Living in Florida

I live here in Florida. I didn't exactly move here by choice and can't say that I prefer it to the UK. The summer (Apr - Nov) is brutally hot and humid, which is not much fun, not to mention having to worry about hurricanes for half the year.

It wasn't too hard to find a job when I did three years ago, but you can forget about it these days. Everyone's hunting!

I'd say it's very difficult to make friends here. I can count the number of good friends I have on one hand. People have a fake face on, but it never goes too deep.

Laura, you can probably pick up a house for a pretty good price right now. Not sure how the prices compare to LA, but we've been looking recently (this is in Tampa btw, which will likely be slightly cheaper than the Keys which carry a premium) and you can pick nice 3/2s in nice areas for about $150-200K. The job front won't be as easy, particularly if you're in a professional career, unless you plan on traveling to Miami every day. The job market down here is VERY tough right now.

All the best