Brightline

[earthling]

Am looking to buy a place anywhere along this line, maybe Boca. Planning extensive global travel next year and will be nice to have easy access to 3 international airports and 3 cruise ports along the line. Extension to Tampa also planned.

BTW am now reluctantly but officially a FL resident for tax purposes. Planning to keep KC condo and investments across MO but will be a global nomad as long as health allows, based officially out of FL.

Florida is an incredibly advantageous place to base out of as a global Nomad. My buddy did that when he got out of the army, and has been mostly around South America since, but organizing travel to anywhere in FL is incredibly easy for him, and not too expensive either. I’d explore the likes of Cocoa, for it’s affordability, as it’ll likely gain an infill station at some point in the future. You’ll have to let us know how functional it is for that purpose!

We'll see how it plays out. Am targeting to base out of various ports around world for about a month or so each, like Southampton outside London, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Auckland, Rio or Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Singapore, etc. and roam inland via train. Not planning to be in FL much, just there for tax reasons and travel base. Not much into cruises for vacation but not too bad if thinking of them as transport ships with room/eats rather than for vacation purposes. Hope to keep at it until tired of it.

[kenrbnj]

Am looking to buy a place anywhere along this line, maybe Boca. Planning extensive global travel next year and will be nice to have easy access to 3 international airports and 3 cruise ports along the line. Extension to Tampa also planned.

BTW am now reluctantly but officially a FL resident for tax purposes. Planning to keep KC condo and investments across MO but will be a global nomad as long as health allows, based officially out of FL.

I own a (vaca) place in the Delray/Boynton area; just north of Boca Raton. Should you wish for unbiased (well, not commercially biased) advice, feel free to ask.

I do suggest looking in the general area of Delray/Boynton/Boca if you are planning to do the travel shtick: PBI is incredibly convenient; though FLL offers more comprehensive destinations.

Oddly, if you buy anywhere near the Intercoastal; you'll be within earshot of Brightline (it is surprisingly quiet). When the BL does extend to Tampa in 2024; that will be a major game changer.

[earthling]

^Might take you up on that when in search mode this summer. Am currently based on Gulf side, taking care of relatives along Tampa/Sarasota/Ft Meyers stretch but would prefer to base along Brightline. MCO/Orlando connection will also be very nice w/out having to live in area. I'll be often secondarily basing out of NYC via my brother's place in Brooklyn as well. Plenty of cheap one way TATL flight options from NYC and FL ATL coast as well as many cruise ports to choose from. Need to work out global health insurance too, leaning towards Cigna Global. Have a year to plan.

[herrfrank]

I live in PB -- originally from KC and still have a house there. There's a small group of KC people here in Palm Beach County. A much larger group of St. Louis peeps. Many midwesterners prefer the Gulf Coast side (Naples/ Ft. Myers/ Sarasota/ Tampa).

The Brightline is great, but for nonstop flights, you are looking at the Miami airport and OneWorld/ AA. MIA is served more conveniently via our commuter rail TriRail, on its own tracks about one mile west of the Brightline tracks. Brightline also has had some negative PR by the sheer number of pedestrians killed so far. The Brightline runs right through the coastal towns and pretty close to the commercial strip aka Dixie Highway, meaning a lot of interactions with foot traffic. Once the Orlando airport MCO connects to Brightline, that will also open some other opportunities and not so AA-heavy.

One important Florida thing that outsiders sometimes do not realize: our state and county governments expect residents, especially those of us on the barrier islands, to maintain a house elsewhere to which we can evacuate several times per summer and for multiple weeks at a time. They sometimes shut the utilities off, so it's not really an option to stay put and ride through the hurricanes, and we get one or two every year.

[alejandro46]

^Might take you up on that when in search mode this summer. Am currently based on Gulf side, taking care of relatives along Tampa/Sarasota/Ft Meyers stretch but would prefer to base along Brightline. MCO/Orlando connection will also be very nice w/out having to live in area. I'll be often secondarily basing out of NYC via my brother's place in Brooklyn as well. Plenty of cheap one way TATL flight options from NYC and FL ATL coast as well as many cruise ports to choose from. Need to work out global health insurance too, leaning towards Cigna Global. Have a year to plan.

Remember there is a 6 month + 1 day residency requirement in Florida for residency. I'm not exactly sure how they track this, but I know that my snowbird family members in Florida have to do this. Agreed about being willing to relocate. They're in the middle of a 3-4 month renovation after 6" of water flooded their place after Ian. Could have been worse though.

[earthling]

There are some exceptions to the 6 month rule. IE, full time RVrs can base out of FL and don't have a requirement for long term FL stays but if I understand right can't be in any one state for more than a certain period each.

Plenty of global travelers I've chatted with have traveled full time over a year and rarely in FL. Might have to prove it's purely travel if challenged, not sure.

I'm hooking up with a domicile lawyer and will check into it. Some even don't own/rent in FL by setting up a mail forwarding service and 'rent' a 'physical address' for $1/month - will check with lawyer and details and if truly valid. If valid, might consider that but will probably end up buying a small condo along Brightline and share it as a 'family vacay' place, maybe close friends too.

[earthling]

I live in PB -- originally from KC and still have a house there. There's a small group of KC people here in Palm Beach County. A much larger group of St. Louis peeps. Many midwesterners prefer the Gulf Coast side (Naples/ Ft. Myers/ Sarasota/ Tampa).

The Brightline is great, but for nonstop flights, you are looking at the Miami airport and OneWorld/ AA. MIA is served more conveniently via our commuter rail TriRail, on its own tracks about one mile west of the Brightline tracks. Brightline also has had some negative PR by the sheer number of pedestrians killed so far. The Brightline runs right through the coastal towns and pretty close to the commercial strip aka Dixie Highway, meaning a lot of interactions with foot traffic. Once the Orlando airport MCO connects to Brightline, that will also open some other opportunities and not so AA-heavy.

One important Florida thing that outsiders sometimes do not realize: our state and county governments expect residents, especially those of us on the barrier islands, to maintain a house elsewhere to which we can evacuate several times per summer and for multiple weeks at a time. They sometimes shut the utilities off, so it's not really an option to stay put and ride through the hurricanes, and we get one or two every year.

Will be good to have Orlando airport in the mix, London and Frankfurt are nonstop and Lisbon/London can be pretty cheap one way with stops. I'll be doing mainly one way with NYC and LA in mix as well to APAC - sister in LA, brother in NYC.

Interesting about the Brightline ped deaths, haven't heard about it.

On planned outages for hurricanes, I'll still have my KC condo and relatives on Gulf side.

[Chris Stritzel]

Brightline testing at 130mph. Great videos including showing it flying past cars on the highway.
https://youtu.be/VIWY6jvau6U?t=50

And the Las Vegas-Rancho Cucamonga line out west should start construction towards the end of the year and open in 2026 or 2027.
https://jalopnik.com/construction-of-10 ... source=YPL