What are your priorities?
For Florida Snowbirds how do you go about choosing a site where you will be bound to, for months at a time. You can assume safety, warmth, and cleanliness is a priority, but what else is it that yo...
Forum Discussion
We have been "playing" at "snowbirding" for the past 4 winters in Florida. Our forays have been from 21 days to full months. Our first foray was with our rig, to St Augustine (late winter/early spring).
Each time we go, we do recces to the south and to the west searching for areas we eventually would like to snowbird at with the RV. Three of the past 4 years have been without the rig; we have been renting fairly luxurious condos (over 1400 sq ft) with direct ocean views, as a "pied-Ã -terre". We looked for a condo further south (south of St Augustine), to launch forays from, however, the price (during the core of winter) was very prohibitive (we could only find shoe-boxes, miles from ocean-front about 1/5th the size of our St Augustine beach-front digs, costing 2.2 x the price); and campgrounds south of Jupiter / Tampa near ocean-front costing 1.3 x what our luxurious ocean-front condo costs, up at St Augustine!).
Anyhow, when we eventually head south with the rig (ie. not opting for the condo), we could not see ourselves staying at any one place/area camp in Florida longer than 2 weeks at a time, before moving to another area to explore. One of the constraints is RV size, so hanging out "inside" the RV for any period outside "sleep time", (like during prolonged periods of rain) would drive us crazy. So, we would choose Central Florida perhaps 5 miles inland from the Coast(s), and make forays to the coast, and back inland, where restaurants, museums, protected areas, good extensive beach walking, and other areas of interest would be accessible, say, within 45 minutes drive....at a price-point of a State, National or Municipal park-- or, in the private campground realm, the ~~ $400 a week range.
Each time we go, we do recces to the south and to the west searching for areas we eventually would like to snowbird at with the RV. Three of the past 4 years have been without the rig; we have been renting fairly luxurious condos (over 1400 sq ft) with direct ocean views, as a "pied-Ã -terre". We looked for a condo further south (south of St Augustine), to launch forays from, however, the price (during the core of winter) was very prohibitive (we could only find shoe-boxes, miles from ocean-front about 1/5th the size of our St Augustine beach-front digs, costing 2.2 x the price); and campgrounds south of Jupiter / Tampa near ocean-front costing 1.3 x what our luxurious ocean-front condo costs, up at St Augustine!).
Anyhow, when we eventually head south with the rig (ie. not opting for the condo), we could not see ourselves staying at any one place/area camp in Florida longer than 2 weeks at a time, before moving to another area to explore. One of the constraints is RV size, so hanging out "inside" the RV for any period outside "sleep time", (like during prolonged periods of rain) would drive us crazy. So, we would choose Central Florida perhaps 5 miles inland from the Coast(s), and make forays to the coast, and back inland, where restaurants, museums, protected areas, good extensive beach walking, and other areas of interest would be accessible, say, within 45 minutes drive....at a price-point of a State, National or Municipal park-- or, in the private campground realm, the ~~ $400 a week range.
