Travel Spot :: Caught in a time warp from the Gulf Coast.

Where on the planet does one go nowadays to savour the delights of old world charm, pleasantness, friendly service plus a pace of life that pre-dates the digital age ? Well, unlike popular opinion, you don?t have to go to quiet backwaters such as the West of Ireland or New Zealand.

A recent trip to the balmy oasis which is Anna Maria Island, a 7.5 mile long sand bank several hundred yards from the West Florida coast just south of Tampa Bay, confirms that such delightful retreats lie much nearer to home. A reporter on a visit from Boston arrived minus her luggage which had been misplaced by her airline. In need of refreshment, she and her companion called luxury cottages in cornwall with a convenience store to get a couple of cold sodas. On hearing with their problem, the guy at the counter directed the crooks to their lodgings and gave them some chocolate candies totally free of charge.

This is the sort of little gesture that offers this dream-like backwater its enduring charm. It seems that no-one is in a hurry here except with regards to service and civility. People still need the time of day to get acquainted with impromptu conversation and provides way at traffic junctions having a friendly wave.

This pleasant retro atmosphere is perhaps all so reminiscent of life within the 1950-s this also is reinforced by the fact that there's only one high rise building with nothing else over 3 storeys. As our intrepid visitor from New England discovered "Fast-food franchises are few. Mom-and-pop-type motels and cottage colonies rule. Stores sell such vacation necessities as inflatable alligators and purple Slurpees."

Local residents appear to revel inside fact that the modern day has left the region so far behind. As far as they're concerned, they are at least forty years behind the periods and the idyllic island can be a reminder of Florida as it used to be ? just beaches, palm tress and pelicans.