Who's been to/lives in Florida?

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Bandit72
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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#41 Post by Bandit72 » Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:43 pm

Excellent, I'm not doing Miami. Tampa is a possibility? I hope I see some decent 'wild' life. After all, why is every single pool covered in a mesh? Or are the flies just BIG?

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#42 Post by Romeo » Mon Jun 08, 2015 11:20 am

I love the old architecture of Miami Beach. The old Art Deco style hotels. And for a time during the transition when it was just artists, old people and homosexuals it was a fun place


Sadly the euro-trash ruined it.



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FYI the Leslie exterior was used as "The Birdcage" in the movie

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#43 Post by Pandemonium » Mon Jun 08, 2015 4:39 pm

Bandit72 wrote:Excellent, I'm not doing Miami. Tampa is a possibility? I hope I see some decent 'wild' life. After all, why is every single pool covered in a mesh? Or are the flies just BIG?
The coolest wildlife in Florida is the alligators and manatees. Pretty much anywhere there's swamps, ditches, brush, you can find a gator. Especially driving the highways between Miami up through Jacksonville, you'll see one every so often either in or near one of the small ponds on the side of the road or even trying to cross the highway. Manatees are more common in Southern Florida and they often hang out in the canals and harbors. A friend who I lost touch with years ago was a rocket inspector at the Cape who had a house on a canal at Satellite Beach with their yard backing in the canal with a little dock and they had a particular manatee that hung out around there all the time because everyone would feed it heads of lettuce ( a big no-no, btw). Armadillos are supposedly abundant there but I have never seen one in the wild. I've never had a bug problem there but I've always gone January - April - never been there during Summer (which would probably be miserable).

Oh yeah, the Atlantic side of Florida's beaches is the shark attack capital of the world.

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#44 Post by Bandit72 » Tue Jun 09, 2015 3:57 am

Pandemonium wrote:
Bandit72 wrote:Excellent, I'm not doing Miami. Tampa is a possibility? I hope I see some decent 'wild' life. After all, why is every single pool covered in a mesh? Or are the flies just BIG?
The coolest wildlife in Florida is the alligators and manatees. Pretty much anywhere there's swamps, ditches, brush, you can find a gator. Especially driving the highways between Miami up through Jacksonville, you'll see one every so often either in or near one of the small ponds on the side of the road or even trying to cross the highway. Manatees are more common in Southern Florida and they often hang out in the canals and harbors. A friend who I lost touch with years ago was a rocket inspector at the Cape who had a house on a canal at Satellite Beach with their yard backing in the canal with a little dock and they had a particular manatee that hung out around there all the time because everyone would feed it heads of lettuce ( a big no-no, btw). Armadillos are supposedly abundant there but I have never seen one in the wild. I've never had a bug problem there but I've always gone January - April - never been there during Summer (which would probably be miserable).

Oh yeah, the Atlantic side of Florida's beaches is the shark attack capital of the world.
Sharks are my favourite fish/animal (are fish classed as animals?) I guessed it's pretty bad that side. I hope I do see some gators. I know it'll be pretty hot end of July, and I've heard the rain is warm when it does rain. I've also heard Clearwater has the best beaches to go to. Although we're going primarily for the children, we won't spend all our time doing stuff specifically for them. They'll be happy exploring different places that's not Disney or Legoland. I think I mentioned befor I'd like to go to Canaveral. I also want a big fat American car with like 20 seats and a 10 litre engine. :wiggle:

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#45 Post by Hype » Tue Jun 09, 2015 5:03 am

are fish classed as animals?
:lol: This made my morning.

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#46 Post by Artemis » Tue Jun 09, 2015 6:16 am

Bandit72 wrote:
Pandemonium wrote:
Bandit72 wrote:Excellent, I'm not doing Miami. Tampa is a possibility? I hope I see some decent 'wild' life. After all, why is every single pool covered in a mesh? Or are the flies just BIG?
The coolest wildlife in Florida is the alligators and manatees. Pretty much anywhere there's swamps, ditches, brush, you can find a gator. Especially driving the highways between Miami up through Jacksonville, you'll see one every so often either in or near one of the small ponds on the side of the road or even trying to cross the highway. Manatees are more common in Southern Florida and they often hang out in the canals and harbors. A friend who I lost touch with years ago was a rocket inspector at the Cape who had a house on a canal at Satellite Beach with their yard backing in the canal with a little dock and they had a particular manatee that hung out around there all the time because everyone would feed it heads of lettuce ( a big no-no, btw). Armadillos are supposedly abundant there but I have never seen one in the wild. I've never had a bug problem there but I've always gone January - April - never been there during Summer (which would probably be miserable).

