Other than Hawaii or Puerto Rico is there any other tropical type place you could move and still have U.S. type control?
While I was born in Fla. I've found Fla has issues that make me not want to move there, but I'm so tired of being inland and I want no chance of a winter.
Fla has issues
QFT!
USVI.
Australia
The Keys have different issues than the rest of the state.
alfadriver wrote: USVI.
Warning: Small island living can be boring as hell and it can be hard to earn a living - with exceptions for specific hobbies and careers of course.
Maybe not an issue if you're looking for a future retirement destination though 
Guam?
American Samoa?
San Diego?
Tough on grm types there though...
spitfirebill wrote: Guam?
Good choice, just make sure you are not 1.) Japanese, 2.) Tourist, and 3.) About to be run over by a pickup truck and stabbed. 
GameboyRMH wrote:alfadriver wrote: USVI.Warning: Small island living can be boring as hell and it can be hard to earn a living - with exceptions for specific hobbies and careers of course. Maybe not an issue if you're looking for a future retirement destination though
but if you like seafood.. it is almost impossible to starve in the caribbean
I lived on St. Thomas for a while. It is not like living in the U.S. A much closer step to third world living. The federal income tax deal there also dried up, so quite a few of the rich folk parking money there have packed up (or at least sent the cash away)
GameboyRMH wrote: Warning: Small island living can be boring as hell and it can be hard to earn a living - with exceptions for specific hobbies and careers of course.
Anywhere can be boring. You could say that Iceland is boring, but they seem to have a lot of fun, and it's cold as hell.
It's all in what you like to do.
Puerto Rico
Bald Head Island.
PHeller wrote:GameboyRMH wrote: Warning: Small island living can be boring as hell and it can be hard to earn a living - with exceptions for specific hobbies and careers of course.Anywhere can be boring. You could say that Iceland is boring, but they seem to have a lot of fun, and it's cold as hell. It's all in what you like to do.
True, but some places leave less options than others...
Puerto Rico seems like its a great place to visit, but you've got wonder why all the locals are moving to Florida?
NPR was doing a few episodes on that very issue. http://www.npr.org/series/171208056/puerto-rico-a-disenchanted-island
Virgin Islands, I never thought of them.
San Diego? Tropical? On what planet?
And yes, the Keys used to be heaven. It was gorgeous to drive along and watch all the blue waters and little islands. Now just about the whole trip down is a series of strip malls and you only get glimpses of water.
I've never lived on an island so there are probably many inconveniences I don't realize, but the people I've met on the islands I've visited have been living pretty much what I'd call my ideal life.
We aren't talking retirement, but I would like to downsize life in general.
What I do know about Puerto Rico seems to be a lot more than a little third world and they seem to be right in the path of every hurricane on the planet.
Hawaii isn't close to anything so costs & availability is an issue but it's settled enough and there are enough islands in the chain to mean that you shouldn't run short of necessities and some luxuries.
And I LOVE seafood!
I'd never heard of Bald Head Island and thought it was a joke, but it's for real. But while it looks like a nice get away, it still has winter.
As somebody from upstate NY who moved to NC, the "winter" Bald Head Island gets really doesn't even count in my book.
I understand what you are saying, though.
Your best best is probably Florida.
The keys and the Bahamas are on my list. It is one of the reasons I will be moving aboard a sailboat in a couple of years. I have had it with winter, I barely work in the winter, So I am going to cast off and sail south for the winter
Though not quite tropical; it does have a tropical vibe... Maybe, Avalon, Catalina Island, California. Not really a hot temp kind of place, more of a 60-80 degree type place--all year.
Not cheap to be there but does not quite feel like California while still being in LA county and basically the Long Beach school system. Not sure if that is seen as a positive.
Cheap-ish and steady flights into LAX or Orange County then shuttle to the boat that takes you the 22 mile off-shore.
You didn't mention that Catalina Island is Car Guy Hell where everyone drives golf carts and there is a decades-long waiting list to import a car (at one per year IIRC)? I think that would be worth mentioning, even if this weren't GRM.
import it part by part and surprise them when it is finished? Catalina is also only 22 by 8 miles at it's widest points. Not really a place to have a performance car..
mad_machine wrote: import it part by part and surprise them when it is finished?
People have tried that with bikes by me, a few got through but eventually customs caught on.
mad_machine wrote: import it part by part and surprise them when it is finished? Catalina is also only 22 by 8 miles at it's widest points. Not really a place to have a performance car..
Catalina is really meant for berkeleying wine mixers.
As a native Floridian, I have no issue with the state. Certainly there are issues here, but there are issues in lots of states. If I was going to pick a part of FL to move to, I would look in SW Florida, in the Ft. Myers area.
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