Picking your own fresh grapefruit for breakfast and 80 degree heat make sunny Sarasota, Florida, a very pleasant change from the snow flurries we left in Manchester a couple of days ago; but there are definitely changes since we last visited the Sunshine State.

The shopping malls everywhere are offering huge savings - but in the main we’re told it’s the Brits and Canadians who are doing the buying, because the Americans simply aren’t spending as much.  Even so, the current exchange rate does make you think twice; the bargains we are used to don’t seem to be quite as plentiful any more.

But constant sunshine helps stretch your spending power - try walking or cycling on nature trails, enjoy the beautiful beaches (quieter midweek rather than weekends), cook your own delicious barbecues and, when you do eat out, the portion sizes are huge so can easily be shared.  In fact, one ’small’ tub of ice cream easily fed two adults this afternoon!

October to March is definitely the most pleasant time to rent or swap holiday homes in Florida; it’s warm and sunny but not too humid.  The British summer months are absolutely scorching hot and many people with holiday homes here disappear to cooler climes - meaning there should be plenty of rental or swapping opportunities available if you can stand the heat!

Tags: Florida, holiday home, rental, Sarasota, swapping

This entry was posted by barbietowers on Sunday, March 8th, 2009 at 2:37 am and is filed under Knowledgebase, Worldwide Locations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.