Do you really want to be in the Philippines?

[hk blues]

11 hours ago, Old55 said:

When my wife and I were married in the 90's we both wanted to retire to Cebu.  Over the years living here in the US we've both decided living full time in Philippines isn't for us. We enjoy visiting Philippines and feel sad leaving but home is the US.

In two years we will start spending winter in Cebu and the remaining time in US so will be part time expats. Hmmmmm maybe no such thing a part time expat. Ether you are an expat or not? What do you all think?

It doesn't really matter what you call yourself as long as the living choices you make work for you.

But, for me, being an expat is like being pregnant in that you either are or you aren't. 

[scott h]

Was out of town for a few days at our favorite resort and have read all the posts with interest. 

For me and the wife, it is all about the money!

I married my Pinay wife in the states where we lived and worked for 20 years, finished our pension requirements and sold up. Frankly we hit the jackpot. My wife inherited the family home which we tore down and built to our standards. She comes from a solid middle-class family so we have never been treated as an ATM, we live in the suburbs of Manila near all the good restaurants and shopping and have lived here long enough that we can avoid most of the traffic and slum areas. My health insurance is accepted at the best hospitals in the country, and we live 30 minutes away from one of them. 

All in all our standard of living is much higher here than it would be in the states, with 2 federal pensions, 2 social security pensions and rent from some property in California. We could live ok in the states, but here we dont have to worry about a budget. 

Do certain aspects piss me off? OH YEAH, but as has been said, nowhere is perfect. 

 

[Georgebob]

Great post Scott 

I did enjoy the "slum" areas in Manila 

I went to a place called Deca mall it seems and a place called the Tondominium apartments I'm not sure where that was but the people were friendly 

[Snowy79]

I've pretty much settled here for financial and quality of life reasons. It's an added bonus that I found a nice woman but I left a nice one back in my home country. I just decided at 50yrs of age I'd lost a lot of friends and family and knew I'd be working until I'm 67yrs old to retire with the costs there. 

I quickly got over the romantic notion of great family and Christian values due to the majority I came across just playing lip service to everything. 

I bypass the drama most people get by being unsociable with only a few select friends who never talk personal stuff, just laugh joke and abuse each other. 

I also got around most of the inefficiencies by living in a secure condo with full generator backup and having a good choice of shops and restaurants that have been tried and tested for their efficiencies. 

Value wise for 55k pesos per month two of us can eat three good meals per day, visit a couple of the World's top beaches within 10 minutes and choose from about 500 bars and restaurants within 20 mins. I'd never get that back in the UK. Medical is a slight downfall but I aim off for that by training pretty much every day, not drinking or smoking and there's about 5 medical clinics that carry out full blood work, ECG, chest x-rays etc for under 2k pesos. If they pick anything dodgy up UK here I come, but I'll be back..

[Gutenberg]

3 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

by training pretty much every day, not drinking or smoking

Nice! Me, too! It's a lifestyle,... currently even 2x times per day at the Gym. I read about VO2max a lot and got totally obsessed with doing a cardio/weight lifting split every day. Probably can't keep it up forever, but trying to get rid of this extremely stubborn lower belly fat. My parents say it's called 'mid life crisis' but I highly doubt it. It's just all together in one place, health, fitness, half naked girls to stare at and gym bros to babble with.

[Gutenberg]

3 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

I just decided at 50yrs of age I'd lost a lot of friends and family and knew I'd be working until I'm 67yrs old to retire with the costs there.

Yeah better to get out of the hamster wheel which gives absolutely no reward. I decided that already with 18 but my parents were adamant with me going to the university or doing an apprenticeship to become a butcher or whatever. Lol what. Since then -  close to 20 years ago - I am self employed. I am the OG Digital Nomad before anybody even know that existed! 

[earthdome]

I lived 2 years in Baguio and loved it. Then the wife and I moved back to the US midwest. After 9 years here we are moving back. But not to Baguio, we will rent a nice condo in Pasig close to our daughters new school. With the way things are going politically and socially in the US it seems a good time to leave. This fall regardless of who wins the election, IMHO the excrement will hit the fan. Plus, it is a great time to sell our home. We close on the sale in 6 weeks and arrive in Manila July 25.

[Old55]

6 hours ago, earthdome said:

I lived 2 years in Baguio and loved it. Then the wife and I moved back to the US midwest. After 9 years here we are moving back. But not to Baguio, we will rent a nice condo in Pasig close to our daughters new school. With the way things are going politically and socially in the US it seems a good time to leave. This fall regardless of who wins the election, IMHO the excrement will hit the fan. Plus, it is a great time to sell our home. We close on the sale in 6 weeks and arrive in Manila July 25.

Please start a new topic once you make the big move? Curious how it all goes setting up a new house and all. You guys have done this before so some of us will learn from you.

And good luck moving back to da Philippines! 

[RBM]

On 5/28/2024 at 3:00 PM, Onemore52 said:

I have been advised to get more exercise so with that in mind I thought I would go walking of morning.

Speaking about dumb ways to die this would be a winner and take a gold medal, without footpaths and tricycle and motorcycles to contend with there is no such thing as going for a walk.

Guess I fortunate, within 15 minutes drive from home I have beautiful nature to hike in. No people around, no garbage just nature and a few carabols, goats.  Plus from the door can walk down nice tidy side streets, gardens and people, always bring large umbrella as on occasions do meet a growling dog, rare and never really an issue, just the heat.

[Georgebob]

7 hours ago, earthdome said:

I lived 2 years in Baguio and loved it. Then the wife and I moved back to the US midwest. After 9 years here we are moving back. But not to Baguio, we will rent a nice condo in Pasig close to our daughters new school. With the way things are going politically and socially in the US it seems a good time to leave. This fall regardless of who wins the election, IMHO the excrement will hit the fan. Plus, it is a great time to sell our home. We close on the sale in 6 weeks and arrive in Manila July 25.

I just left Manila last week after a week there ,is Pasig near the MRT?