My 2 Cents on Tampa
Tampa was very different from other places that I have been. Usually within a couple of nights I can have at least a basic outline of what it takes to get women in a city, but after 3 nights Tampa had me confused, so this will mostly just be observations without much of a thesis, structure, or conclusion.
There does not appear to be a proper Tampa Data Sheet. This thread was the closest that I could find.
Hopefully, it helps.
Let's get to the part everyone wants to read:
The Women:
Appearance: Good. They were not as hot in general as the women I saw in Chicago and Dallas, but definitely better than what I saw in Kansas City. However, this being America there were still plenty of fatties. I would say the female obesity level was about the American average.
The few Latinas I saw did not impress me very much. While there were a couple of very cute ones (though I suspected one had had a lot of work done) they were usually fat. I was much more taken by the Latinas in Dallas.
I admit that I had come hoping to see where all of the ultra hot girls from FSU and UF come from or move after graduating, but unfortunately it does not seem that they come from or to Tampa.
Attitudes: OK. If you are expecting flirty and submissive southern girls, you're going to be disappointed. The Mid Atlantic and parts of the midwest such as Indiana appear to have colonized Tampa. That being said, I definitely got occasional IOIs, which I basically never get in DC anymore.
The Competition:
Significant but reasonably surmountable.
There are a lot of tall good looking preppies who clearly get parts of game. That being said, there seems to be enough to go around. I saw dorky guys, who I'm not sure I would call quite busted but were still clearly not the high value, on many occasions with 6+ girl friends.
Boring But Important Stuff:
Getting there:
Tampa has a full sized international airport with flights to all major US and Eastern Canadian destination, with a few flights to Europe.
Getting Around:
You will need a car. Public transit barely exists plus the distances are gigantic. From Ybor City to the beaches around Treasure Island is 30 miles.
From Ybor City to Hyde Park, two neighborhoods that straddle downtown, is 5 miles. I used uber which was very reasonably priced but not dirt cheap like Dallas.
Beware of the Bridges:
If you decided to come to swoop, unless you are in Tampa for quite some time, you must pick either St. Petersburg or Tampa. Doing both is not going to be realistic. Even with no traffic, the bridges are from 3 to 10 miles long. When there is traffic, it can be horrendous due to poorly thought out exits and merges.
Where to stay (aka where the girls are):
Ybor City
Ybor reminded me a lot of Bourbon Street. Think high end steak houses next to tattoo parlors. The vibe there was reasonably friendly.
Hyde Park
It's very preppy, but far fewer bars than Ybor city. I have to be honest I thought that the talent was better there, but that might have been skewed due to Gasparilla.
University of Southern Florida
After visiting Florida State, I was shocked at the low quality of talent. I would not bother with it.
Cultural Notes:
Like I said above, other parts of America have essentialy colonized Tampa Bay, especially by Philadelphia and Philidelphian Italians.
Very Philly
You see a lot of influence from Philly. Many of the competing preppeis have a very Bradley Cooper vibe. As well, there is definitely an Italian Philly influence as well. When I went to buy water at a Publix, it had a lot of unusual Italian goods like the veal cuts for Ossa Bucco, which you would have to special order in DC.
If you are expecting the South at all, you will be disappointed. Southern accents and the southern belles that I had hoped to see were almost non-existent.
Venues to find girls:
Gasparilla
By shear coincidence, I was there for Gasparilla, which is essentially a big public drinking party to celebrate Tampa's pirate heritage. I did not get the impression the people were interested in interacting outside of their social groups. I would recommend avoiding it since hotel prices go up a lot that weekend.
Cerviche
Not a good place to pick up but decent food & a fantastic band playing all of the Latin Lounge hits and playing them well.
Conclusion
I think that I will return to St. Petersburg to cheaply relax and warm my bones during what are increasingly bitter winters in the DC area, but I don't think I will build it around trying to swoop. However, as I stated above, I really was not able to get much of a handle on the place, and maybe my impressions are wrong.
I do think that moving there is a bad idea unless you have location independent income. Many people complained that local wages did not reflect the cost of living.
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