This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org. After 50 years of Buffalo winters, my husband and I were ready to try something new. My grandparents were snowbirds and my parents have also been for many years. Why not us? So, in February of 2020 we rented a house in Naples, Florida, for one month. In 2021, we rented a different house for January through March.
I envisioned lazy days by the pool, going to the beach regularly and luxuriating in not needing a winter coat. Snowbirding ended up being much harder than we expected and coupled with the stress of the pandemic, it was less than ideal for us. But I learned a variety of lessons about how to prepare, what to bring, what to buy and how to make it work.Clothing We brought primarily summer clothing (because it was Florida!). However, given that the weather was absolutely freezing for several weeks, I didn’t have enough warm clothes at all and wished I’d brought more long sleeves, pants, and socks. On some mornings, I ended up wearing my winter coat which I’d used on the drive down. I brought all of my bathing suits and given that we had a pool, this was smart, so I could rotate through them. You need more than a couple if you’re using them dai …