Life in Miami: A West Virginia Native's Perspective

A writer who grew up in West Virginia and has lived in Miami for nearly a decade shares her experience relocating to South Florida. She highlights three main aspects she loves about Miami: the sunny weather, the multicultural atmosphere, and the excellent travel deals available from local airports and cruise ports. The author specifically mentions finding flights to Europe for under $400 and domestic flights for under $150. She notes that Miami offers diverse communities from Latin America and the Caribbean. However, she still misses the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, particularly their serene nature and rolling hills, which she finds lacking in Florida's landscape. Despite developing an appreciation for the beach, she maintains that nothing compares to the Appalachian Mountains for exploring and appreciating nature.

The writer grew up in West Virginia but moved to Miami, Florida, as an adult and has now lived there for years. Throughout her childhood, her family barely strayed from the parts of West Virginia's Appalachia region where she was born and raised. She spent college two hours away in Ohio, and during those years, she started traveling around the United States and to more distant places in Europe and Latin America.

She loves exploring the world, so when it was time to graduate and start a life somewhere new, she applied to jobs all around the country. She took the first one she could get, and it happened to be in Miami. She had never been to Florida before, but she quickly found things in Dade County she enjoyed. After nearly a decade of living there, there are three big things she loves about living in Miami, and one thing she still misses about West Virginia.

☀️ Miami's Weather Has Completely Won Her Over

A lot of people have opinions about this one, but as someone who grew up in a colder climate, she much prefers Miami weather. Summer aside, most weeks are sunny and fairly comfortable with a lot of days between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Winters are pleasantly short, sunny, and warm. She also struggles with depression, which can be impacted by the seasons, so having the ability to go outside and get some sunshine any time of the year is a major bonus for her. Though summertime in Miami can be uncomfortably hot and humid and hurricane season is no joke, she still prefers the weather here to any place that experiences a harsher winter.

🌍 The City's Multicultural Atmosphere

As a travel writer, she is constantly booking trips and visiting new cities and countries. When she is not hopping on a plane or road tripping to a different part of Florida, she can still experience a variety of communities and cultures in Miami. Most people know Miami for its Cuban influence, but the city is also home to a huge variety of expats from other parts of Latin America, like Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina. There is also a lot of diversity from other parts of the world, too. For example, Miami Beach has one of the largest Jewish populations outside of Israel, and there is also a huge variety of Bahamian, Jamaican and other Caribbean cultures here. Miami is constantly growing and changing, and she loves that she can learn about so many different cultures without traveling too far.

✈️ Great Travel Deals Out of South Florida

One of her favorite perks of living in Miami truly is how easy and convenient it is to travel from the city. For starters, there are two major airports nearby: Miami International Airport (MIA) and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). Miami is also the cruise capital of the world, and there are constantly ships sailing from the ports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. She is a budget traveler at heart, and she has scored some incredible travel deals from South Florida. She regularly finds flights to Europe for less than $400 from these airports, and she can fly to many places around the US for less than $150.

Since moving to Florida, she has developed a deep appreciation for the beach. However, she still definitely misses the Appalachian Mountains. They are the oldest mountain range in the United States, and these rolling hills are the perfect place for exploring. Her favorite time to visit West Virginia is in the late spring or early summer when the trees are at their fullest and brightest. Palm trees are beautiful, but she definitely misses how serene and peaceful nature can be in West Virginia, especially when compared to how busy and chaotic Miami can feel sometimes.

After nearly a decade in Miami, this West Virginia native has found a balance between appreciating her new home and missing aspects of her old one. While the sunny weather, multicultural communities, and travel accessibility have made Miami a place she loves, the Appalachian Mountains remain irreplaceable in her heart. Her experience demonstrates that relocation often involves both embracing new advantages and maintaining connections to one's roots.