20 Struggles Only People From Florida Go Through

I was born here, raised here and I’m raising my family here; I’ve been a Floridian for almost 32 years and I have such a love for the sunshine state. I live in a small city along the Gulf Coast in which life is different. People here live in flip flops, not everyone knows what I mean when I say I’m wearing Manolos, and our kids have no idea what it’s like not to spend every single weekend on the boat in the middle of the ocean. We have beautiful weather, gorgeous views and everything you could ever want (or not want, if you hate mosquitos, banana spiders, scorpions, snakes and humidity – like the rest of us). We are spoiled and we know it. We live where you vacation; and we love it. But that does not change the fact that there are some serious struggles that Floridians go through, and they’re tough.

Photo by Getty Images

Getting Dressed in the Winter

Winter in Florida is impossible to dress for. I promise you; it’s in the 50s and 60s when we wake up  – sometimes colder when a front comes through – but it’s going to be in the 70s or 80s by noon. This means we have to layer, layer, layer. Otherwise we are just completely under or overdressed and uncomfortable the rest of the day. It’s such a pain to get dressed this time of the year, and it’s one of the things we hate more than anything.

Photo by Getty Images

Freezing Temperatures

It’s not easy for us to deal with freezing temps. We have things like citrus trees that will die. We have no idea how to cover our plants, and we just can’t function. If we wake up and have frost on our car, we can’t figure out what to do. Freezing temperatures are difficult for us, and it’s not just because we have no winter clothes in which to bundle up. We really just don’t have the bones to deal with cold weather. It’s not in our nature.

Photo by Getty Images

Heated Seats in the Car

It was 2007. I was pregnant with our first child and I bought myself a 2008 Lincoln MKX and it changed my life. I’ve had heated seats in my cars most of my adult life since they were introduced, but it was the first time that we’d ever encountered a car with air conditioned seats – and we’ve never bought a car without them since. Floridians do not use heated seats often, but we use those air conditioned seats on a daily basis for pretty much the entire year.

Photo by Getty Images

Humidity

It’s a problem, and it’s a huge problem for us when we hear people from other places whine about their own humidity. Trust me – as someone who travels frequently and has been more places than I can count, no one has humidity like we do. You might think you have a humid day in NYC or in California (PUH-LEASE) but it’s nothing, and I mean nothing, compared to what we deal with around here in terms of humidity. That means listening to you makes us want to roll our eyes.

Photo by Getty Images

Visiting Our Own Beaches

It’s impossible for Floridians to really enjoy the beach around here. Our beaches seem so old and boring and bland and not at all exciting to us. I live less than 10 minutes from a lovely beach and I haven’t been in years. If we want to go to the beach, we head up to the Outer Banks of North Carolina or hop a flight to the Caribbean somewhere in which we feel the beaches are actually nice and the location is actually tropical. We don’t feel that way here.

Photo by Getty Images

Tourists

There are a few places across the country that get it, but no one gets it like those of us who need to spend more than 5 minutes in Orlando. It’s a mess. We love Orlando, and we’re there frequently as annual pass holders at Disney – and because we live less than an hour and a half away. But it’s a mess. There are tourists everywhere and it’s annoying to be stopped constantly by people who can’t figure out traffic, maps or English. And when there are so many of them in one small place, it makes you kind of crazy.

Photo by Getty Images

Traffic

You don’t get traffic until you get Florida traffic. You’re either on the interstate with Ferraris flying around you making you feel terrified or you’re in the middle of the road with a tractor in front of you going 5 mph. All the time; it’s life in Florida. We can be held up by school buses, accidents, tractors, horses and retirees driving next to totally parked in the middle of the interstate and there’s no way around them for what feels like the length of the trip.

Photo by Getty Images

Tornado Warnings

We have no issues with storms here. They’re every single day most of the year, and a little thunder and lightning is no big deal. Additionally, there is nothing wrong with a hurricane. We have plenty of notice. But tornadoes are annoying. They happen anytime, they leave very little time for us to prepare and they’re always when you’re in the middle of something that cannot be stopped. They’re usually small and not very dangerous, but they’re seriously annoying.

Photo by Getty Images

Hurricane Parties

Hurricane parties are real. The struggle for us is figuring out where we want to have them and being separated from people when cell service is down a few days. Our house? Your house? Do we have enough to eat and drink? Do we have enough generators? There are always questions that have to be asked, but we really do have hurricane parties every single time. Do not think for a second anything smaller than a category 3 makes us even remotely nervous.

