What do you miss from your previous location?
 

Now that you live in The Villages, Florida, what is/are the things that you miss from your previous location (up-North).

In my case, I miss the relationships I established with service providers, even car dealers. I had great confidence in my providers. After years of trial and error, I knew who to trust and who not to trust.

I also miss personally knowing my physicians and attorney. When you grow up with them, it's easier to get to know them.

The food from various places I have lived comes quickest to mind.
 

From Palm Harbor, FL I miss the food I could get at Surf & Turf. We still go back there to that market a few times a year. http://www.surfandturfmarket.com/

The sourdough bread from San Francisco as well as various gourmet take-out dishes from some grocery stores around Palo Alto is another thing that comes to mind.

As are the clam strips from a restaurant on Bodega Bay.

Some of the Mexican-American food from the Phoenix area restaurants as well as Basque food from a Reno, NV. Prime Rib from a certain casino near Sparks, NV.

I agree, the food up-north is better.
For me it's the pizza & artisan breads.
Have had anything close here in central FL.
Aside from that, I'm good.

Not even there yet and I KNOW I'm gonna miss my basement, and the elbow room around the house. On the other hand, I won't have 3/4 acre to mow either.

I miss a Dunkin donuts on every corner....Italian food from Mass, and the fall,,,,I think I will miss that the most, when the apples are ripe and the foliage,,,,,however.....will NEVER MISS DRIVING TWO HOURS to work in snow and ice.

Not a thing. We visit six times a year to see family, can't wait to return to TV.

I miss Gaby's Pizzeria in Hollis,Queens (the best pizza in NY). I miss Central Park on a summer day and ethnic street fairs in NYC.

We were in Indiana in June and August. Never thought I'd miss tiger lilies growing along the side of the road and hostas! (My nephew the park ranger reminded me that tiger lilies are considered an invasive weed.)

Also miss the Mexican food...down here it's "tex-mex", and Chicago pizzas...and lastly Lake Michigan and the singing sands.

That is my main concern, too. My man cave.

What do you miss from your previous location?
 

A Macy's close by!

White Castles....gn

What do you miss from the North --
 

We lived in a small farming community. (although we did not farm!). We were so close to many family owned farm markets. If you went in the morning to get fresh corn on the cob, the owner would say - "come back after 3:00, when the just picked corn would be available."

Fresh produce and fruit, homemade donuts and apple cider, a nursery where they grew and sold only two types of flowers - in the summer they sold only geraniums and at Christmas, just poinsettas. All a very short drive from our home.

Having a small town atmosphere, when you did your banking, the manager and tellers knew you. The druggist knew you, the grocery store manager knew you. and etc.

But change is good -- it's interesting and challenging at the same time.

The Fla. weather makes up for a lot of the things I miss about the North!

EXYZEE40 (whew!!), I agree with you about the farm stands. We lived in a lovely community in the Hudson Valley, NY (where Chelsie Clinton was recently married) and loved the farm fresh produce, especially the fruit and tomatoes. That is the only thing I miss since I'm a huge fan of Florida and the casual lifestyle; I don't even own a pair of boots.:cold:

Costco just a mile away.
In-N-Out
REAL Mexican food:sigh:
Kaiser-Permanente Health Care

I miss mail delivery to my house, all the neighborhood knew the UPS guy, Nordstrum, Rubio's Fish Tacos.

Home delivery of Chinese food, Mexican food, Indian food, and Pizza whenever I wanted it...sometimes all together :icon_hungry:
(I'm from NYC) Now I have to actually keep food in my fridge:yuck:

Missing the lake
 

We were incredibly lucky to sell our lakefront home in New Hampshire in February! We then purchased an Amarillo in Lilberty Park. What we will miss is the call of the loons on a warm night, boating in our pontoon boat, and late night swims. What we won't miss is the snow!!

We purchased a 39 foot camping trailer which we have in a campground in Maine and have been here since late May. Two weeks from now, we will leave in a Penske Truck and make the journey to TV! We will miss family back in NH but we can't wait to make TV our home.

I miss Family and long time friends. What I don't miss: NYS TAXES, disfunctional state government, Snow. I love The The Villages and new friends. The trade offs are worth it.

