The Travel Blog by TravelPod

Martin Crossland is one of 20 Local Experts cruising the TravelPod discussion forums lately. He’s volunteered to be the “go to guy” for all your questions about Florida.

Crossland loves the city he lives in and it shows. He expounds upon the great things about living in the Sunshine State.

“Miami is such an exciting place to be,” he says, “They call it the Casablanca of North America.”

He rattles off a list (in his charming British accent) of all the great things about Florida. He loves the weather, the multiculturalism and Florida’s position in North America as a transport hub. According to Crossland, it’s a breeze to get anywhere from Florida, especially the Caribbean and Europe.

With any upside, comes a downside. Florida is very expensive, especially Miami. Crossland recommends retirees move to central Florida instead, because of high real estate prices. He also admits that Florida gets too hot in the summer, and the danger of hurricanes is everpresent.

“Unlike a tornado or an earthquake, at least you know they’re coming and you can take precautions,” Crossland says. People living in condominiums almost always have to evacuate their homes and after Hurricane Andrew hit, he had to live without electricity for three weeks.

Crossland is also a wealth of information about the rest of the world. He ventured around South America as a young backpacker in the sixties. He has slept in a half burnt down hostel in Chile, a drain pipe in Brazil and was followed around the rest of South America by “an enormous woman”.

“It’s my son’s turn to do that now,” he says with a laugh.

Most recently, Crossland has made his way around Europe with his family. Now, he leads an idyllic lifestyle, running his own tour guide business in Miami and doling out travel advice to wandering souls in the forums.

He’s had quite a lot of experience as a travel agent in the past. One of his proudest achievements includes planning a trip around the world on the Concorde with William F. Buckley back in 1989. He even got to travel from London to New York in the aircraft for free.

Crossland is one of those people who will probably never completely stop moving. His future travel plans include driving to Yellowstone National Park in September.

“We’re gonna do the whole Mount Rushmore, Devil’s Tower, Rocky Mountain National Park thing,” he says , his smile evident, even over the phone.

Next year, he’s planning on visiting Prague, Budapest and Vienna. So, if you have any questions about these parts of the world, or if you just want to chat with Martin and get some tips about trip planning strategies,
head over the TravelPod forums and find the nickname mmbcross. He’s more than likely got your answer, and if he doesn’t he’ll probably find out!

Meet Martin in the TravelPod travel forums.

See you there!

Louise Brown

TravelPod Community Manager