We moved from the Midwest to Florida 5 years ago. Life here is filled with surprising expenses and unexpected time.

• I moved from the Midwest to Florida with my husband five years ago and this is surprised.

• Summer is more brutal than we expected, and we were surprised by the high cost of life.

• We were also surprised by the strong southern culture of Panhandell and wooded landscape.

I have always dreamed of moving to sunny, tropical Florida, especially after growing up in the frigid winters of South Dakota.

Each year, my family would head south to cruise or visit relatives in Orlando and I quickly fell in love with the country. At one point, I was even considering heading south for college.

But my dream did not become a reality only after graduation when my born in Minnesota husband was located at a military base in Florida PanhandellS

Although we both visited Central Florida tourist hot spotsNone of us knew much about the more, the older Panhandell.

Sometimes it still feels surreal that we can visit the beach in December, but the bubble summer holds us humbly.

After five years in Destin, we learned some surprising things about life in Florida as two average western ones.

Florida is not hot all year long, especially in Panhandle.

We moved to Florida in July, so the intense summer heat did not surprise us. However, the frosty winters caught us alert.

Destin is about 300 miles north of Miami, so our seasonal changes are more drastic. Late autumn and early spring carry cool, fresh air, and winters have low levels in the 20s Fahrenheit.

Our winters in Panhandle are slight compared to the Midwest, but we still do not expect Florida to have noticeable changes every season.

In fact, our pipes froze during our first Christmas in our home – and this January we even had a few inches of snow. Our hearts in the Midwest were bursting with joy, seeing the snow -covered neighborhood and our puppies who have the time of their lives.

Hurricanes’ worries are more stressful than we expected.

Most longtime Floridians are used to the hurricanes, often not ignited by every storm under category 3. However, my husband and I still worry about the storms after we enjoyed the Hurricane Sally just a few months after we moved.

We lost energy for three days, and without air conditioning or electricity, it felt like camping in our own home. My parents accidentally visited, so we maintained the generator to work and passed the time by playing board games.

The grappling with the threat of hurricanes is only part of life in Florida – and is especially stressful, knowing that my husband may be required to evacuate military aircraft. This will require me to encounter a storm only or to evacuate without its help.

In general, life in Florida is more expensive than we thought.

One of the biggest shocks from moving to Florida was the high cost of life and feels that it only worsens. It is considered one of the most expensive conditions to live in.

As a mid -Western people, we never dealt with highways fees. Imagine our shock when we learned that we would pay $ 4 each time to visit Destin from our home in Nixville.

If we want to visit the beach, eat at our favorite restaurants, or shop at national retailers, we need to swallow this fee – or drive an extra hour to avoid it.

We also couldn’t believe the high cost of home and car insurance in Florida. We have recently been confronted to find a new home security policy when our initial coverage will be more than doubling.

Our car insurance is also much more than it was when we lived in the Midwest. In the last five years, annual prices of politics have been increasing.

In fact, Florida is one of the most expensive countries that have car insurance … But I think it makes sense when you see how fast people drive here!

The Florida summers are brutal for the US Medium Western.

Back in the Midwest, summer is the beginning of a beautiful time and long evenings outside. After lifting the freezing and snow temperatures for months, summer has always been welcomed. In Florida, this is the opposite.

We are now afraid of the miserable hot summer, at which temperatures can be directed to the triple digits. By July and August, humidity is suffocating and unbearable, so we retreat inside with AC constantly.

Ironically, staying inside, to escape the heat, feels much like how we used to pursue ourselves during brutal winters in the Midwest.

However, we learned to make the most of Florida’s hot summer summer. We like to cool ourselves in the pool or to stay on local beaches with white sand. And unlike the snowy Midwest, we don’t have to worry about icy roads or blizzards that derail our plans.

The state is greater and more diverse than we realized.

After moving from the Midwest, we were surprised by how diverse and huge the state was. The Floridian Panhandell is rural with forests and wooded land – a sharp contrast to the Everglades marshmallow and the themed parks of Central Florida.

The country itself is about 450 miles long, which means that driving to Key West will take us 11 hours from Destin. If we go south of Orlando, we usually book a flight instead of driving.

Even culture is also changing dramatically. Panhandle has a strong southern influence thanks to our proximity to Georgia and Alabama.

Compare this with the Cuban and Caribbean influences of South Florida and it is difficult to believe that we are living in the same state.

Read the original Business Insider article