Relocating to Orlando Florida
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Vaclav
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I like NYC for visits - too much noise for sleeping restfully etc though. I sleep like shit when we visit NYC family. Part of why Orlando being close is nice - nearly as much to do as NYC but I can get away and have quiet nights afterwards.
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Vaclav
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Ain't that the truth. Lived in MD all my life until 2 years ago before I moved to NYC. Born in PG County, grew up in Howard and lived a while in Baltimore, Towson Area. Maryland and the whole DC area fucking sucks dick. NoVA is a congest shithole.
Vaclav
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Nah, NoVA is one of the few high points - Skyline Drive for chilling and not TOO dense outside of the downtowns. It (and Delaware, <3 Delaware) would probably be my #2 and #3 after Brevard.
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It's all dependent on where you live. If you're in Alexandria you can either choose to live in an area where traffic blows or you can live in an area where there is no traffic. I literally have NO traffic to or from work. I'm also near everything. Is it the "yuppy" area? No. Can I walk to work? No. I'd say it's more multi-cultural than other parts of the area. That also means better food options though. I'm still within walking distance of Mt. Vernon and all it encompasses.
Warmuth
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Not a big fan of Orlando, too hot and way too crowded. Lot of available activities though. Younger people probably enjoy it to a much greater degree than people who no longer go out and chase pussy. Florida is nowhere near as bad as it's reputation and being warm year round simply can't be beaten. The main con is it's a generally ugly state. The commute from brevard/volusia county may be worth it if you're used to driving that far anyway but if you plan to take advantage of everything Orlando has that the coast won't then it probably isnt worth it. If you're into water though the Indian river and the ocean are hard to beat.
And yeah, Orlando is far, far hotter than the coast. Summer there fucks with even me and I have good tolerance for heat in general.
And yeah, Orlando is far, far hotter than the coast. Summer there fucks with even me and I have good tolerance for heat in general.
Vaclav
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Word. It's pretty magical living on a canal like here when the manatees opt to visit.
I do think if/when I get a different place I'll look into seeing if there's any homes that border on the parts of the Indian River Lagoon that have the biolumiscent phenomena though, that just seems like it would be exceptionally gorgeous as a backdrop from a home if there's any homes out there. The one night the wife and I camped on one of the miniature islands out there during biolum season is something that was a simply amazing experience. (Well, besides letting some gear dry out - I splash alot when I kayak still)
Conefed
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Stay away from bodies of water. Heat stroke before noon is easy.
Assume everybody are Republican / pill poppers
Secondary roads have a good chance of not being paved (major roots and holes)/ lack proper signage
Beware of random and unexpected toll roads (most can be paid online)
Screamfeeder
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I also lived in Orlando (Winter Park to be exact, near the school) and this is pretty much spot. But seriously, stay out of Pine Hills and avoid even small standing water. There IS a gator in it.
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Lambourne
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Lived near Orlando in the mid 90s. I actually lived in Sanford, about a mile from where Trayvon Martin was later shot. There's good and bad parts like anywhere else (Sanford being mostly "bad" even back then). Later moved down to Miami. Miami itself is pretty shitty and crime-infested but up near West Palm Beach it's allright.
I never had any trouble adjusting to the heat, it kinda helps to plan your day so that you're doing your outdoor stuff early in the morning and not in the afternoon when it's too fucking hot to do any real physical work.
Daily thunderstorms in the afternoon during the summer. Don't skimp on windshield wipers or drive around on bald tires as I've seen some serious amounts of water fall out of the sky there. Saw a couple inches of standing water on the interstate more than once.
Protip for the theme parks: go in around 5pm when the tourists have all had enough, there won't be any lines and it's much more pleasant. The parks had a florida resident discount too, don't know if that's still there.
St Augustine is pretty cool, it has a very European feel to it (being from Europe, it really felt a bit like going home).
I never had any trouble adjusting to the heat, it kinda helps to plan your day so that you're doing your outdoor stuff early in the morning and not in the afternoon when it's too fucking hot to do any real physical work.
Daily thunderstorms in the afternoon during the summer. Don't skimp on windshield wipers or drive around on bald tires as I've seen some serious amounts of water fall out of the sky there. Saw a couple inches of standing water on the interstate more than once.
Protip for the theme parks: go in around 5pm when the tourists have all had enough, there won't be any lines and it's much more pleasant. The parks had a florida resident discount too, don't know if that's still there.
St Augustine is pretty cool, it has a very European feel to it (being from Europe, it really felt a bit like going home).
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Synj
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Find someone that works there and befriend them. I never paid to get in to the park.
But I also heard that they might have cut back on the free passes for friends and family so that might not be an option anymore.
Annual pass would actually make sense too. You WILL have friends and family visit you and they WILL want to go to Disney.
Siliconemelons
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From Orlando proper north urban spread has gone crazy and with traffic you are easy 1 hr commute, the small communities that were "normal" price range and suburb have grown and sprawled into upscale and $$$$ places very- very fast.
West is slammer with WDW obviously
East is water...
South is going to be the new sprawl boom because north has just become such a cluster - but south is "more ghetto" and you have the airport to deal with.