Oh yeah, the Atlantic side of Florida's beaches is the shark attack capital of the world.
Sharks are my favourite fish/animal (are fish classed as animals?) I guessed it's pretty bad that side. I hope I do see some gators. I know it'll be pretty hot end of July, and I've heard the rain is warm when it does rain. I've also heard Clearwater has the best beaches to go to. Although we're going primarily for the children, we won't spend all our time doing stuff specifically for them. They'll be happy exploring different places that's not Disney or Legoland. I think I mentioned befor I'd like to go to Canaveral. I also want a big fat American car with like 20 seats and a 10 litre engine. :wiggle:
Yes, Clearwater beach is very nice. :nod:
Something that may interest you is the Clearwater Marine Aquarium

http://www.seewinter.com/visit?gclid=CP ... aQodr1oANw

There's a couple of good shopping malls in Clearwater too. If you're looking for some "back to school" clothes for the kids, you can find some great buys. I don't typically shop when I go on holidays, but I would recommend it if you have time for it. When I used to go to my parents condo there, I always came back with a good haul of shoes and clothing.

You might see some Burmese pythons when you're there. :scared:

http://www.ibtimes.com/pulse/florida-py ... ol-1902029

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#47 Post by Bandit72 » Tue Jun 09, 2015 6:44 am

Adurentibus Spina wrote:
are fish classed as animals?
:lol: This made my morning.
I always aim to please you :wink:

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#48 Post by Bandit72 » Tue Jun 09, 2015 7:00 am

Artemis wrote:Yes, Clearwater beach is very nice. :nod:
Something that may interest you is the Clearwater Marine Aquarium

http://www.seewinter.com/visit?gclid=CP ... aQodr1oANw

There's a couple of good shopping malls in Clearwater too. If you're looking for some "back to school" clothes for the kids, you can find some great buys. I don't typically shop when I go on holidays, but I would recommend it if you have time for it. When I used to go to my parents condo there, I always came back with a good haul of shoes and clothing.

You might see some Burmese pythons when you're there. :scared:

http://www.ibtimes.com/pulse/florida-py ... ol-1902029

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Wicked, thanks.

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#49 Post by mockbee » Tue Jun 09, 2015 7:39 am

Kill em!

They eat the birds...........and EVERYTHING THAT MOVES AND IS SMALLER THAN A DEER (or I should say horse.........)! :no:

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#50 Post by Bandit72 » Tue Jun 09, 2015 7:54 am

I only kill flies and mosquitoes.

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#51 Post by Romeo » Tue Jun 09, 2015 8:11 am

we have a division on So Florida and when our tech called (while traveling on a highway) he saw a alligator as road kill. It HAD to of been hit by a 18 wheeler because a car would have been damaged.


In Louisiana they would of picked up that road kill and made sausage!

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#52 Post by Pandemonium » Tue Jun 09, 2015 10:01 am

Bandit72 wrote:Sharks are my favourite fish/animal (are fish classed as animals?) I guessed it's pretty bad that side. I hope I do see some gators. I know it'll be pretty hot end of July, and I've heard the rain is warm when it does rain. I've also heard Clearwater has the best beaches to go to. Although we're going primarily for the children, we won't spend all our time doing stuff specifically for them. They'll be happy exploring different places that's not Disney or Legoland. I think I mentioned befor I'd like to go to Canaveral. I also want a big fat American car with like 20 seats and a 10 litre engine. :wiggle:
I cannot recommend checking out Cape Canaveral enough. Being able to see firsthand the facilities, rockets, spacecraft and other hardware used to get the US to the Moon is an awesome thing. And to really see everything, it's a full day. I would stress that you need to do the bus tour (book in advance!) to see the entire site and especially to get to the Saturn V building that houses an entire Moon rocket and various Apollo hardware. Unfortunately, I don't think you can tour *inside* the gigantic Assembly Building anymore where they stack rockets. Oh and FYI, I saw at least half a dozen gators lounging in watery ditches and right off the roads and employee parking lots while touring the site. Here's the website:

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/tours.aspx

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#53 Post by SR » Tue Jun 09, 2015 10:38 am

Miami is a banana republic

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#54 Post by Romeo » Tue Jun 09, 2015 11:16 am

In Miami you must know spanish. Seriously. I was in the Miami airport for 3 hours on a lay over and thought I was in Havana.