Photo by Getty Images

Flight Delays in Gorgeous Weather

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, more annoying than heading to the airport for a great vacation and being delayed by weather elsewhere. Ours is gorgeous, but other people have snow storms and things of that nature, and it holds us up in terms of our planes and flights. And that is so annoying it’s not even funny. When I’m sitting in the middle of the airport looking at the gorgeous blue skies and palm trees outside, I shouldn’t be annoyed with weather delays.

Photo by Getty Images

A Serious Lack of Winter Clothes

When winter rolls around for the rest of the country, those of us here like to plan our own winter getaways to escape the December heat and head somewhere cold and wintery. This usually means a Colorado ski vacation, a trip to the mountains for some skiing and snow, or my husband’s and my favorite, a night or two in New York City for brunch at the Boat House, shopping and cold. What this means for us is a lot of time online and money spent buying real winter clothes, since our winter clothes are only good in Florida.

Photo by Getty Images

Not Being Southern but Feeling Southern

We’re not southerners, did you know? We are Floridians and there is a big difference. There are some areas around here that are filled with country folk with heavy accents, but we are certainly not considered people from the south and that means we are not overly “accented” or really southern. That doesn’t stop us from loving our front porches, our swings, our BBQ and a night on the porch with a glass of wine.

Photo by Getty Images

Publix is Not Everywhere

Floridians know all about Publix. More importantly, we know about the Publix sub. There is no other sub in the world like this, and it’s devastating to us when we have to go somewhere in which there is not a Publix. Where do we shop? Your stores are fine (we particularly love to visit Gelson’s in Southern California) but it’s all about Publix in Florida. All. About. Publix.

Photo by Getty Images

Parallel Parking Elsewhere

It’s scary to have to parallel park. We do approximately none of that here to the point that I can’t name even one person who was required to do it when we were in high school and taking our driver’s license test. We just didn’t have to do it. When we drive out of state, however, and we do have to parallel park, you call tell it’s us just by watching this happen or by driving or walking by afterward. We just can’t do it.

Photo by Getty Images

There are No Cabs

There are few places around here with cabs like there are in other big cities in other states. Sure, we can call a cab, but that’s not helpful after a night out when you’re waiting outside in the rain. It’s so much easier to get a cab in another city, but we do appreciate the safety and the convenience of them here. They’re not convenient, of course, but we appreciate the fact that the thought is there and they could be.

Photo by Getty Images

Not Having a Southern Accent

One of the biggest struggles we face as Floridians is our severe lack of southern accent. In fact, we don’t think we have accents at all. Most people have no idea where we are from. We want to be southern, but we are not. Most people assume we are Puerto Rican or Cuban, but we aren’t. Many of us have no accent or heritage that makes us obvious where we are from, and it’s kind of sad to many of us.

Photo by Getty Images

People Complaining about Cold

When ‘outsiders’ complain about the cold, we want to shut them up. You get cold; we don’t. Granted, we couldn’t handle it and we only want it for a weekend or so every month, but you get cold. We are lucky if we get a day or two of just fall of spring. Right now it’s the middle of April and it’s been in the upper 80s and low 90s since February. We didn’t even get a spring this year. We haven’t even gotten to open our windows and enjoy cool breezes and comfortable nights because they do not exist this year. Here’s hoping we get a little fall to make up for it.

Photo by Getty Images

Halloween Costumes in 90 Degree Temps

Trick or treating, taking the kids out and decorating for the holidays is something we love to do, but it’s hot. So no one really wants to go outside and do it. We have to strategically choose Halloween costumes for our kids that will not suffocate them and make them die of heatstroke, too. It’s not fun to trick or treat as a teddy bear in 90 degree temps on a Halloween night in Florida. It’s downright dangerous.

Photo by Getty Images

Yeti Coolers without Wheels

If you live in Florida, you have a boat. If you have a boat, you have a Yeti cooler. If you do not have a Yeti, you are…I don’t even know what you are. But you have a Yeti as a Floridian. It’s an insanely expensive cooler that will keep your ice solid and frozen for a solid week – your beer cold – even if you leave it outside in the middle of August. But they don’t have wheels. And they’re really heavy – especially with all that beer. It’s a real struggle.

Photo by Getty Images

Waiting in Line at the Boat Ramp

Finally; the biggest problem of all. We don’t have traffic jams, but we do have to wait in line at the boat ramp since most people aren’t into storing their boats in the water (so much work) since we have our choice of both fresh water springs 10 minutes one way and the ocean 10 minutes the other way – or in our own back yards. But the line is killer. People are slow, they’re annoying and the line is always long. Forget Disney lines – we have fast passes for those. It’s the line at the boat ramp that’s irritating to no end.

Photo by Getty Images