Demotivated from non-summer travel now that we’re in Florida

by philg

When we lived in Maskachusetts, this is the time of year when I would start surfing travel web sites. Maybe it would be nice to go to a beach resort, a tennis destination, a sunny mountain town out West.

Now that we’re in Florida, though, even if travel were free of coronapanic-related hassles (e.g., testing and risk of multi-week quarantine/stranding) it is tough to come up with the motivation to go anywhere that the minivan or a feeble 4-seat airplane won’t take us. If we want to be on a beach, that’s a 12-minute drive with free parking and clean restrooms on arrival. If we want to be on a world-class soft white sand beach with gentle waves, that’s on the west coast of Florida, a 2.5-hour drive away (or 3 hours by plane, after factoring in driving to the airport, updating the GPS data cards, flight planning, etc., etc.). If we want to do some sort of outdoor activity, e.g., tennis or golf, that’s walking distance from our apartment. If we want sunshine, that’s almost every day. If we need our brains rewired, the theme parks of Orlando are 2.25 hours away by minivan.

There are a lot of interesting destinations that are more accessible from MIA and FLL than from BOS. The UNESCO World Heritage sites of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia (Cartagena at least!), etc. (101 cultural, 38 natural, and 8 mixed) Without cold, gray weather as a spur, though, it is tough to find motivation. Maybe that will change after we get burned out on all of the things that make our own corner of the world a popular year-round tourist destination. And I’m sure that will change on May 27 when the kids are done with school and it is 90 degrees every day.

8 thoughts on “Demotivated from non-summer travel now that we’re in Florida”

  1. I never thought of Florida as a “money saving” move, but your comments requirs that I re-think my thoughts on Florida and the benefits.

    Don’t forget all of the golf that you can play as well!

    Thanks for shairng yet another Florida benefit!

  2. “If we want to be on a beach, that’s a 12-minute drive…”

    Thirty years in FL, mostly directly beachfront or w/i a couple of blocks of the beach, on both the east and gulf coasts. After the first couple of years, the beach is no big deal, and is mostly over-rated. Too hot in the summer and the water is too cold in the winter. Pretty nice in April – May though. I now hit the beach mostly only when friends and relatives visit from MA. Just had my first basal cell skin cancer removed from my right cheek, so there’s that risk also.

  3. Phil, why did you finally decide to pull the trigger and move? Seemed like you were unhappy with Massachusetts for many years.

    • The thought process is outlined in https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2021/04/06/relocation-to-florida-for-a-family-with-school-age-children/

      (We weren’t unhappy in Massachusetts, even if sometimes our neighbors entertained us with their apparent logical contradictions (e.g.,paying $1 million extra to live in a Black-free environment and then putting a Black Lives Matter sign in the front yard). When the #Science-following Maskaschusetts experts decided to close the schools for more than a year while keeping alcohol and marijuana stores open, a lot of people with kids began to look for states better aligned with their family priorities.)

  4. I think the only area of concern for you and Greenspun Amalgamated is the upcoming hurricane season, which is thankfully 5-6 months away at the earliest. During that time it might make sense to find a good place to park a C8 Corvette and possibly also get yourself in a Ford F150 Hybrid or Lightning with the auxiliary power outlets and so forth. Yeah, I know there’s also this Rivian truck thing. You can put an inexpensive tent on the bed of an F150 and shelter-in-place wherever that place may be, and with the 2500-7000 watts (IIRC) of power you can help the helpers, should it come to that.

    https://www.amazon.com/Napier-Backroadz-Truck-Tent-Compact/dp/B07HX6ZX97/ref=asc_df_B07HX6ZX97/

    In the meantime, I’m glad you’re having a good time. I have zero doubt that you’ve already begun the potential hurricane planning using some background process….

  7. Miami seems to be a hot bed of a certain kind of entertainment for financially challenged men, which can only be found in Las Vegas, but not the liberal, puritan, christ fearing, bible burning new england.

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