Anybody like a port so much they moved there?

[jschafer6161]

I've lived in Michigan my whole life and never traveled out of state until 2000. Since 2004 we've been on 3 cruises and to Disneyworld twice. I never realized how much better life could be somewhere else. We hate the winters and want to move so badly. Our families are all here, but that's not an issue. We want out so bad!!!! We just got back from our southern cruise 2 weeks ago so it's really confirmed for us that Michigan is not where we want to be. I'd love to hear if anyone has moved to any ports, or anywhere for that matter, and if you are happy you did and how you went about doing it.... Thanks.

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

I am a Michigan native and I have lived in California for almost 40 years. California does have its advantages such as the weather most of the year and economic opportunities. But Michigan was a wonderful place when I was growing up and going to school there. Wayne State University has probaby produced more successful people than most schools, that is, people from very modest backgrounds who have become very successful teachers, doctors, business owners, attorneys, and so on.

 

My point...every place has its advantages and disadvantages. In southern California we do not have very cold weather but it is unbearably hot in the late Spring through the middle of Fall. Commutes to work are both very expensive and very time consuming....three hours on the freeway is not uncommon.

 

The saying is true...sometimes the grass may appear greener on the other side of the fence, but upon further review it isn't.

 

Best wishes to you. I hope that you do find somewhere where the grass is greener.

 

Fred

[Ric-Flair]

This is pretty typical. I live in Florida, and we hear this quite a bit. People have this elusion that "living in Florida" must be like being on vacation every day of your life. We hear: "I would go to the beach EVERYDAY!"

 

Unfortunately, this is not the case at all. I take from your posting that you and your cruise partner must be fairly young. Please understand that when you are on vacation, EVERYTHING is viewed through rose-colored glasses. Eventually, you must return to work (or your real life) and this is where the problem lies. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING is the same as when you visited on vacation. In Florida we must deal with

hurricanes, double digit un-employment, and one of the lowest pay scales in the country. We are now ranked second in the country on foreclosed real estate. So, as you can see, once you get off the ship and get out into the real world, things are very different.

 

I would encourage you to keep visiting on vacation or cruising out of one of our beautiful ports. However, leaving your family in these desperate times would not be advisable right now. To put it simply: There is no work here....period. Also, the only employment (in the cruise ports) is servicing the cruise ships coming to town. These type of jobs generally go to the local people.

 

Please be very careful about making a major decision such as this, Weigh your options very carefully. Look at the employment situation, look at the school situation, look at the property tax situation, and look at the insurance situation. Then, you may see that the winters are not so bad afterall......when you are young.

[flvol77]

This is pretty typical. I live in Florida, and we hear this quite a bit. People have this elusion that "living in Florida" must be like being on vacation every day of your life. We hear: "I would go to the beach EVERYDAY!"

 

Unfortunately, this is not the case at all. I take from your posting that you and your cruise partner must be fairly young. Please understand that when you are on vacation, EVERYTHING is viewed through rose-colored glasses. Eventually, you must return to work (or your real life) and this is where the problem lies. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING is the same as when you visited on vacation. In Florida we must deal with

hurricanes, double digit un-employment, and one of the lowest pay scales in the country. We are now ranked second in the country on foreclosed real estate. So, as you can see, once you get off the ship and get out into the real world, things are very different.

 

I would encourage you to keep visiting on vacation or cruising out of one of our beautiful ports. However, leaving your family in these desperate times would not be advisable right now. To put it simply: There is no work here....period. Also, the only employment (in the cruise ports) is servicing the cruise ships coming to town. These type of jobs generally go to the local people.

 

Please be very careful about making a major decision such as this, Weigh your options very carefully. Look at the employment situation, look at the school situation, look at the property tax situation, and look at the insurance situation. Then, you may see that the winters are not so bad afterall......when you are young.

 

 

Very true - but, I love living in FL....a few months ago my wife and I worried about our jobs because the area we lived in was a sleepy little beach town that is slowly closing down, so we sold our home and moved to a bigger city (palm beach) and thing are much better.

 

I would agree with all your advice, FL has some nice things but sometimes you want to be on vacation because everyone else is around on vacation and it becomes a drag.

[cruiserbryce]

I will keep vacation places as vacation places...although San Diego isnt bad

[Sundagger]

Grew up in Minnesota - went to college at U of M. Joined the USAF - went with another couple to Santa Fe for the weekend. As we were driving home, I said "that's where I'm going to retire!!". Well, 10 years later, got out of the USAF and they asked where should we ship the furniture. SANTA FE!! After 35 years of working here, I'm now retiring here. It's not as cold in the winter as MN and not as hot (due to the altitude) in the summer as MN. And DRY.

 

I involuntarily spent 5 months in Florida. I don't even like to stay there overnight to catch a cruise. Hot and humid - Yuk.

