"Holiday in the Sun" Tampa by emilienoelle

Tampa Travel Guide: 1,021 reviews and 2,332 photos

Tampa

Our last trip to Tampa, Florida was for Thanksgiving 2004. We went to stay with family for the holiday, but it turned out to be so much more. It was lush with gorgeous vegetation everywhere one turned at a time of year when everything in New England is long dead. The warm air and sunlight was just the thing to bring us back to life after the dark and cold of Boston.

Church and Palm

In the process of traveling to Tampa we also got to experience the services of Song airlines, Delta's new low-cost carrier. They were great, providing the only non-stop service from Boston, with each passenger having access to his or her own personal television screen where it was possible to watch live television via sattlelite, buy movies, play music trivia with other passengers and listen to one of several music stations. This feature as well as the friendly attitude of the staff made the trip a very nice one.

Tampa Bungalow Home

Besides the great weather we found that one of the nicer things about Tampa was all of its beautiful, old homes. Most of the houses in the older part of the city were built in the 1920's in the Bunglalow Style with wide farmers' porches. The house where we stayed was like this, the interior with it's gorgeous woodwork being almost as lovely as the tropical flowers and banana trees outside of our bedroom window.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Inexpenisve, warm, and pleasant
Cons:Lots of one-way streets make driving difficult at times

Last visit to Tampa: Nov 2004
Intro Updated Dec 11, 2004
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Reviews (15)

Madelaine at Busch Gardens with Cotton Candy! - Tampa

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Comments (13)

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Jerelis Apr 20, 2011 at 6:41 AM

Great page with good info and nice pics. Also learned something, because I never heared of Mantatees before:)
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Kaspian Nov 29, 2010 at 6:26 AM

Awww.. Glad you liked it! We should try and get a small gang together in Florida again sometime--like we did in 07. It's always a fun place to hang out.
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Pawtuxet Feb 3, 2009 at 1:35 PM

Sea World is a must when you have kids in Fla. We always enjoyed. Yrs. later my son swam w/ the manatese when he was in college down there. Wonderful creatures. Tampa coastline is a beauty.
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Jim_Eliason May 1, 2008 at 6:48 AM

Nice page, we have those little lizards all over down here too! its our version of squirrels.
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Happytimeguy Mar 6, 2008 at 8:20 AM

I believe these are the snowy egrets but its difficult to tell from your pictures but, I am confident because of your description. : )
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funnybeee Jan 17, 2006 at 11:24 AM

Nice pages, finally I see who Ms M is... I arrived in TPA yesterday, thanks for the tips. BTW I think Katmo painted one of the birds. Aren't they called herons? Hugs, Beee
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Propermark Jul 27, 2005 at 3:04 AM

Nice pics! I'd like to visit the States one day... but I have to choose: Florida or California??? What would you suggest me? Greetings. Marco.
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larigot Jul 11, 2005 at 1:41 PM

Thanks for your comments about Tampa's older homes. Many visitors are unaware of Old Hyde Park, Tampa Heights and Seminole Heights, but they are worth a visit.
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ruffen Mar 27, 2005 at 4:32 PM

Tampa looks and sounds lovely :) E, mantatees are big but I think the foot-meter converter have made them very huge in meters...
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850prc Jan 29, 2005 at 7:59 AM

Very nice Tampa page, E-N. : ) Can you believe that old-time sailors thought manatees were mermaids? Kind of tells you how strong their rum was, doesn't it.