Moving my family to Florida USA

[Spinningheads2024]

I need help.
We would all be legal and able to work/live in America.
I'm so concerned with the state of the world.
Prices are going up everywhere including where I live in Ireland.
But it's all how we view it as well.
I'm just dreading the process of a fresh start. And I'd be organizing all on my own my husband is very lax.
We have my inlaws here. And we wouldn't be moving next to my family in the US we'd be a plane ride away.
But the weather is so much better. There's more to do. I'm so bored here. The landscape actually changes in the US and there's a certain flavour of multicultural I'm missing as well. My oldest is just so we are able to still make it appealing.

I'm just so distraught at possibility of not working out.
The summers are humid. Very.
We don't own here and we won't own there. Maybe get land in the future.
I just hate how my husband is number 1 to want to move and he's just leaving this all on me. I bring it up as we genuinely are Best friends and he says he'll do research but he'll just leave it until last minute. We wouldn't leave until January 2025 but you can imagine how much planing on neighborhoods and housing and travel time to things. Another thing is Tampa Florida where we want to go, can have such bad traffic.
How do I do this and stay sane?
We haven't been on holiday in 3 years and we can't go this year at all bc we are moving. We would have been able to go and do lots more if we weren't moving. So the thoughts of the year ahead is driving me mad on top of me making all the decisions. I'm sick to my stomach.
Is it all worth it? Saying goodbye and breaking hearts. I know we won't be happy here but it'll be sacrifice for the kids. But we know they can sense how we feel and it'll effect them.
It's the whole transition.
I feel like I'm doing it alone.

Has this decision definitely been made? Is there another state as an option? I live in the US and have relatives in Florida. The governor there is very right wing and has virtually attacked the school system. Book bans, messing with the curriculum, etc. not much re seasons there either. Hurricanes, high crime, and incredibly high home insurance (though maybe that's not relevant to renters). The head of public health is anti-vax.

On the plus side, there are lots of different things to do, especially outdoorsy activities. The beaches are nice, there's theme parks for the kids, the Everglades, a variety of wildlife.

It's totally unfair of your husband to dump all of the logistics on you.

Inflation has hit the U.S. too and prices have really gone up. Personally, I'd vacation there but not live there.

I am American and would love to move back, but would never move to Florida. I DEFINITELY would not want my children educated in Florida.

where is your family in the US, and why wouldn’t you move closer to them? Why Florida?

For some reason people always seem to be planning to move to Florida, Southern California, or maybe New York. Americans are moving away from these locations. They are high cost of living areas with all sorts of political drama.

you need to consider a few things

1. schools. In the U.S. your location determines your school and quality varies dramatically
2. jobs. What kind of industry do you need
3. housing costs. Think outside the tv shows. Look at lists of “most affordable cities” and “best places to live” to get ideas on places that balance amenities, jobs, and housing costs. It’s a huge country and there are much better places to live.
4. climate. Florida in the summer isn’t a little humid. It is the swamp gate to hell. There is a reason many of the residents are senior citizens who only live there in the winter. Everywhere in the U.S. has its own version of extreme weather. It might be earthquakes, tornadoes, or blizzards. You just have to pick your poison and you get used to it. Personally, humidity and hurricanes are not mine.

It seems a bit crazy trying to organise this big move in less than a year with no jobs lined up and a husband who doesn’t seem bother; but I do get where you are coming from, grey skies are depressing. Just time your time, do your research; go there if you can before you move to look at areas, schools.

It is not easy to start again but you will never know if you don’t do it

Where do you live here where the landscape doesn’t change? Do you ever take trips out of your area? The Lake District, Peak District, N Yorks Moors, Cornwall not to mention the coast, all come to mind. Florida is very flat. I didn’t see much multi-cultural in Florida either, not compared to where I live in London. Why are you bored? What is it you want to do that you can’t do here? Maybe you just need to consider a move in England?

OP currently lives in Ireland so although it is beautiful, it is smaller and fewer cities.
Could you move to mainland UK instead? The south coast would have warmer and drier weather, close to London, close to France etc.

The US is expensive too - though wages higher.

You need to start at jobs- with what id a realistic salary is and work backwards.

Friends who moved to the US ended up being a SAHM as they couldn't cover the long school holidays. What will you do?

Honestly, if you won’t own there and don’t have jobs lined up - what’s the rationale?

If you can’t afford a holiday, then it feels like the expense of moving continents will be unworkable. I last moved about half a mile, even that cost a fortune.

You say you are missing multiculturalism? You won’t find that in Tampa. Not all Floridians are the same, but you will be more likely to come across narrow views and the schooling is very archaic. Your likelihood of speaking to someone who loves guns and Jesus is much greater in Florida, speaking from experience. You will need to drive constantly, often on huge roads.

I feel like you’d be better off putting your time and energy into enjoying your life in the UK and going on holidays.

Sorry just re-read you’re in Ireland. Still stands though, improve the life you’ve got, don’t move to worse! Also your husband’s lack of action will not improve on the other side of the world. You’ll end up doing everything and become isolated to boot.

moved to florida 24 years a go dad was sick,stuck here because of heath and finacial.
freak governor ,too many moving here the county has been destroyed by this 15% pop growth used be a nice rural place.
now the growth is so bad smoke fromclearing land is horrible/everyone i know is sick from it,car wrecks and the list goes on
so many nicer places to live here.
the whole state growth 18% not enough water, resoures are not here

Really?? I don't know where you were in Florida -- it's definitely a big mix. Tampa not as much as Miami which has absolutely loads of Latin and West Indian immigrants, but even so. I would never move to Florida for a long list of reasons, but being monocultural isn't one of them.

