Vacation
Florida is an interesting place. Big roads full of big cars and golf carts zipping to and from gated communities. Most places are not walkable, and the public transportation system seems to be rather deficient. The beaches are pretty but crowded, and you need a sweatshirt inside because the buildings feel as though they are cooled with arctic air. To escape the frigid indoor temperatures, you’ll want to head outside. Beware! If you do not have the good fortune to be in close proximity to the ocean, the heat and humidity will be stifling. This means that your body will be buffeted by the transitions from hot to cold and cold to hot all the time. You’ll enjoy the first five minutes of either warm-up or cool-down before the temperature becomes uncomfortable.
That isn’t to say that Florida doesn’t have its merits. If you can live with being dependent on a car, then there are some beautiful things and wildlife to see there. And as someone who personally prefers the heat, it is nice not to have to deal with snow at any time during the year. Thanks to its favorable climate, fruit there tastes quite fresh, at least in my experience. The sunrises and sunsets are spectacular, and the early mornings and late evenings deliver perfect temperatures. If you live and/or grew up in the US, it’s also a nice way to have a traditional beach vacation without giving up familiarity.
There seems to be a massive disparity between the have and the have-nots in Florida. Yes, the beaches and coastline are dotted with luxury highrises, but venture just a bit farther inland and you’ll find an abundance of people just trying to survive. It was a bit of a strange experience to see tiny airfields with private jets, with someone down on their luck walking right outside. Does Florida provide any sort of safety net or support for those less fortunate? I don’t know. I hope so.
The Florida Keys are definitely worth a visit if your plans can accommodate it. The drive from Miami to Key West will take you about four hours with minimal traffic, and much longer if many other cars are on the road. Tuesday to Thursday seems to be the sweet spot for minimal traffic and people. Key West is an absolute tourist trap, but the great thing is it’s walkable, as opposed to most of Florida. You can park your car somewhere on the island and then use your feet to get around. This is my preferred way of exploring a place, but if you can’t or don’t want to walk, you can also rent a golf cart and peruse the island that way.
For a much different vibe, you can check out Big Pine Key. It’s not walkable, but has a good amount of nature to discover and is full of Key Deer, a cute little deer species that only lives in the Florida Keys. Driving around the neighborhoods on Big Pine Key is one of your best bets to see one. They don’t appear to be afraid of people and will come right up to you, even sniff your hand. Please don’t feed them though. For one, it’s illegal, but more than that, doing so is severely disruptive to the species as a whole.
Big Pine Key was also a good place to get away from some of the overcrowding that Key West and other Keys suffer from. It was only on Big Pine Key that I was able to truly hear nothing but the water gently lapping against the shore. Most other places in the Florida Keys, noise pollution of some form permeates a potentially peaceful atmosphere. Traffic noise in particular is hard to get away from in Florida. This is one of my main complaints.
Perhaps I have simply gotten used to not constantly hearing cars rushing by outside since moving to Germany, but I felt traffic noise was particularly pervasive in the parts of Florida I visited. Laying down to go to sleep? Traffic. Sitting at a restaurant? Traffic. Looking up at the night sky admiring all the stars you can see? Mustang roaring by with no muffler because, well, Florida.
All in all, as a warm vacation spot I would give Florida a solid 7/10. Like Mcdonalds or Chipotle, it’s not the best place in the world, but it is reliable and familiar, especially if you are coming from the US. If you are a Floridian or visit Florida often and feel I have misrepresented it in any way, let me know!