Asking for help from the wise

[Silent]

Hey all, so I wanted to ask some of the older wiser people for some advice. I live in Spokane Washington and I really want to move to FL, Key West if I can, I wanna stay away from Miami. I've never moved accrossed the country on my own I'm not really sure what to do.

I work for Boeing here and my job doesnt transfer. They say I can apply but that's it. What should I do? I'd like to driver there if I can, if not oh well I guess. I'm thinking about saving up money for rent then finding a job that way? I'm thinking this is going to be within a few years, not right away.

Any advice, or questions I might not have covered

[Duchess]

Try to find a job before you move. If you can get a job in bigger company they will often pay for you to move.

If this doesn't happen, save up enough to have at least six months worth of living expenses (and thats expenses at your destination so you'll need to research that) to give you time to find a job when you get there.

Then rent a uhaul and drive into the sunrise.

[Caraccioli]

Key West is a damned expensive place to live. I know (or have known - for many of them have since left) several people who've lived there and if you haven't got your income figured out, it can be a hardscrabble life. (Stock Island, just off KW proper, is about the cheapest place I know of to call home, but the environment reflects the rent.) The economy seems primarily to revolve around tourism and (probably to a lesser extent now) real estate. (I looked into it quite extensively about 10 years ago.)

Depending on what you do, if you're set on Florida, I suspect Central Florida or South-Eastern Florida would be more accommodating. (Where's Cpt. Sophia? She can tell you all about C.F.)

[Matusalem]

All I can say is....hurricanes! Key West is right smack dab in the path of frequent hurricanes. Many people fall in love with the paradise of coastal south Florida unitl after the fact. They usually strike between August and November. The major question is " will it go up into the Gulf-o-up the east coast?"

Three years ago, I saw the devastation of Hurricane Charley, and much of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte up north was quite surreal, and many residents are still stuggling today to rebuild.

All I can say is that there is only one way out of Key West, and you can bet that the Rt 1 causeway will be packed.

I am not saying don't move there, I am saying just be prepared when the season comes. If you are like me and seek adventure, hurricanes can be a lot of fun in a number of ways.

Paradise does not stay still forever. ...and it comes with a price.

[Captain J. Savage]

I'm a Florida resident. So I'll go ahead and voice my opinion.

1. Figure out where you wanna live... for sure.

I'd stick to the mainland in FL. I'd love to go to the keys myself. Living there is expensive, and you're taking a gamble with all the storms that pass each year.

So some general information about Florida...

The surfing is better than most other American locations except Cali and Hawaii; offshore storms can yield waves equal to everyday Cali surf, man do I have some stories about that. Great hobby to take up:) Daytona is awesome, the theme parks are great. No matter where you are in FL there is usually a beach within a two hours drive; that's worse-case, I live 30 minutes from Daytona, New Symrna, Cocoa. There is of course gorgeous days but they seemingly ALWAYS occur at times when you only get to experience them through the window at work. The nickname "sunshine state" is complete bull****, the only time it is sunny on a regular basis is when people come down during the fall and winter to escape the cold. Generally spring is tornado season and summer is hurricane season. Hurricane season is no big deal if you don't live on the coast or in the keys, a lot of people have hurricane parties. Just accept the fact that you'll replace or repair your roof a lot. EDIT: Also, if you get a house make sure it's had a new roof put on in the last 3 or 4 years before signing anything.

Florida is expensive and the cheaper places are either ghettos or smack dab in flood/tornado alleys, lower elevations. You're basically paying to live in a swamp, lol. I'd go Central FL if I were you and felt the absolute need to move down here. Central FL is nice and not too hard on the pocketbook. I am 7 hours from the keys. 30 minutes from Disney, Universal Studios, Universal Islands of Adventure, and Sea World and all the Orlando Nightlife. About 30 minutes from the beaches. 2 hours from Tampa. 3 or 4 hours from St. Augustine. Gas prices are still crap, but I don't even notice anymore I'm so used to it. If you smoke, you can't do so indoors except in actual bars.

2. Make sure you got a job waiting for you there.

Pretty self explanatory... think it all out, and have a plan. Please don't screw yourself over. I've spent two years recovering from having to have "EVERYTHING NOW" phase of my life.

I may not be the wisest; but I know what I know because, I've learned from trial and error. (Had to grow up fast and have made some expensive bad decisions.)

Anyway good luck figuring everything out.

If you have any questions about specific areas that you're looking into, just give me a ring 407-416-5842 I don't mind at all. Just make sure you do so before April 3 or after the 26th "I'll be in the field on a combat training exercise, no phone access for that time."

[Matusalem]

The surfing is better than most other American locations except Cali and Hawaii

...and New Jersey.....I am dead serious.

[Captain J. Savage]

Hmm, you know I recall hearing that before but I blew it off as BS. I'll have to look into it now.

[Matusalem]

However, you need a wetsuit for NJ waters...a shorty suit at the very least.

[Rumba Rue]

I just couldn't take the humidity there. I'd be sweaty wet all the time.

I'll stay here in S. Calif. besides there's more Ren-faire and pirate events here than any other state in the USA.

[Captain J. Savage]

Yeah, the humidity is another story. 102 here feels like 115.

[Caraccioli]

Of course, OTOH, if you really believe you can make it doing something, you probably can. (All we've done is rip on this poor guy!) It may take some hard work and perseverance, though. But then, anything worthwhile does.

