlando and visit our theme parks (Disney, Sea World, Universal) and NASA launch center (perhaps the only worthwhile thing we have lol) ... and if you have the time you can even take a short cruise out of Port Canaveral and visit the Caribbean islands (Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Bahamas). And as an above poster said, you can go visit Everglades park (yeah it was an edit.. mixed the names lol)... but do so on the 'cold' season otherwise it will be mighty unpleasant.

Our weather is fairly simple to understand: Its either infernally hot or there's a Hurricane above you.

Florida has ZERO mountains. Its flat therefore there is no wind. Temperature here is 90F to 100F most of the year and for a couple of weeks between december and Feb it can drop to 40F but thats ONLY because of random ice cold weather fronts that come from the artic. To give you an idea, last year we only had 2 cold days...this year we've had about 2 weeks worth overall of cold days.

Between August and December is Hurricane Season. Its very rare for one to come directly over Orlando but the rain pours like crazy for a week for each hurricane that gets close. Take note that this is the only time we get wind of any sort.

The pests we deal here are the annoying airborne ones: Mosquito season is between May and July (hottest months) and then we have Lovebug season (around september usually). Lovebugs are like very small ant-beetle like critters about 1cm long that take flight is massive swarms to mate...and they fly just 1 meter off the ground. During this time our cars turn black and green with the goo from them splattering into the windshield. Really, really annoying time of the year.

No, there aren't alligators all over the place but you will see them anywhere there's water and some forested area near it. Deer too. My house has an artificial lake behind it and we have 2 gators there year round. Gator meat is tough and tastes somewhere between chicken and turkey.

One important thing for you to know: If you guys do come to Orlando you will need to rent a vehicle and drive. The city has poor bus transportation and no trains or subways. This is important because the city is laid out over a very large area and it is very likely that to go to the nearest store or location you will need a car.

To give you an idea.. my sister once had a boyfriend who was from Ireland. The guy came over to visit and stayed with us for a month. The first week he simply walked out of our house and walked to the nearest gas station to buy some beer and cigarettes. Nearest gas station was at the nearest street corner...one kilometer away. He had to call us from the gas station to pick him up.

He was a postal worker in Ireland so he was used to walking for very long distances.. problem was in Orlando he walked one kilometer in 100F heat with no wind. He nearly had heat stroke.

If your family does come here you will need to drive. The Theme parks are about 20km away from the city of Orlando... there is good bus transport in the theme park area but if you want to go anywhere but the theme parks you will need a car. Most people come here and never get to see nothing but the theme parks because they cant get nowhere else.

Last edited by Dantac on 31 Jan 2011, 1:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Take it from a resident of Wyoming, but Yellowstone isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure it's got some geothermal features that you can't find anywhere else in America, plus the mystique that it could blow and pretty much annihilate North America, but for what it's worth, it's a tourist trap. Not kidding. I've seen rows of cars lined up on the side of the road filled with people gawking at a pair of antelope, which in Wyoming are freaking everywhere, so they're rare enough to afford a traffic jam. Lines are huge and they milk you for everything you've got money wise. Florida might not be much better, either. If you're going to come up and visit Wyoming, don't spend all your time in Yellowstone, there are other areas that are much more interesting that don't have the human element to worry about i.e. Medicine Bow National Forest near Laramie.

Thanks loads people . Wow thats a lot of info. Yes I think we are going there for the theme parks, Sea World (that's there, right?) etc. Most of all I'll just really appreciate finally going somewhere else in the world, outside of Europe .

The bad parts, I hate the heat and the sun. I am a vampire, I love it when it rains, and I prefer the cold . If it is mosquito season while we're there then I will probably die, like I nearly did in Spain when mosquitos bit my entire face and pretty much poisoned me . That's if we don't all die first, as it will be 2012 .

Also if I make it big in the world somehow, or learn to be fully independent and have enough money, I will go to those places you suggested, Dantac. Thanks. New York is probably the top of my list .

Lucky you! I'd jump at the chance to go to Florida. I'd love to go to Disney World and sit on the beaches all day.

If you don't like the heat, I highly recommend scheduling your Florida trip for sometime like January or February. Florida summers are long and brutal.

A few weeks ago, I took a short trip to New York City, all my myself. I flew all the way from California to see my favorite actor in a play. It's not like me to go off by myself, to a strange place, like that. But I had a wonderful time. New York is great. The public transportation system is really good, unlike most places in the US, so getting around was easy. There was plenty to see and the people were nice. I also know that once you get out of the metropolitan area, there are a variety of scenic places nearby.

It's very different from California where I live. Here, there are interesting things for a visitor to see, but they are so spread out. If you wanted to visit California and see, say, San Francisco, Disneyland, and Yosemite National Park, you'd have to drive for six hours through a lot of really boring, flat nothingness to get from one place to the next. Much of the US is like that. Lots and lots of nothingness, sprinkled with Wal-Marts and Starbucks.

Florida is okay...of course nothing like the hype. I RARELY see an alligator or crocodile even though I have lived on both the west coast and the center of the start around a BUNCH of lakes. There are palm trees and "tropical" vegitation in a lot of areas....including nurseries which have thousands of them being raised "in captivity" for the purpose of selling to landscaping companies for big money so they can arrange them all fancy around hotels. Most of the roads and land are overly crowded at least for my country boy tastes.

The Mayan apocalypse is scheduled for December 21, 2012. So the summer should still be ok. Better make it a summer to remember.