First Time Snowbirding Experiences

Some people like to move around more, some like to stay put. Until you try both you won't know. Myself, I get itchy feet after about 2 weeks. I also find I like variety of landscapes which is why I now Snowbird in Mexico, rather than Arizona which I got bored with very quickly. At least Florida has water. It it usually a lot cheaper to stay put & pay monthly rates. If you do pick one place you need to socialize or you will go crazy.

1fastdad wrote:
The only advise I have is go below Orlando and stay away from the East coast. The central area has lots of lakes fishing and Golf and the west coast has every thing including traffic. The farther south you go the mors expensive it gets. I stay in the Saint Petersburg area because I like being near all the resterants,stores and beaches and I don't mind the traffic.

Central inland Florida gets a lot more fog in the winter time than the Coasts.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

The only advise I have is go below Orlando and stay away from the East coast. The central area has lots of lakes fishing and Golf and the west coast has every thing including traffic. The farther south you go the mors expensive it gets. I stay in the Saint Petersburg area because I like being near all the resterants,stores and beaches and I don't mind the traffic.

I'm with CDASON. I definitely dislike the parking lots and much prefer the state parks. The winter before last I was able to go on line and book from place to place based on cancellations. Only the weekends were problematic for state parks; that's when you do the private campground thing (unless that's what you want). But try both, and definitely wing it. You'll see more and have a better adventure. Good luck!

Got a Zippy 750 electric scooter. As long as I'm camped within 5 miles of a grocery store, don't need to drive a car.

Go to your MD. and get some stress relief pills before you have to drive in the mid winter west Fla. traffic.:) Seriously, it is bad. A stop light at every intersection and an accident at every 5th one. The interstates are bumper to bumper also. And don't even think about getting near a beach on weekends.
But still better than shoveling snow and freezing.

Water-Bug wrote:
We're definitely going to snowbird for the first time, in Florida next winter. Having never even camped in Florida befor, we are wondering how to approach it for the first time. Should we plan an exploratory trip in the next several months or should we just wait until November and wing it?

Either will work depending on where you're going. The CGs near the beaches wont have space but those more inland will be 1/3 to 1/2 empty. And a lot cheaper. The first time we kind of winged it but the last 2 winters we had a place to go.

I can think of better ways of spending the summer, than camping in the Florida summer heat. Is driving down late in November and moving around for several weeks to find a place to our liking, a bad idea ?

That depends on the area you have in mind.

What have your experiences been ? I know that having a place reserved ahead of time is probably a good idea but we don't even know how long we would want to stay in one place. I'm sure that the summer crowd and things to do are going to differ greatly from what we see in winter also.

You will die in the summer heat. Do you have any particular area of FL in mind?

My favorite are the state parks; I get tired of being in one place for more than two weeks. More space between sites, trails to walk without driving somewere, not like a parking lot (that is a big one for me). Generally speaking you would have to prebook these OR just go online a week before to reserveamerica and see what you can get. If you are north of Tampa, not so much of a problem finding state park spots. South of Tampa area or on any coast...they are booked pretty solid.

However, there is a lot to be said for winging it; if I could, I would far rather do it that way. We work in florida for winter so that is not possible.

Explore and have a great time...do state parks, private parks, dry camp where you can, etc.
Donna
our blog: http://roadsidechronicles.blogspot.com/

I agree with Parrothead Mike on his plan. We did much the same thing our first two winters in Florida.......a week here, a few days there, until we covered most of the state. Many places that are GREAT at one time of the year are far too congested during the prime winter months, so check out the various areas at different times of the year as well.
You should have no problem getting sites for up to a week or two, but after that it gets dicey, as most of the prime sites have already been reserved for next winter. If you stay flexible, however, you'll do fine. We actually got a site for a week in one park, but had to change to a different site for the last two days as the person who reserved it for the winter got there a bit early. No problem, but STAY FLEXIBLE. For short-term stays, you can often get into the state parks, but check out the various counties as well. Some of them have REALLY nice RV parks that don't seem to get as crowded as the state parks.
And, as Mike stated, DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU GO. That's VERY important so that you can avoid problems upon arrival. Your two best resources are this forum, and rvparkreviews.com. Make liberal use of both.
One more thing to consider is to fly down and stay in a motel in the general area that you THINK you might like. Rent a car with unlimited mileage and USE it. We did that the year before our first winter trip and put on almost 3000 miles checking out RV parks, beaches, areas of interest, etc.

We did a week-at-a-time in 12 different places, down the west coast into the Keys then up the east coast. We found the place we wanted to spend our entire three months and have not regretted it. There are just too many subjective parts in that decision for anyone to make it for you. My advice is explore and enjoy. Camp on!