And YES to Cape Canaveral!! I'm such a space geek and we used to go there when I was a kid! The last time I was there they were just building the space shuttle. I remember during the tour they had one of the heat shield tiles and showed how it resisted heat. (I remember this trip to FL, it was 1977 and Elvis died. The way the people of Florida reacted you'd think the President was shot and killed)

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#55 Post by creep » Tue Jun 09, 2015 4:08 pm

:noclue:


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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#56 Post by mockbee » Tue Jun 09, 2015 4:22 pm

There are many reported cases of pythons down toilets in florida.
Can you imagine looking down and seeing one of those staring back at you....
:fear:

They are ubiquitous, probably your article touched on how terribly bad they are for the eco system there, crazy they just came from people's unwanted pets, elsewhere in the country they just die in the winters or shrivel up in the sun.

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#57 Post by Romeo » Tue Jun 09, 2015 6:54 pm

There used to be the urban legend that alligators lived in the sewers of NYC

Partly because back in the day you could buy a baby alligator while vacationing in Florida and the rumor was that parents would flush the alligator when it started to get too big :lol:

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#58 Post by Bandit72 » Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:37 pm

Right, three weeks before I go.

What kind of nasty spiders and snakes can I expect to find in or around the Villa? I'm really hoping to see some. The problem I have is both my children aren't scared of them as over here I got them used to picking them up from an early age. Obviously we have no poisonous spiders in England.....

Also, what do you lot do for breakfast? Steak? Waffles? MEGA SUGAR Cereal? Toast? Can I get decent sliced bread or would I have to buy fresh bread? I'm bringing tea with me, but that's about it.

Many thanks :tiphat:

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#59 Post by Hype » Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:51 pm

Bandit72 wrote:Right, three weeks before I go.

What kind of nasty spiders and snakes can I expect to find in or around the Villa? I'm really hoping to see some. The problem I have is both my children aren't scared of them as over here I got them used to picking them up from an early age. Obviously we have no poisonous spiders in England.....

Also, what do you lot do for breakfast? Steak? Waffles? MEGA SUGAR Cereal? Toast? Can I get decent sliced bread or would I have to buy fresh bread? I'm bringing tea with me, but that's about it.

Many thanks :tiphat:
My memory of breakfast in Florida was going to a Denny's and finding it really expensive for no reason. Don't go to Denny's. I imagine it's not too difficult to get Cuban food, or even southern style breakfasts ala biscuits and bacon and whatnot. So, closer to a classic English breakfast than, say, a Continental breakfast. You can probably also get continental breakfasts at hotels. :scared:

You should also eat gator, if you've never tried it, because it's awesome.

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#60 Post by Bandit72 » Wed Jul 01, 2015 2:29 pm

We'll be eating most of breakfast at 'home', so I think eating at Denny's or any other outlet probably isn't going to happen. Which is a shame as in Montreal, Chicago and New York I really enjoyed the breakfasts. I remember Speedy's in Manhatten used to take the boiled egg off your plate before they weighed it! Fair play. In the UK I either eat toast with marmite, croissants, pain au chocolate that kind of thing. Occasionally I'll go to a café and have bacon/sausage/egg/black pudding/ beans etc...I've been told American bread isn't the best in the world....maybe I will find my way to a breakfast outlet some days.

I'll try gator, definitely.

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#61 Post by Artemis » Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:46 pm

Whenever I went to my parents place in Clearwater I shopped for groceries at Publix;they had everything like any larger grocery chain. I liked the rotisserie chicken from there.

If you and your family like shell fish, you should try a crab shack.

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#62 Post by Bandit72 » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:50 pm

Day 2 in Florida. Shit, I could get used to this weather. Not as humid as Singapore, KL or Bangkok, but very warm and very clean. Had a great trip down to London and I would HIGHLY recommend the Norwegian air Dreamliner.. Was aa lot quicker at immigration than I had anticipated and the staff were marginally more friendly than those at JFK. I fucked up on the drive from Fort Lauderdale to Davenport though. Picked up the hire car about 11 pm, and missed about 2 junctions to the Florida turnpike. The road signs here are god awful, but the roads are good, albeit very long....which is really not great when you've had no sleep and it's a 3 hour drive from the airport. Still, we arrived SAFE at 3 am. Very tired now mind.

Was at a Walmart this afternoon and at the deli counter, the two women serving me didn't speak English well at all. Like a few broken sentences. Now my Spanish is good enough to get around but, errrr, hello, this is the United States. As much as I love diversity, you would expect someone to understand the native tongue. Anyway, looking forward to the next two weeks immensely!

