Florida Travel Pro is what my closest ones call me based upon my experience traveling the state. After all, I’ve visited every region of it more than once. It was love at first sight for me. I fell head over heels and my deep, enduring love affair with Florida has lasted for decades now.
But Florida Travel Pro is actually a professional travel specialist designation granted by Visit Florida, the state’s official tourism marketing entity. And I am very proud to announce that I have completed the training qualifications and am now an official Florida Travel Pro.
Sunshine State
Florida’s known as the Sunshine State for good reason. It has year-round average temperatures of 72 degrees. And when it does rain, it’s usually just a shower that soon yields to the sun bursting through the clouds and the skies clear again.
Florida By the Numbers
There’s a lot to love in Florida, so everyone is sure to find something they enjoy, whether it’s basking in the sun on the beach, hiking, biking, angling, paddling, and golfing. Then, there’s water sports like swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving or sailing and cruising. The tropical playground is vast with 825 miles of beaches, 1,200 miles of coastline on the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Coast, 200 state and national parks, forest and wildlife refuges, 1,100 golf courses, the 1,300-mile Florida Trail that runs from one end of the state to the other, 40,000 yachts, and 4 cruise ports. Wow! That’s a lot of opportunity for fun. In fact, you could spend every vacation in Florida and have an endless array of locations to visit and activities to enjoy.
Find Your Beach
With so many miles of beaches beckoning us, it’s hard to decide which one to sample first or next. Visit Florida has created a fun tool to help make the decision as easy as pie, Key Lime pie, that is.
Use Visit Florida’s “Find Your Beach Tool” to learn about unique Florida beach experiences and customize your vacation based on certain parameters. This YouTube tutorial explains how to use the tool but it’s really very easy to use – just move sliders up or down according to your interest in the experience categories. The tool displays beach options that best suit your beach type. Try out the Beach Finder tool. Playing around with it is also a great way to increase your RQ (Relaxation Quotient) any time you need a mental vacation or respite from a stressful day. After you find your beach, it’s time to learn more about the destination and schedule your trip.
Florida Blog Posts
I’ve had many Florida adventures before I started the blog and many since the blog that I haven’t written about but plan to. Meanwhile, here are links to a couple of Florida posts now on the website.
Butler Beach is a small, quiet community beach south of Saint Augustine with powder white sand and clear blue water.
And here’s a post about a delightful dining experience on Anna Maria Island and my introduction to the aqua-emerald waters of the Gulf of Mexico at southwest Florida.
I’ve taken about a million photos that haven’t made it into the galleries yet and probably half of them are from Florida. Here are links to the photo galleries now on the blog:
Northern Atlantic Coast
The Northern Atlantic Coast album contains 3 galleries – St. Augustine, Butler Beach and Vilano Beach – I feel a deep connection to this area because certain characteristics of it like the history, quaintness, waterfront downtown, and food culture remind me of places I’ve lived like Natchitoches, Louisiana and Savannah, Georgia. It also makes me think of New Orleans, a place I’ve visited countless times and where my ancestors first arrived to the United States from France and other European countries in the early 1700’s. These galleries are definitely not finished and I look forward to returning to the area to add more photos to the story the galleries tell.
Southern Atlantic Coast
I also look forward to sharing stories of time spent in Greater Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood Beach, Miami, and the Everglades. And, I’m excited to return to the area and delve deeper into SOBE and the other Miami neighborhoods, especially Little Havana. I’ll be adding a lot more photos to the Southern Atlantic Coast gallery
Southwest Gulf Coast
Trip after trip, this area is becoming a top favorite. The aqua-emerald water is mesmerizing – you can’t take your eyes off of it. And I’m not the only visitor to feel that way. People literally sit in chairs along the beach and just stare at the water in a zen-like trance. You can read more about it in the Anna Maria Island post at the link above. Visit the Southwest Gulf Coast gallery and take a peek.
Now, you can see why I love the “Sunshine State” so much and so will you. Click on a photo below to view the images as a slideshow. Then, click on the “I” in the lower left-hand corner to display the captions.
