so I guess I come in some days early into Tampa and as I already spend some days the alst two years there, I thought about driving a little around, maybe take the drive to key west? or are the everglades cool , without taking a probably totally overpriced boat trip? hit some beach in case water is still warm to swim? is miami worth a trip? or fort lauderdale?

It so totally depends on what you are in the mood for and what you like to do. Personally, if I were in your shoes, I'd skip Fort Lauderdale, only go to Miami for the Cuban and Haitian neighborhoods, and definitely check out the Everglades. Key West is probably worth the trip at least once, or maybe that goes the other way around (the trip is worth ending up there)- not really sure.

If you plan correctly and do a bit of research, you can do quite a bit in the Everglades, including boating, without getting ripped off. You can even just take the better part of a day to drive the 40-mile road in the National Park, stopping off at various trails and boardwalks, for just the price of admission plus gas.

The water will probably still be warm enough to swim all the way up to St. Augustine, and certainly all along the gulf coast, especially if you have North Sea/North Atlantic sensibilities.

There's also loads of natural and beach-type stuff to do in North Florida, without as much tourists vs. locals apartheid. Of course, if you want an absolute guarantee of sub-tropical temperatures, then you'd better stay down south.

I think we're coming down on Monday to meet up with a couple of Aussies to go to Universal Studios! Rollercoasters!

thx rasputin.. still need to check when we fly in but probably fri into tampa..

so plan could be
sat: relaxing, maybe clearwater beach
sun morning: down to the everglades and then half day take the 40 mile road... is this the main park rd? or the tamiami trail? or soemthing else I don't see on google maps
Mon: key west
Tue: miami
Wed: up to tampa again for the pre-fest...

of course its some driving, and a little tight schedule, but I don't mind.. I really like to the drive from tampa to st pete and thats why I probably wanna do the key west.. I guess just beautiful

Yeah, the drive to Key West is really fucking long, but it's a fun one. Usually the water's still warm enough to swim (for most people, anyway).

There are a lot of cool state parks scattered about the Keys that might be worth checking out; Bahia Honda's good for kayaking and snorkeling if you're into that sort of thing.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/findap ... theast.cfm

And yeah, definitely check out the Everglades.

Its the main park road, which ends at Flamingo.

Just an FYI, from what I understand, the keys and everglades are a looong way away from Gainesville, so it depends how much time you want to spend in your car and how much time you want to spend actually doing things.

We debated doing the same thing, going down to the keys/ft lauderdale area. We also considered Fort Meyers Beach area but even that is a 4 hour drive from Gainesville according to google maps.

We opted for St. Pete Beach which is only a couple of hours away. I've never been there before so i can't make any promises about how nice it is, but it looks like there is LOTS to do. They've got the two top rated beaches in the country according to Trip Advisor, there's apparently a really long bike trail that runs through a whole bunch of different towns and you can rent bikes in the towns at either end, there's a bird rescue sanctuary in the area that you can tour, a couple of state parks, a botanical garden, lots to keep you busy.

We will fly in/ out of Tampa, so it a little closer... but I'm aware we will be in the car a little.. drive to he trail seems to everglades seems to be 4,5h and I expect like another 4h at the everglades , so that day will be a little heavy.. but then 2,5h to key west (where the drive is the goal anyway), next day 3h to miami and next day like 4h back to tampa is okay...

I say skip key west. I guess since I live in Miami and grew up going to the keys it just seems like too long a drive just spend one day. The Everglades on the other hand never gets old to me. I love going out to the glades and doing some fishing or just looking around because you'll always see something cool as fuck. When you think about it, it's a 3 hour drive to key west from Miami alone so coming from the west side o the state is going to be way longer. If you do decide to go though and you come through Miami let me know and I'll take you to the best Cuban restaurant in town because let's face it: you can't come to Miami and not have Cuban food.

thx ... don't know, just growing up on miami vice and seeing the scenes where they drove over the road inside the water and the awesome feeling I had driving from tampa to st pete - I think I just need to do the drive.. you live at the sea, I'm in the cneter of a 3,5 mi city, just seeing the ocean is a great feeling for me

but I know the current plan involveds probably a little too much driving...

and I guess if the plan keeps like that we will be in miamai tuesday afternoon before the Fest.. but still too early to say... looks like we are 7 friends arriving in 3 groups and just figering out plans...

i want to do this too! so so badly. halloween horror nights are on!

Me too but really just to ride The Simpsons ride!

I've been to Key West for work in the past more often than anything. I don't think there's anything out there that is worth the drive. It's a two-lane road with a low speed limit that takes for-fucking-ever to travel. If you can't get enough of the smell of mangroves, it might be for you though.

As for the Everglades, it's just a big swamp with a bunch of mosquitoes. If you're really going to geek out at the sight of an alligator or some egrets (or peacocks @ Holiday Park) then you'll enjoy it.

Again, I'm essentially from here so maybe I'm just used to having these things available. I'm just not recommending them as "must see" for a tourist. If you enjoy them, all the better. Personally, I'd hit a beach and then go to Busch Gardens. If you like roller coasters and maybe looking at some animals, that's by far the best theme park in Florida. Also, the springs in Northern and Central Florida are awesome.

Miami sucks and Key West rules. If you're looking for a fun, beachy place, just skip Miami and party in Key West for 2 days. Also, if you just want to go to a really nice beach, Siesta Key is the nicest one I've been to in Florida, and it's about 45 minutes or so south of Tampa. The best theme park, in my opinion, is easily Islands of Adventure in Orlando.

gonna think about it.. but I'm living in the heart of 3,5 mi city, 3,5h ride of the ocean (wthout having a car anyway) and for me the berlin wall is meanwhile just some beton wall (also some of the art on it is beautiful) and the brandeburg gate is just an old ...mmh gate and having like 120 year old houses is not a special, as the whole street is full of them - while americans freak out about that stuff...

I had an awesome day in california driving down the route 1 and probably just hope for a simular feeling,as its a total different nature then we have...