I will probably be joining your number very very soon, as Mr. J. & I are almost certainly going to relocate.
Tell me about it. What can I expect?
What’s it like there?
Dopefest Housewarming at my place?
Clearwater here.
I don’t like Tampa…
I only go for MOSI, Zoo and Hallow Scream at Bush Gardens…Oh, and that Casino/Hard Rock place a couple times.
Pinellas Beaches are OK.
I’m in South Florida - about five hours away. Where are you moving from? My sister used to live in Tampa, so I know bits and pieces of stuff. What are you interested in learning? I can’t help with specific neighborhoods…but I’m sure someone will be along with better details.
What to expect…lots of rain in the summer. Very humid. Beautiful winters that aren’t too cold. Hurricane season, although Tampa likes to think it has a “shield”, and hasn’t been hit in a really long time.
A few sports teams, and a large university.
I grew up across the bay in Pinellas County. The whole area is quite hostile to pedestrians, so don’t expect to be doing much walking. Public transportation is not a reasonable option for pretty much anything. The airport, however, is a thing of beauty; it’s consistently voted one of the top in the country, and for good reason.
Summers are miserable. Winters are fantastic. During hurricane season, expect to hear the phrase “evacuation zone” often. “Snowbird” is a dirty word to many locals, particularly in the context of driving. Publix is one of the best grocery store chains you’ll find anywhere. Cigar City is a local brewery which makes some pretty good beers. Also, there are a lot of palm trees, which everyone outside of palm tree areas seems really obsessed with—I’ve literally had people use palm trees an example of why I’m nuts to have moved away from the area.
Local politics are…weird. Suburban Hillsborough (Republican) tends to dominate the city (Democratic), which is nevertheless not very city-like in vibe. This woman was a rather notorious local politician until she ran for some other office and lost, so I’ve no idea what she’s doing now. The current Mayor of Tampa, though, ran as a bit of a progressive from what I can gather.
I think that’s as many random facts as I can think of at the moment. I can answer questions that are more specific, too, but my perspective is that of someone who grew up in the area and could not wait to move away. It’s really, in my opinion, a rather boring place full of strip malls and wide swaths of asphalt and not much interesting to do or see. The things that are—the Aquarium, Busch Gardens, MOSI, the Dalí Museum in St. Pete—are really only good for one or two visits, Busch Gardens maybe some more if you like roller coasters. The local Ren Faire used to be in a beautiful wooded location in Largo until they build a library on top of it; now they have it in this big, hot, sweaty, treeless field by MOSI and it just isn’t the same. Oh well. Lots of pretty beaches around if you’re into that. Be sure to see Ft. DeSoto even if you’re not; the actual fort part is really cool.
Lived north of Tampa (new port richey) for 4 years and hated it. Mild winter not worth 9 months of summer. Plus side, could see shuttle launches, not really valid now. Might get to see some satillites launched now though. Yeungling is a great PA regional brewery and has a branch in tampa, that was nice for as Jersey boy. Being near the beach was cool, miss that. Don’t miss the traffic, heat and wacos.
I live in NW Tampa. Really don’t like Clearwater, people there are so intolerant. 
I’ve lived in several different locations in our Bay Area over a long period of time. Can probably give some guidance, if the OP shares a little more information, such as which parts of town you expect to live and work. For example, we had lunch today with some friends that live in New Tampa. They really would like to live closer to the beaches, Dunedin in particular, and wish that they had gotten to know the area more before they picked a place to live. It takes about 30-45 minutes to drive to their place from ours, even though we’re both in Hillsborough County.
I spent ~23 years on the north outskirts of Tampa, around Lutz. I always worked inside the city, and went to USF as well. I can’t say I’ve been back since 2003 or so, but I doubt much has changed other than roads getting more lanes and traffic!
It’s just like any other city. The weather is AWFUL. It’s hot and humid around nine months of the year, and the winters are mild. Thunderstorms are frequent, and when I lived there power outages were very common. I don’t miss that. The mosquitoes are large and in charge, but they’re so huge you can hear them coming from a few feet away. I live around Tallahassee now, and the Tiger mosquitoes are tiny and near silent… but they have a comparable bite 
Ybor City used to be the place to go for a wild evening, but I’ve heard the city stepped in a cleaned things up? There’s also a Lebowskifest in Ybor, so you’ve got that.
Hey Tampa, Fl folks, My Mom moved to Tampa and for her birthday I wanted to buy her some sort of car service account which I would pay for because she doesn’t drive and doesn’t have a car, and as you all probably know, it is virtually impossible to live there without driving or being driven. Does anyone have any information, clues, advice for me? I would appreciate it very much. I am going down to visit her this Friday for the first time so I know absolutely nothing about Florida at this point. Also- I don’t drive either. Thanks again for your help and Best regards from - A Fledgling:cool:
My most vivid memory of the Tampa area is a bumper sticker that read: “Pray for me - I drive on 19”
Is she actually in Tampa or does she live over by the beaches?
Near downtown St. Pete, here. How is it? Hot. About to get hotter. Then briefly not as hot…and then hot again.
Tamps drivers don’t know to merge.
Expect traffic jams.
Next question, can someone help me figure out the best way to get my Cat to tampa, we are traveling by bus & cannot take him with. I understand that you can ship your pet by air, but he’s so high strung that I’m afraid that will be a disaster. HALP.
Catamaran… :smack:
Yep, that’s the trade-off. Up north you have about 7 mo./yr. of the opposite bad weather, not much sunshine, cold, snow to be shoveled and causing unsafe traveling, dry air in the winters causing dry skin and itching, more sickness, etc. Maybe someday I can be a snowbird of sorts; until then I’ll stick with the lesser of evils here in Tampa Bay.
If you are going by bus, and it is an economic reason, rather than waiting to buy your Lexus until you get there, you might re-think relocating.
Without a car, you are screwed. Public transportaion may as well be nonexistant.
As mentioned, if you aren’t used to it, the weather is hot and humid 75% of the year. Electricity for Air Con is expensive. (I grew up there and lived in the tropics most of my adult life, but my British wife suffered.)
Citrus Park (NW) area could be your best area, unless you are attached to the University one way or another. That’s on the Northeast side by Busch Gardens and Yuengling.
Good luck with kitty.
This thread is about a year old, so hopefully the bus has already arrived.
That would be pretty quick for most bus lines.
We actually ended up driving… & taking the cat with…Crashed with relatives for awhile & now we have our own place in Temple Terrace, & I commute about 40 mins to work. I’d still like to have a dopefest at my house one of these times!
My sister lived in Temple Terrace for a few years. Nice area, if I recall properly. I used to go jogging in the area when I visited.
Congrats on the new digs. 