When I'm in Canada during the summer, I miss my Bubble friends enormously. And my golf cart. And Mah Jongg. And Doggie Doo Run Run. But I love our Lake cottage and the loons. And I don't miss the hot weather one bit! And I'm glad to catch up with Canadian friends and family. I love the autumn and the changing leaves. And I feel that tingle of anticipation that means I'll soon be packing for the trip back to our Villages home!

When I'm in The Villages during the winter months, I feel blessed. I think being away from the Villages for six months makes it even more special when we return. I'm amazed at the beauty and I love being away from the ice and snow. I feel as if I'm living on a different plant entirely, not Planet Earth. I don't miss anything at all. Life is just perfect when I'm in The Bubble.

I miss the several nice fancy restaurants that we had that served quality food. It seems that The Villages only has mid-level chain restaurants.

My wife and I miss our personal physicians, even though I picked a physician that was well recommended on TOTV.

I miss our 24/7 grocery store and pharmacy that we used to have right nearby. I also miss having movie theaters with late showings and restaurants that stay open later. In addition, I miss seeing Broadway shows and comedians that I used to watch at my local performing arts center.

I miss some of the food items and brands that we used to buy but we have found some other items here that we could not buy home.

We miss seeing our son, my son's girlfriend and their dog too.

My wife really misses the change of seasons.

The ocean
(a beach lover all my life)

Reading a good book while there's a January northeaster raging outside...watching the snow pile up...putting a couple more logs in the wood-burning stove as I listened to the wind howl.

In the summer, making a run to the local farm at 5 o'clock to buy corn that just came in from the 4 o'clock picking.

Making the Saturday morning run to the town dump and stopping at the library on my way home....the librarian would often have a book put away that she'd thought I like.

Spotting the first swamp maples turning red in early September....then, by Columbus Day the trees are ablaze with color.

Yep, I miss small-town New Hampshire.

The sea, the beautiful sea right outside our windows... we are from Puerto Rico and St. John, USVI.

we don't miss as much as we thought...but
 

We do miss our amazing neighbors. Springfield has a sandwich called the horseshoe..too hard to explain. We miss living on Lake Springfield but NOT the work and the leaves in the fall. This is our new home, new life chapter. We will get to love our new neighbors, find new food specialties, and enjoy what this little place called TV has to offer.

What do we miss"
 

Nothing!

I live in NJ and I will miss living less than an hour form NYC, Phil, Atlantic City, the ocean,the Delaware River. My wife will miss the 15+ malls within an hour and Macy`s.

I will not miss the traffic, the corruption, the high taxes, the $8000 property taxes. In NJ if you sell your house and move out of state, you have to pay an `exit` tax. Can not afford to retire in NJ.

I`m not moving to retire in Florida, I`m moving to retire in the Villages, a world of its own, and love it so much. It reminds me of how life was as a kid growing up.

Hometown
 

I've sent you a PM. I'm also from Rhinebeck.

Let's hear it from the snowbirds
 

I would like to hear from more snowbirds what they like and don't like about being half and half. When I make the plunge, it will be half and half. Thanks. JK

Isn't Dilliard's a southern Macy's? Or for you who were real fans Jordan Marsh!

Gary, I moved here from NJ and didn't have to pay the exit tax as I had lived in my NJ home for over 10 years. That was in 2006.

Mountains, Pacific Coast, No rain in summer & mild winters, Stanford & Cal, BART, Giants, A's. 49'ers, Warriors, Sharks, Quakes, Tahoe, Yosemite, Angels Camp, Jackson, Reno, Napa, Healdsburg, Monteray, Big Sur, Santa ______, San ______, Cambria, Grass that just grows with just little help, Hiking thru Redwood Forests, Gold Panning, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose, Fremont, Gilroy, Pleasanton, Danville, Livermore, Half Moon Bay, Palo Alto, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Castro Valley, Richmond, Marin County, Yolo Causeway, Delta, Sacratomato, etc

And Mountains!


.