[mactrio]

If I were going to move, I would make sure that I had a SECURE job with a salary comparable to the one I had before I moved. I'd check the crime stats, cost of living, insurance rates, property taxes - city/state taxes in general, education stats, housing etc....there is alot to consider.

I live in south Louisiana and while my area hasn't been hit recession wise like other areas, we have high insurance rates due to hurricanes, where I live (St Mary Parish) we are now required to have a certain type of roofing shingles on our homes, we must carry flood ins even if we don't live in a flood zone, I send my child to private school because the ONLY public school in my town is mainly title 1 and my child is smarter than that. So check out all the school districts before you buy or rent a home. You really need to think about all the little things before you move anywhere.

On the other hand it would be awesome to be spontaneous and just pick up and move to a beautiful seaside town. Just do your homeowrk before you pick up and move.

 

[runner15km]

The islands are beautiful and great for a vacation but I would go stir crazy on a small island. Stay in the states but move further south.

[goneclear]

The islands are beautiful and great for a vacation but I would go stir crazy on a small island. Stay in the states but move further south.

 

Different strokes: I on the other hand would not give up island life for anything:p

[runner15km]

Different strokes: I on the other hand would not give up island life for anything:p

 

I hear ya! :) But how many different 10 mile routes could I run on your island. Give me my rivers and mountains and views that go on for miles and miles.:D

[kjunea]

I lived 3 wonderful years of my life growing up on Bermuda so I could live on an island, no problem! In fact, the hubs and I are considering moving to St. Maarten when we retire. Warm weather (I hate the cold and he left Michigan as soon as he found the hole in the fence!), beaches, casinos (for him!). I sure hope we can swing it!

[renalrn]

I grew up near Buffalo,NY. Two days after graduation I moved to SW Florida with a suitcase and sleeping bag. Stayed there for 10 years, one of my better decisions.

I had no "I'll get to go to the beach daily" illusions. For me it was a thrill to not live 9 months of the year in the dark,cold,muddy ice. It made me happier going to work knowing that I could just jump in the car without having to wake up an hour early to shovel it out and warm it up.

Go for it, you can always move back!

[AstroExeter]

We went on holiday to Mallorca in the Balearic Islands and loved it so much we upped sticks and moved there with our sons who were 18 and 16 at the time. Have now lived there for 10 years and just love it especially now that we have retired and can enjoy the island. It is a good point though that life is different when on holiday than it is when living and working somewhere. I have seen countless numbers of people move here only to lose everything because of bad business decisions or because they didn't realise that they were not on holiday anymore. Having said that, if you can afford to retire here life is great!!

 

 

View from next to my house. :)

[bluesea777]

I was born in London, but emirgated with my folks to Bahamas at age 3. I became an island person. I was put into a boarding school at 13 whilst my folks went to a large country to live and work and then they went back to Caribbean - southern this time - to live and work. I stayed on at school but travelled to spend school holidays with them. I left school and went to college and then work in UK. Hated living in UK. Around the time I finished school my folks decided to return to UK but after a couple or so years they hated it so they returned to Southern Caribbean again. After 2 yeard of working in UK I packed in and went out to visit my folks. Somehow while living there I managed to secure a job in Bermuda ... and never looked back.

 

Bermuda is a great place to live and work but it's very very expensive, but IMHO, for retirees looking for consistent warm weather, Southern Caribbean is good - the temps range from high 70's at coldest to mid 80's at hottest. And the days are almost 50:50 day:night.

 

Bermuda is above Tropic of Cancer so we have short winter days (as low as mid-high 50's) and long summer hot days (up to high 80's).

 

Land between Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are Temperate and they do not really have winters.

[househunter]

We are currently looking for a condo in Cabo. We will be retiring (hopefully) in about 7 years and plan on living there part of the year. We first went there on a cruise in 1994 and now own several timeshares there where we spend several weeks per year. We have many friends that already live there and know we will be quite happy there for 4-6 months of the year.

[nitnyleo]

I had no "I'll get to go to the beach daily" illusions. For me it was a thrill to not live 9 months of the year in the dark,cold,muddy ice. It made me happier going to work knowing that I could just jump in the car without having to wake up an hour early to shovel it out and warm it up.

Go for it, you can always move back!

 

Exactly! I just up-and-moved to LA and spent 9 years there. Altho I'm again stuck in PA for a little while, I'm looking forward to heading to South Florida . . . I absolutely, positively hate the weather up here. I can't imagine living in Michigan - I would have probably ran away when I was still in high school. If you are affected by cold, snowy weather, make the move. Your whole outlook on life will make a dramatic change - more energy, more outgoing, more confidence . . .

[K&RCurt]

Me? I would need a confirmed position with a stable future before I would move anywhere. Even then I have had to deal with being laid off and moving in order to be employed.

