South Padre Island Travel Forum

hey guys, glad your here.... I was hoping I could bounce a few things off ya.....
I am coming down for some EXTREMELY overdue downtime.... I'm a 33 yr old single chick traveling by myself. My friend has a bungalow I'm staying at, address hasn't been disclosed to me yet. I won't be able to come until the second week in March. APPARENTLY that's not the best time for a 30 something due to spring break. I heard i may not even be able to get over the bridge... is this true? I'd loose it if I showed up after a 25 hour drive from Michigan and couldn't get in.... How do I avoid this? Besides the obvious don't come unitl April..\LOLL Where do I want to avoid? I don't mind partying, but I am not that college crowd girl anymore. I'm planning on staying awhile maybe a few months.. are there places on the island I can get temporary cash jobs if I run low on funds? I'm NOT a homely, trashy, uneducated, boring, antisocial, drug addict, freakshow. And what about cell phone reception on the island I'm with Centennial, if that helps. Also internet.... wireless? or don't bother...? And island transportation..... one of my buddies said you can get anywhere on the island for $1 cab ride, I'll have my car , but I could just imagine the parking or lack of parking. I also plan on bringing my mountain bike, is that a good idea or not?
And the last question I'll plague you with is this, I plan on eating at home a lot.... what is the cost of living there like? How much more expensive are the grocery stores compared to main land? Or is this not an issue... Ahhhh.. and what about gas prices there? I'm paying between $2.15 and $2.29 a gallon up here in Michigan.
I soooooo appreciate you help, hope I didn't try to cover too much there, I just like to do as much research as possible before going to a new place so I'm not blindsided. I'm openminded to any suggestions, questions, comments....
thanks......

OK.. here we go.. Bringing your mountain bike is a great idea. You can take it to the beach and ride around the island. It doesn't get too too crowded, but during march it will be crowded. TONS of spring breakers. About not being able to get on the island, I've never heard that before, EVEN during spring break. You might get stuck in traffc but there is NO such thing as them not letting you in. Especially if you LIVE there. There are tons of restaurants and stores that i am sure you could get a job at if you needed extra cash. Parking shouldn't be a problem. If you are staying somewhere there is usually parking available. Gas right now in Texas is about at an average of $2.05 a gallon but you can find it for $1.99 maybe less especially in the border towns. There is wireless internet everywhere. If you need your computer, bring it. i would definatley recommend you bring your computer. It will help you find different places and research places on the island. Brownsville and McAllen are about 20-30 minutes away. This is where you would go to the mall and what not. Groceries are the same everywhere. You won't have a problem finding them. Let me know if you have any other questions

Howdy,

I agree with the above poster on everything except the groceries. There's only 1 grocery store on the island, and it's way overpriced. Go to the store in Port Isabel. The prices are much better.

Marc

YOUR AWESOME,,,, THANKS SOO MUCH
hey who is the power company on the island? i need to call ahead and have the power turned on at the little bungalow i'm staying at

thanks for the grocery store tip, i've found in my travels it is much more cost efficient to eat at home base and when i looked in the yellow pages for padre all i found was one grocery store, so i assumed it would be overpriced. i'll take that info with me for shopping. I'm sure i'll be posting more questions as my trip rounds closer. Thanks!!!!!!!