The only appeal of Florida is the lax taxation.

There are other places you could look at, surely? If you're not moving to be close to family in the States - why not? You'd need a support system when you get there, might as well slot in with your existing relatives' network?

Why are you choosing Florida?

have you posted on this before, sounds familiar ?

Didn't you want to move to Southern California a few days go?

Otherwise there's a surprising amount of Irish posters with husbands who want to make the move and not put any effort in

I'm so concerned with the state of the world.
And your response to that is to move to Florida? The state that Trump has chosen to make his home. A place where they don't give a flying fuck about the environment - where you go to the supermarket and can use as many plastic bags as you like?

Prices are going up everywhere including where I live in Ireland.
Yup - also in Florida! You think it's cheap to live there?

We wouldn't be moving next to my family in the US we'd be a plane ride away.
So why the hell are you moving there???

But the weather is so much better.
It really isn't. Give me Ireland's temperate climate any day. It can be 80 degrees even in winter in FL and it's like a fetid swamp in summer (because guess what? Until they drained parts of it, that's what it was).

There's more to do.
Like what? Honestly, I'm not being facetious. What is there to DO in Florida that you can't do in Ireland? Play American football perhaps, or go and hang out at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville?

The landscape actually changes in the US.
In the tropics it actually doesn't change very much at all from season to season.

There's a certain flavour of multicultural I'm missing as well.
Fair enough - FL is more multicultural than Ireland. But that is literally the one point you've made that I agree with.

It’s one of the last places I’d move to in the US. Weather, politics, schooling, age demographic & lack of culture would all put me off. Great for a holiday, but that’s it.

Why is he so keen but not willing to put effort into making it happen? Is he like that now?

I live in Florida. I've lived in 13 US states and 2 foreign countries, and Florida is my favorite. Forget all the fear mongering about the school curriculum, etc. The only recent changes are that gay/trans issues cannot be discussed until 3rd Grade (age 9) and they can't give hormones or attempt to trans children under 18. Surgical abortion is prohibited after 6 weeks but chemical abortion is available. It's hardly the dystopian nightmare that the gay/trans activists like to hyperventilate about. Oh, children under 18 can't go to drag shows, just like they can't go to hetero strip shows. There are no limitations on adults, and I know two adults who are transitioning here in Florida.

I don't know Tampa very well except for visiting my daughter who went to med school there. Traffic can be heavy but is certainly bearable. My 20-year-old daughter got around with no problems, and that included driving to various hospitals in Tampa and St. Pete, and driving the dreaded I-4 corridor across the middle of the state. The area has a strong Hispanic flavor and there are amazing restaurants/nightspots/small shops etc, and the beaches around Clearwater and St. Pete are some of the best in Florida.

The weather is outrageously fantastic in the winter with day after day of blue skies and low humidity, and a lot like a hot, wet oven in the summer. Everywhere, but everywhere is air conditioned, though, so you can stay comfortable.

I have close family in Florida, including cousins in Tampa. We visit often. There is loads to do there and I prefer the climate (and I'm in East Anglia, which is drier than Ireland). Tampa is on the coast, so you get sea breezes. You have a long coastline of beaches, so can choose your favourite. People from many different cultural backgrounds live there. Another cousin lives near Zephyr Hills. The clue is in the name, it's green & hilly with lots of horses. The climate is also less humid. We have good friends living in Cocoa Beach. It's the Atlantic coast, so again breezy. Schools are good. St Augustine is different again. You have the rest of the USA to holiday in. My cousin escapes to a shack in Tennessee.

I don't agree with the politics, but there is much to recommend Florida for other than that.

Does 2 make it a surprisingly amount?

Is there a reason you wouldn't move closer to your family in the US rather than to Florida?

I live in Massachusetts and have relatives near Tampa - in a very wealthy, beautiful part of the state - just gorgeous. I still wouldn't move there. The Ron de Santis anti-gay thing is sort of moving back to the mean (now that his presidential hopes are gone) but it is still a southern state where guns are proflific, education is not good, your third level options for your children will be way more expensive compared to Ireland. We have friends who are gay who bought a house there for use in the winter - and sold it again after 2 winters. The feeling there was not good for a lesbian couple. And the weather is a real factor - hurricanes etc. Getting house insurance is becoming increasingly difficult in FL. And the abortion laws - Surgical abortion is prohibited after 6 weeks but chemical abortion is available. - this is a very disingenuous statement. The situation for women's health care is way more complex than
"Oh I can get a chemical abortion" - and by the way the supreme court will be ruling on that soon - don't hold your breath. It affects how miscarriage, ectopic pregnancies and other issues are dealt with in even wanted pregnancies - it isn't pretty and it isn't good for women's health.

Look, maybe it would work but honestly, I think you need to sort yourself and your husband out first. why is he so lackadasial. Why is it all on you. This won't work if you are doing it single-handedly.

Have you thought about immediate health insurance? You cannot move to the US without health insurance - it is so so risky.

Florida is the last place I would move to - stinking hot, flat, crowded. Many other parts of the US so much better. In fact, pretty much everywhere I can think of would be more appealing than Florida.

When they are within a day of each other and have exactly the same story, yes

I live in Tampa. The traffic really isn't bad, especially compared to other cities (Miami, Orlando). And it's a very multicultural city. A lot of Cuban Americans, obviously, but we also have a big Indian population.