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]You might be surprised. Using Ft. Myers/Naples as an example (i.e. SW Florida), there are few things that aren't available there that are found on LI. Costco? Check. Trader Joe's? Check. All of the different stores and chain restaurants? Check. Family restaurants? Different, but check[/b].
The distance might be slightly longer, but perhaps not, and even if longer the travel time might be the same...or less.
I do take your point when you're looking at a more rural area. If you move to the middle of Arkansas you may get tired of Walmart or having to drive 70 miles to the nearest Costco.
The biggest shift will likely be from NYC, SF (or London, or HK) to just about any other city. People used to being able to walk to get their latte in the morning or pick up their dry cleaning will get the shock of having to get into their car and drive anywhere. While this can also technically apply to Westchester or Long Island the reality is that once you have kids, and school/after-school activities you're not schlepping in the city to socialize every day and you become a suburbanite.
A lot of stores are regional as well. For instance, Belk is a department store that is Southern based or restaurants may be different as well.
I am shocked that Long Island doesn't have Costco, when a couple of Upstate locations have it now and I know that Rockland county had one for a while. Same with Trader Joe's, but for someone that grew up with say Wegmans, it may not be as big of a deal. So, stores may be a matter of what and who too.
A lot of stores are regional as well. For instance, Belk is a department store that is Southern based or restaurants may be different as well.
I am shocked that Long Island doesn't have Costco, when a couple of Upstate locations have it now and I know that Rockland county had one for a while. Same with Trader Joe's, but for someone that grew up with say Wegmans, it may not be as big of a deal. So, stores may be a matter of what and who too.
You might have misread my note. Of course LI has Costco and Trader Joe's. My point was that an area like SWFL also has these stores.
I lived only one hour from NYC, and there wasn't so much as a Costco or Trader Joe's anywhere. People there thought they'd hit the big time when Target arrived in town. "High-end" shopping for clothing was at the Gallaria Macy's 30 minutes away.
Only a train ride from the big city, but it was a backwoods mentality, all around.
I lived only one hour from NYC, and there wasn't so much as a Costco or Trader Joe's anywhere. People there thought they'd hit the big time when Target arrived in town. "High-end" shopping for clothing was at the Gallaria Macy's 30 minutes away. Only a train ride from the big city, but it was a backwoods mentality, all around.
You hear the mantra for everthing, if you need (fill in the blank) go to the city. Shopping, medical, dining, entertainment you should go to the city. So everyone lives in these overpriced suburbs with too many nail salons and shops at crap supermarkets (even Food Lion would be an improvement) secure in the knowledge that if they need (fill in the blank) it's right there in NYC...
I moved to Florida and back! Rent seemed really cheap, but didn't think about the large year round electric bill. It was very open, missed the scenery, job market wasn't much better. I'm a country chick so there wasn't a whole lot to do that fit my tastes. I went to Peanut Island but never the actual beach. Sometimes I do miss it, and I was only there for 4 months. (My now ex's family is down there)
I moved to Florida and back! Rent seemed really cheap, but didn't think about the large year round electric bill. It was very open, missed the scenery, job market wasn't much better. I'm a country chick so there wasn't a whole lot to do that fit my tastes. I went to Peanut Island but never the actual beach. Sometimes I do miss it, and I was only there for 4 months. (My now ex's family is down there)
Curious about your "large year round electric bill" comment. What do you consider to be "large"?
Don't know what the electric rates were in Palm Beach County (assuming you lived there) but I don't see a big difference between SWFL and Long Island averaged out over a year when you also factor in heating oil for the winter up north (which itself over the year averaged $200-300 a month).
But if it's not for you, nothing wrong with packing up and heading back.
Our heating and cooling expenses down here in the low country are at least 1/3 those up north in the mid-Hudson valley. It costs much less to cool off down here in our very hot summer than it does to keep things warm up there in winter.
After reading your posts that tend to trash the South based on experiences you have had in tiny segments of the region, I will be happy to help you pack. I am from the South. My ancestors were in Alabama since before the Confederacy. Outside of really poor white rural parts of the Deep South and really poor black rural and urban areas, I hardly see unkept homes and "shudders falling off of windows". Are you sure you didn't visit somewhere in the Third World? Doesn't sound like the South to me.
I agree. I mean look at NYS and what some areas of that have become. I see houses trashed all over the rural parts of NYS. There is poverty in every State in the US.
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