Five Advantages of Living in Florida Compared to Living in New York

I was raised and lived in Brooklyn and Queens, and worked in Manhattan, New York (NY) before relocating to Tallahassee, Florida (FL); my mother's side of the family's home. I've listed five advantages I've enjoyed since living in FL compared to living in NY. After completing this list, I realized all the advantages deal with travel.

1. Traveling to Work: In Tallahassee, there are no subways, but there are buses. Most people travel by automobile to work. To get from one side of town to the other takes anywhere between 15 minutes to 1 hour and a little longer by bus. I live 15 minutes from where I work. In NY most people work in Manhattan ("The City"). The bus and subway are the best way to travel to Manhattan. The travel time from any of the 4 boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens or Staten Island) is at least 1 ½ to 2 hours. It used to take me 1 ½ hours to get to work when I lived in Queens and 1 hour when I lived in Brooklyn.

2. Swimming: There are pools, lakes and beaches in or close to Tallahassee for swimming, cooking on the grill and having some fun. St. George Island, St. Marks and Apalachicola Beaches, just to name a few, are about 1 hour away by automobile. In NY a few of the closest beaches from any borough are Coney Island (Brooklyn), Far Rockaway and Jacob Riis Beaches (both in Far Rockaway), about 1 ½ to 2 hours away by automobile, bus or subway. Coney Island Beach has an amusement park. There has been recent talks of re-zoning the amusement area for residential and retail use.

3. Schools: As I mentioned in #1, in Tallahassee it doesn't take long to travel from one side of town to the other. If there is a need to get to a child's school for any reason during work hours, it wouldn't take long by automobile. In NY it would take a half day off from work, since it would take about that long to travel to the borough of the child's school by subway and bus from Manhattan.

4. Colleges and Universities: Tallahassee is a college town. For residents of Tallahassee, the colleges and universities are about 15 to 30 minutes away by automobile. It will take a little longer traveling by bus or from one of the nearby counties. In NY most of the colleges and universities are in Manhattan or another borough, which takes much longer to travel to than in Tallahassee.

5. Restaurants: In Tallahassee there are a diversified amount of restaurants in the nearby area. They are even close enough to dine during lunch hour. In NY there is a travel time of 1 to 2 hours to Manhattan or another borough to dine at a favorite restaurant.