Florida Guide > Miscellaneous
Things I love about Floridian People
One of the nicest aspects about a holiday in Florida is the people: they are so friendly and helpful to all British people. They love talking about England and how different things are there. As soon as they here a British accent, that is it – you will be expected to answer all their questions about England. They really are interested and not just being polite.
There is a lovely naivety about them, particularly the young ones. A good example of this is that they do not seem to be aware that they are the only people in the world to celebrate Thanksgiving. They are always amazed when they tell us to have a great Thanksgiving and we tell them we do not celebrate it. When asked why not we usually have to give them a history lesson on the Pilgrim Fathers who came from England to settle in America, Mind you, how many of our teenagers know who Guy Fawkes was? And no, he didn’t invent fireworks as one youth I met thought.
Waiting staff are so very friendly as they are paid so poorly that they rely on their tips to make a proper living – so do remember this if you are given exceptionally good service. 12 – 15% is usual but 15 or 20% if a really good, friendly service was given.
In shops, if they do not have what you want to buy, they will always tell you where you can go to get what you want.
Just saying thank you to them gets a wonderful response of “Your welcome”. I do sometimes wish this friendliness would make its way over the Atlantic to Britain, we are often very cold and reserved with people.
Florida is a retirement area for many Americans, so do be aware that on the whole they drive very slowly and are rather slow to pull away from traffic lights. This can be very frustrating when only about two vehicles make it across the lights before they change. Mind you, coming from a south coast seaside town myself, I am used to this. I used to live in London and found it quite hard to adjust to.
Over the years many locals have given us bits of advice and local knowledge that we have found invaluable. Particularly the best places to visit and places to park that not many people know about and the best place from which to view the Epcot fireworks. I would not have enjoyed Florida half as much without their input.
So thank you Floridians for all your help, advice and interest in our country.
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