We will be selling our NY home and moving down to our Florida home full time within a year or so. Life is a trade off, and all in all, I feel we are making an upgrade.
Still, there will be things I will miss, like;
1) The smell of fall and the crunch of colorful leaves under your feet.
2) Our church.
3) Fireflies and hummingbirds and Orioles
4) Having a choice of 20 good pizza places within 5 miles
5) Beef on Wecks, white hots, Chevettas
6) Wegmans !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7) Grass that does not look like crabgrass
8) Snowblowing..(just a tiny bit)
9) Good ice cream places
10) Fish fries on Friday nights
11) Dunkin Donuts and Tim Hortons

What I won't miss;
1) Potholes
2) Snow, Ice, Black ice, Snowplows
3) Scraping your windshield, warming up your car for 20 minutes
4) Rusty cars from roadsalt, EVERYTHING rusty.
5) NYS taxes!
6) High heating bills
7) Closet full of winter clothes
8) Pushing shopping carts through slush, ice, etc.
9) Seeing the birds leave in fall because they're smarter then we are
10) Winterizing everything

But, I will get in trade;
1) Cool birds like Sand Hill Cranes
2) Cool roads with replectors on them, like Airport runways
3) BIG lighted streetsigns
3) A Walgreens on every corner (sarcasm)
4) No owning of ice scrapers, snowblowers , snowshovels
5) Palm Trees!!!!
6) little lizards everywhere
7) Cockroaches disguised as "PALmetto bugs"
8) Dressing like Hawaii 5-0 all year.
9) Cars lasting longer with NO RUST
10) My golf cart
11) Gators in my back yard pond.
12) low taxes, only one license plate
13) No stairs in my house, (sadly no basement)
14) No basement to keep clean
15) My own orange trees, (got 5 citrus trees....)
16) Mickey Mouse only a half hour away.
17) The Villages just right up the road from me.

Frank

I've heard the statistic that 40% of Villagers are seasonal residents. I'm not sure of the facts, but it does start to get quieter around April/May. Of course a lot of permanent residents also travel north in the summer to visit friends and family.

Except for the expense involved, I think being fifty/fifty is just about perfect. You still get to enjoy your old neighbourhood and friends and family and (hopefully) cooler summers. I love the late spring in Canada with the hint of summer around the corner. Now the leaves are starting to change colour .. always a beautiful time of year.

I love the cooler summers and living beside a lake for six months. And we've made incredibly good friends in TV who come to Canada to visit during the summer! Thank you Nonie and Bernie, we had a great visit. And then Beady arrived with her two puppies, and we enjoyed her visit immensely. And then The Captain flew in, and straightened us all out.

The best thing of all is that we Canadians get two Thanksgivings, and that is my favourite holiday. Like Christmas without worrying about gifts. We celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in early October before we leave for TV. And then in November in TV, we have a wonderful friend who makes an incredible currant turkey dressing for US Thanksgiving.

How could anyone not love being retired? :a040:

when we are done being a wannabee's
 

Damm, I will miss Kaiser Permanete also:cryin2:

I'll miss family and friends here. Some will visit, and vise versa, but not as often as I'll wish they were around.

I'll miss fall. I'll miss my wonderful ladies golf association.

I'll miss having a bigger house, lots of big closets, a beautiful 2 1/2-acre lot and a basement. Sort of. I won't miss the maintenance.

We will have to get rid of lots and lots of "stuff". It will be interesting to see if I miss "stuff". I rather think I won't. I'm anxious to downsize. Or, more accurately, I'm anxious to have downsized. The process itself, which are are just starting, won't be fun at all.

I guess I'll have to revisit all this when we become frogs.

Ribbit.

The grandkids.

I second that, along with Perry's Ice Cream (where I worked as a student all those years ago)! Wegman's brand ice cream is made by Perry's!

When I move down permanently I, too, will miss Wegmans! I will also miss Zweigles hots, Grandma Brown's Baked Beans, the fall colors, and my good friends.

I will NOT miss the cold and the snow!

I miss
 

Skyline Chili, Graters Ice cream, my doctors, but mostly, my family and friends. I also miss knowing where to go for everything I need. :loco:

Perry's Ice Cream is the best...favorite flavor now is Top Shelf Sundae.
Down there the closest seems to be Publix premium. They don't have Grandma Browns down there? I see when we come back up here for visits, etc, half the car will be filled with some Western NY favorites...
Maybe stop at the southernmost Wegman's off I95 on the way down...(I think in Virginia).

Oh...I won't miss the static electricity in the winter that blows your lips off when kissing your wife.....OUCH!