 

On the other hand...A coupe who were at our table on our first cruise were from the UK. They had just sold their business in London, as well as everything they owned except what would fit in 2 suitcases each. On our third night they told us it would be the last night eating with us as the next port was Tortola. They got off the ship in Tortola with the intentions of buying a beach bar or snack stand and spending the rest of their lives there.

 

I SO wish I had that kind of Chutzpa!

[nitnyleo]

I SO wish I had that kind of Chutzpa!

 

If you had that kind of money, you would have that kind of Chutzpa, too.

[flvol77]

My company actually talked to me about moving to St Thomas a couple of years ago, my wifes company isn't there but if they ever wanted to open a retail outlet in St Thomas she would run it in a heartbeat.

 

I would move to the islands in a heartbeat.

[Fredr]

If you had that kind of money, you would have that kind of Chutzpa, too.

 

Hello,

 

He could have lived anywhere he wanted in the United States and he did spend part of the winter in Palm Springs California. Where did Dwight Eisenhower live after he retired...in your beautiful section of southesat Pennsylvania!

 

For those of you who do not know your geography, several miles outside of Lancaster PA is the Pennsylvania Dutch (Amish) country which is as nice a place to visit as you would want to see.

 

That's the rest of the story.

 

Fred

[Happy ks]

Yes, to answer the OP.

 

Unfortunately, we have to earn a living and where we would like to move would be too costly and we'd end up homeless. My choice would be....any island in the Hawaiian chain, even Oahu as long as it isn't in Honolulu.

[jschafer6161]

Thank you all for many responses! We are not young. We are 40 and have 5 kids (1 in college, 1 is getting married and will move anywhere but here next year, one graduating in a couple months and a 6 and 8 year old). We absolutely hate the winters. hate spending 6 months a year in our house with the doors and windows shut, shoveling, snow, etc. The economy is terrible in Michigan. I've told my kids to not settle down here. We get 3 months a year where we can realy enjoy the outside. We're not wanting to move to Florida. Our thoughts have been South or North Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and maybe even Texas. We wouldn't want to live right on the coast anywhere. I think now we're looking at our lives and realizing we have hopefully 30 good years left. We dont' want to spend them wishing we didn't live here.... I never imagined this post would provide so many responses!

[Cruise or Lose!]

Thank you for a fascinating discussion. When I go to Europe, I always return home reluctantly. I have this fantasy about living in London or Barcelona or Copenhagen or Amsterdam...or...or...the list goes on. But I love my country (Canada) and would never seriously contemplate leaving. My dreams do make me happy, though!

[lives-to-travel-er]

Went on a Alaska to Hawaii repositioning cruise about 5 years ago on X on the "insistance" of my parents (they did B2B Alaska/Hawaii); never wanted to go to Hawaii before as my DH and I prefer European travel. Lo and behold, we liked it so much that we went back on a landtrip on our own 3 month later. We have been going back every year since, except 3x 2 years ago when we bought a house in Oahu. Luckily, we are able to rent it out to pay for the mortgage but still "HAVE to GO" every year to check it out and get to stay there without paying for hotel. We are going to be retiring there in the future.

[mousey]

Thank you all for many responses! We are not young. We are 40 and have 5 kids (1 in college, 1 is getting married and will move anywhere but here next year, one graduating in a couple months and a 6 and 8 year old). We absolutely hate the winters. hate spending 6 months a year in our house with the doors and windows shut, shoveling, snow, etc. The economy is terrible in Michigan. I've told my kids to not settle down here. We get 3 months a year where we can realy enjoy the outside. We're not wanting to move to Florida. Our thoughts have been South or North Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and maybe even Texas. We wouldn't want to live right on the coast anywhere. I think now we're looking at our lives and realizing we have hopefully 30 good years left. We dont' want to spend them wishing we didn't live here.... I never imagined this post would provide so many responses!

 

Pack up and go! My wonderful SIL and her DH went to Mexicco for vacation one year and fell in love with Cabo. They bought 4 weeks of timeshare and went every year for about 8 years, we joined them along with other family members many times over the years. The SIL, BIL, my SIL's and DH's counsin and wife, and the DH and I had all planned to retire there together one day. Unforunately in 2005 both the beloved cousin and BIL died unexpectantly within 6 months of each other. They were both only 54 years old at the time.:( The cousin died from an instant, massive heart attack with no history of heart problems. The BIL died of lukemia, it happened very quickly. My point is, don't put off your dreams, you never know when they may be shattered by some unforseen circumstance. My SIL is now all alone, but we still go to the timeshare with her. Somehow it isn't the same.:(

 

But, there is some good news! The SIL is going on her first cruise with us this April. We have planned some really fun things to do while my DH and DS do all their "manly" stuff!:D And, we're still looking to retiring somewhere together!:D