(As for the storms - well, I liked what one person I talked to said. In essence, "Yeah, there's hurricanes. So far they've accurately predicted 29 of the last 3 hurricanes to make landfall. So I figure if one's coming, I'll just wait it out and see what happens." God love the people of Key West for the laissez-faire attitude!)

[Silent]

Thanks for the advice. I have a question, what is min. wage there? I know it's the highest in in WA (where I live) at $7.68 an hour. I make a lot more then that but I was just wondering. Also what are some prices for apartments you know off right off the bat?

[Caraccioli]

I suspect the minimum wage on the island is higher than that for Fla. in general. It seems to me that BK was paying nearly 1-1/2 or 2 times minimum when I was paying attention to the job page of the Key West Citizen. (I used to subscribe with the idea of fishing for jobs...don't bother. It's too expensive and arrives days late.) But most of the working folk I ran into worked 2 and 3 jobs and lived with roommates in rented houses on Stock Island.

Of course, that was in the 90s and this is the 21st century - so you don't need to subscribe to newspapers. So check the classifieds: http://keysnews.com/classifieds/ (It'll probably help if you're open to roomies with alternative lifestyles.)

[Matusalem]

Now there's a man tryin' ta get away rom whatever he's tryin' ta get away from!

[Silent]

Yeah I'm tired of WA. I've lived here 21 years and it's getting old. The weather is cold in the winter, hot and dry in the summer. Nothing to do and the ocean is very cold up here even in the summer you can't swim in it, way to cold. The nice thing is we don't have earthqakes or tornatos.

[Caraccioli]

Now there's a man tryin' ta get away rom whatever he's tryin' ta get away from!

Who? Me or Silent? I just thought Key West was cool. (In fact, I still do - it just didn't turn out to be practical for me. Too much sacrifice for too little return. There are precious few engineering jobs in KW and them what be there are mainly for Civil Engineers - which I'm not.)

[Capt. Sterling]

Take a vacation, how about attending PiP, and spend some time looking around, a place to live, check out the jobs available, ect., this will give you some ideas about how much you might need to be putting aside and where and how you would like to settle

[Silent]

Take a vacation, how about attending PiP, and spend some time looking around, a place to live, check out the jobs available, ect., this will give you some ideas about how much you might need to be putting aside and where and how you would like to settle

It would be my dream to go to PiP but I don't know where I would stay and really don't want to pay for a hotel

[Captain J. Savage]

Minimum wage is 6.50, I hear it's going up to 7.00.

[Captain J. Savage]

(It'll probably help if you're open to roomies with alternative lifestyles.)

Ah Key West... first time you'll ever seen a man wearing a bananna hammock going down the road on a mo-ped. Funny stuff for the straight guy who's comfortable with his sexuality. Probably paradise for those of the "alternate lifestyle."

[Caraccioli]

I once ran into a girl sitting by the side of the pool at the B&B where I was staying in Key West who had crewed on a charter boat trip on which I'd gone. She was writing in a bound notebook when I first saw her there. We got to talking and it turned out that she was making notes in her journal about what had happened to her so far in Key West.

She was spending a few months on KW crewing/waitressing and something else I don't recall that was along those lines. (Edit: Now that my mind has maundered a bit, I do recall! She worked part-time in the dive shop attached to the charter boat.) She had been all over the Caribbean working by turns as a waitperson, store cashier, hotel maid, boat crew, cruise ship crew or something and probably a dozen other odd jobs that I've long since forgotten. She was 24, tan and fairly fit from running up and down the boat and waitressing and whatnot. She said she never spent more than a few months in any one port. She was living alone when I talked with her, but she had several like-minded friends whom she occasionally hooked up with in her journey to split the rent.

I asked her if she planned to do this for the rest of her life and she said she would probably settle down "soon." So I guess you can make anything work if you're flexible and hard-working. (Although someone with all her jobs probably didn't have much time to fully experience every place she went - especially if she kept up her journal - which she said she did - but I suppose it was a fascinating lifestyle.) I wonder what happened to her?

[William Brand]

It would be my dream to go to PiP but I don't know where I would stay and really don't want to pay for a hotel

All pirate attendees camp for free.

[hurricane]

Boy, do I sympathize with you on Northwest burn out. Give me a warm and sunny beach anytime...

Hurricanes are no big deal unless you live on the beach. I moved here just before Charley, Francis and Jean. They aren't much different inland from the big storms we got in Seattle. The wind is a little stiffer but the rain is the same. I didn't think they were that big of deal.

Florida is the absolute best prepared state in the nation to deal with these storms and any other disasters. I certainly would rather be here than when the big one hit Seattle some day. A well build house will sustain a lot of damage here that a house there couldn't take with a bit of shaking and quaking.

I'm about to move to Melbourne in June to a new house about nine miles inland. In the past 60 years, there's never been winds above 110 there and I'm about 15 minutes from the beach. Woohoo! My house is rated to 130, my garage to 150 so I'm good.

Boeing has a big presence on the Space Coast what with all the rockets and such at the Cape. Might get on there or with NASA. Lockheed is also big here.

Florida as a whole is a boom state. I don't think you'll find any trouble getting on with someone down here...

-- Hurricane

[Silent]

It would be my dream to go to PiP but I don't know where I would stay and really don't want to pay for a hotel

All pirate attendees camp for free.

Details?