Have you ever moved across the country? Are you thinking about moving across the country?! Well, as someone who just did it, here are a few things I wish I had known before we made our decision to move to Florida! Overall, it was such a great experience. But it did not come without hurdles!
Finding a House
The first thing we had to do was of course find a place to live! When we first moved we were living in an apartment while we looked for a house. As you may know, the 2021 housing market was insane. After a few months of apartment living we ended up moving to a different town in Florida because of a job. Then for the next 3 months we moved between short term rentals (Essentially Airbnbs) until finally buying a house!
Buying a house in Florida was crazy. Many residents of New York were purchasing homes in Florida during 2021. One thing to know before moving to Florida is that much of the land is Nature Preserves. Meaning many homes are along these preserves and your backyard is either a lake or forest that can never be built upon. It is pretty beautiful but also restricts what you can do on your land.
Also, most homes in Florida are deed restricted and part of an HOA. This was not as common where were come from so it has definitely been an adjustment! There are certainly perks to it but downsides as well.
Moving Our Things
The biggest pain was moving all of our things across the country! When we very first came out to Florida we filled our cars and drove. My dad filled what he could into his car and my husband and I filled our car with the rest. We all drove the 3 days from Utah to Florida. For the first six months we just lived off of those items until we had our house.
After buying a house we flew back to Utah to load up a Haul and drive the Haul across the country! We had to get a 26′ truck in order to fit all of our belongings. We of course also took the excuseo visit friends and family back home! Then we set out on the trek back to Florida, It took 4 days in the Uhaul since we couldn’t drive as fast. And th first day was very difficult because of all the mountains and hills we had to go through. After that it was much flatter and basically downhill (in a good way) The rest of the way!
An important thing to know is that it costs a lot of money to move across the country! We had to rent the Uhaul for a one way trip which costs a few thousand dollars and then gas in the truck was about $100 every time we filled up! There was also no room for a cooler or food so we ate out a lot over the course of 4 days. We also had to rent hotels since the Uhaul did not have a large enough cab to sleep in.
Finding Jobs
Once we got settled it was time to get stable jobs! The whole reason we moved to Florida is because my dad was buying a restaurant here and needed help. But we also wanted part time jobs as well that would work around our schedule. That is how we ended up joining the Target Team! It may sound basic to get a retail job at 27 years old but it worked for us and proved us extra money after the move!
Another perk of that job was being able to get an employee discount for home decor! We bought a ton of stuff for our home and also plan to furnish an Airbnb with our Target discount!
Cultural Differences
We travel enough to know the difference between the East and the West. There are a few things though that still took some adjusting to! The biggest difference is definitely the food. I will say, I prefer the food in the West! Idaho, Utah, California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado… the list goes on of places I have fallen in love with the food on the West. I’ve had much harder time in Florida to find flavorful food!
Southern Florida has great Cuban food, but beyond that? It is kind of bland. Floridians are going to come for me probably but it is the truth! We have had a hard time finding restaurants we love here. The spices and flavorful food we are used to is far and few between. Now, that isn’t to say we have not found any places that we like but it just isn’t as many as back home!
Also, we have never had to deal with tourists the way we do here! This may just be because of the area we live in but it seems like most of Florida is a tourist hot spot. We have learned times of the year to avoid the main beaches and piers and have found some more local spots!
And the biggest cultural difference? The traffic! Until you’ve lived in Florida, you will never understand the drivers.
Becoming Floridians
Moving to a new state always comes with challenges. I remember trying to get Utah citizenship when I went to college there to get in state tuition! In Florida one thing to know if you are moving here is that the DMV is typically in the tax collectors office. Luckily we found this out before driving and hour to the nearest stand alone DMV!
Mostly you need the typical things like proof of address and identification. But a few cool things are that they let you keep your old state ID which we have never been allowed to do! And they have board with all the states they have people move from and we were the very first Idahoans!
One thing to know is that if you do not own the title to your car you will have to have the lien holder send it to the Florida DMV before being able to register your vehicle. We have never had to deal with this until now and it was a much bigger pain in the butt than we expected!
Keeping in Touch with Friends
This doesn’t necessarily have to do with Florida but I felt like it was a good place to share! My closest friends and I live in 5 states and if I extended that to all my friends and family I would have people in about 20 states! It is so important to never let time or distance affect your relationships. It is the year 2021! We have amazing technology and easy travel so truly people are never that far away.
Jordyn and I schedule weekly FaceTime dates to discuss the blog and our lives. I have multiple group text with my friends, we all talk as often as we can, and we understand when life gets in the way and we go a few weeks without catching up! We also always plan trips so we know when the next time we get to see each other is. It doesn’t matter if it is one month or six months between visits, knowing a date that you get to be reunited always helps!
So tell me, have you moved to a new state before? Maybe across the country or even a new country?! Let me know what your moving experience was like!