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#63 Post by creep » Wed Jul 22, 2015 6:26 pm

Bandit72 wrote:Day 2 in Florida. Shit, I could get used to this weather. Not as humid as Singapore, KL or Bangkok, but very warm and very clean. Had a great trip down to London and I would HIGHLY recommend the Norwegian air Dreamliner.. Was aa lot quicker at immigration than I had anticipated and the staff were marginally more friendly than those at JFK. I fucked up on the drive from Fort Lauderdale to Davenport though. Picked up the hire car about 11 pm, and missed about 2 junctions to the Florida turnpike. The road signs here are god awful, but the roads are good, albeit very long....which is really not great when you've had no sleep and it's a 3 hour drive from the airport. Still, we arrived SAFE at 3 am. Very tired now mind.

Was at a Walmart this afternoon and at the deli counter, the two women serving me didn't speak English well at all. Like a few broken sentences. Now my Spanish is good enough to get around but, errrr, hello, this is the United States. As much as I love diversity, you would expect someone to understand the native tongue. Anyway, looking forward to the next two weeks immensely!
any other foreign visitors to our country i would suggest that you do not go to walmart. it's not our best look.

california is worse with people not speaking english. at least if they were working at walmart they were here legally. the language thing never bothered me but i do get frustrated with calling certain companies and you get a foreign call center and their english is not good. :noclue:

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#64 Post by nausearockpig » Wed Jul 22, 2015 6:36 pm

creep wrote:
Bandit72 wrote:Day 2 in Florida. Shit, I could get used to this weather. Not as humid as Singapore, KL or Bangkok, but very warm and very clean. Had a great trip down to London and I would HIGHLY recommend the Norwegian air Dreamliner.. Was aa lot quicker at immigration than I had anticipated and the staff were marginally more friendly than those at JFK. I fucked up on the drive from Fort Lauderdale to Davenport though. Picked up the hire car about 11 pm, and missed about 2 junctions to the Florida turnpike. The road signs here are god awful, but the roads are good, albeit very long....which is really not great when you've had no sleep and it's a 3 hour drive from the airport. Still, we arrived SAFE at 3 am. Very tired now mind.

Was at a Walmart this afternoon and at the deli counter, the two women serving me didn't speak English well at all. Like a few broken sentences. Now my Spanish is good enough to get around but, errrr, hello, this is the United States. As much as I love diversity, you would expect someone to understand the native tongue. Anyway, looking forward to the next two weeks immensely!
any other foreign visitors to our country i would suggest that you do not go to walmart. it's not our best look.

california is worse with people not speaking english. at least if they were working at walmart they were here legally. the language thing never bothered me but i do get frustrated with calling certain companies and you get a foreign call center and their english is not good. :noclue:
hahha one of our call centres (or is that "centers") is in Greenock so even though they speak "English" their accents are so fucking strong, it's sometimes very difficult to understand what they're saying.... all of our major telcos use Indian and/or Malaysian call centres.. makes for a fun conversation.... sigh..

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Re: Who's been to/lives in Florida?

#65 Post by mockbee » Wed Jul 22, 2015 7:15 pm

Bandit72 wrote:Day 2 in Florida. Shit, I could get used to this weather. Not as humid as Singapore, KL or Bangkok, but very warm and very clean. Had a great trip down to London and I would HIGHLY recommend the Norwegian air Dreamliner.. Was aa lot quicker at immigration than I had anticipated and the staff were marginally more friendly than those at JFK. I fucked up on the drive from Fort Lauderdale to Davenport though. Picked up the hire car about 11 pm, and missed about 2 junctions to the Florida turnpike. The road signs here are god awful, but the roads are good, albeit very long....which is really not great when you've had no sleep and it's a 3 hour drive from the airport. Still, we arrived SAFE at 3 am. Very tired now mind.

Was at a Walmart this afternoon and at the deli counter, the two women serving me didn't speak English well at all. Like a few broken sentences. Now my Spanish is good enough to get around but, errrr, hello, this is the United States. As much as I love diversity, you would expect someone to understand the native tongue. Anyway, looking forward to the next two weeks immensely!


Go to Publix, like Artemis said. They have the best, best, best fried chicken. Might only be the Key West/Miami locations, but it was so surprisingly good. :nod:


Walmart
and deli counter should never be in the same sentence. :lol:

If you are looking for some cheap quick and decent food, I've always enjoyed the local Waffle House. A ton of waffles with butter and syrup and some runny fried eggs and bacon and a big plate of smothered hash browns and a big glass of orange juice and some coffee......mmmmmmmmmm.

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