There are some nice little normal places to live in Orlando - and there are slums...like any other place.
the rise of airbnb co-ops and shared rentals have driven apartment prices up a ton - none are built just to be apartments for people to live in, they are marketed for vacation apartments and then rented privately for income - so a 250k apartment costs 500k etc. etc.
florida is not that bad, it is hot as hell... but orlando is a a metro so its not "south" - Florida is a very go north to get south state.
as for Lambourne - I wish the after 5pm thing was still real... WDW, esp magic kingdom is PACKED every darn hour its open if you are F,S,Sun - weekdays its still a madhouse but does lighten up some after 5-6. I have been at Magic Kingdom when they have closed the gates because of capacity - literally 1 for 1 in and out guards at the gate - the place sucked, you could not do anything - you couldn't stop to do anything you had to either move to a 2hr line, and stand in line or leave - it was terribad - they had tons of cast members doing traffic bla bla etc etc it was shhiiiitttyyyy
They now have some special days were you can pay an addition $$ for like a super late night thing - AYCE ice cream, popcorn and soda stations and the tickets are limited number - if you can do late night, that's the way to go - pass holders even cant get in without paying the special $$, I think its 60? or 80?$ + your pass or day ticket (so almost 200$) - but its nice to be able to do whatever you want with no line.
But you do get discounts as a FL resident still, you can do an annual pass for about 100$ a month payment plan (but that's still ~1200$ per person)
Every ticket now is tracked, even the free passes for cast members - our church sometimes sings at candle light, you get 2 passes for doing so- there have been places banned from returning because a member sold one of those tickets online... as they are rare to have an open ticket nowadays - they are all assigned to a person etc. etc. even daily passes. So having a friend that works there is good, and you can get some passes - they will want to be sure you use them yourself and not go wondering off or something as it could cost them their job... when my cousins worked there they often scalped their free tickets because they were just generic tickets and would boost their income lol.
Anywho, florida is florida - we got whackadoos but so does everyone else.
and the biggest thing... we call it Soda or Coke, no friggen pop here!
West is slammer with WDW obviously
East is water...
South is going to be the new sprawl boom because north has just become such a cluster - but south is "more ghetto" and you have the airport to deal with.
There are some nice little normal places to live in Orlando - and there are slums...like any other place.
the rise of airbnb co-ops and shared rentals have driven apartment prices up a ton - none are built just to be apartments for people to live in, they are marketed for vacation apartments and then rented privately for income - so a 250k apartment costs 500k etc. etc.
florida is not that bad, it is hot as hell... but orlando is a a metro so its not "south" - Florida is a very go north to get south state.
as for Lambourne - I wish the after 5pm thing was still real... WDW, esp magic kingdom is PACKED every darn hour its open if you are F,S,Sun - weekdays its still a madhouse but does lighten up some after 5-6. I have been at Magic Kingdom when they have closed the gates because of capacity - literally 1 for 1 in and out guards at the gate - the place sucked, you could not do anything - you couldn't stop to do anything you had to either move to a 2hr line, and stand in line or leave - it was terribad - they had tons of cast members doing traffic bla bla etc etc it was shhiiiitttyyyy
They now have some special days were you can pay an addition $$ for like a super late night thing - AYCE ice cream, popcorn and soda stations and the tickets are limited number - if you can do late night, that's the way to go - pass holders even cant get in without paying the special $$, I think its 60? or 80?$ + your pass or day ticket (so almost 200$) - but its nice to be able to do whatever you want with no line.
But you do get discounts as a FL resident still, you can do an annual pass for about 100$ a month payment plan (but that's still ~1200$ per person)
Every ticket now is tracked, even the free passes for cast members - our church sometimes sings at candle light, you get 2 passes for doing so- there have been places banned from returning because a member sold one of those tickets online... as they are rare to have an open ticket nowadays - they are all assigned to a person etc. etc. even daily passes. So having a friend that works there is good, and you can get some passes - they will want to be sure you use them yourself and not go wondering off or something as it could cost them their job... when my cousins worked there they often scalped their free tickets because they were just generic tickets and would boost their income lol.
Anywho, florida is florida - we got whackadoos but so does everyone else.
and the biggest thing... we call it Soda or Coke, no friggen pop here!
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Warmuth
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Motherfuck those manatees. I guess it's cool and all to see them but those things are everywhere and I've been knocked into the water more than once by those fat stealthy ninjas.
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Siliconemelons
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Lambourne
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Siliconemelons
Yea I spent some time on google maps after making that post and there's definitely a lot of new development, I guess a lot can change in 20 years. Definitely a lot more tourists in Europe these days (lot of Russians/Chinese/Eastern Europeans) to the point where I tend to avoid the major tourist hot spots as they are usually overcrowded, guess FL wouldn't be any different.Still miss the weather though, after I went back home and wore a long sleeved shirt for the first time in two years, it felt strange and wrong.
cyrusreij
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Lived in Orlano for the past 13 years. Currently in Kisimmee just south of the border (place called the Loop, community built around a massive strip mall, nice area). If you have any specific questions shoot. I have lived in Eastern (UCF area) and central Orlando (close to the airport). Never really gone to the west side (Ocoee area) as there isn't much out there.
For weather, it is currently one of the worst years I can remember. We are in a drought and it sucks. I personally love the rain and humidity, and we aren't getting either, so it feels like Dallas, and that's awful. It's also heating the water and no storms are dissipating it, so if a hurricane comes through in a couple months it will feed off this shit and rape us. Granted we haven't gotten hit head on with a hurricane in 13 years, but still.
What area abouts will you be working? Can probably recommend the best suburb to live in (you probably don't want to live in Orlando proper).
For weather, it is currently one of the worst years I can remember. We are in a drought and it sucks. I personally love the rain and humidity, and we aren't getting either, so it feels like Dallas, and that's awful. It's also heating the water and no storms are dissipating it, so if a hurricane comes through in a couple months it will feed off this shit and rape us. Granted we haven't gotten hit head on with a hurricane in 13 years, but still.
What area abouts will you be working? Can probably recommend the best suburb to live in (you probably don't want to live in Orlando proper).
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edko
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Are you getting the smoke up there? I was in Miami yesterday and I could smell it on the Turnpike. Lot of damn fires up on the mainland.