What to bring to PI

[mogo51]

Well they forgot to tell my maker!

[davewe]

My wife is already stocking up on the towels 

The biggest thing for me is my tools and woodworking supplies. If you are a hobbyist of some sort those are the sorts of things you might consider bringing as they will be difficult to find. Like many guys, I will be shipping Balikbayan boxes and will probably have 3 boxes of my tools and stuff to send.

My son asked me just last night whether I was going to take my high end audio system. "Gonna sell it," said I. "What are you going to do there?" "Get cheap speakers," I said. He was incredulous. I am a pretty easy going guy and can live with different foods, can live with cheap speakers and TV, can even live with cheap towels. But I can't live with crummy tools.

I guess my point is you have to know yourself well enough to know what is really important to you. For some it's that perfectly fitting, expensive pair of shoes - for others it's a 100 year old English smoothing plane 

So I would advise determining what's really important to you and not sweating the rest. 

[Sander Martin]

For me the two hardest things to find are shoes (i wear a US size 11) and shirts (185cm and 100kg). Flipflops are easy to find even for the bigger sizes, but quality shoes aren't. I dont like flipflops and prefer my good shoes. The XXL shirts in places like SM malls are Asian size and they are Large size at best... Anything bigger is hard to find. Surplus store chain has more bigger sizes. Kinda strange because Filipino men aren't the thinnest people in the world...

We bought winter jackets from The North Face and the only one that fit me was a 5XL ???. My tiny 165cm and 55kg fiance had to get a XL ???.

 

Edited June 28, 2016 by Sander Martin

[Guy F.]

Batteries bought in the Phils are lower quality than those found in the US, so bring some. Quality toilet paper is impossible to find in the Phils. Hats and motorcycle helmets in larger sizes are extremely difficult to find.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Guy F.

[Sander Martin]

Quality toilet paper?? I have seen (and bought) plenty of good quality 3 ply toiletpaper from Iloilo Supermarts. For me good quality toilet paper is the one where you fingers wont go thru the paper when you wipe. Plenty around in bigger supermarket aslong as your willing to pay a higher price.

But if you want to BB some of your favourite brand here then fair enough ??.

[Methersgate]

The things that I am always asked for by the family are everyday drugstore stuff like vitamin pills.

If you wear eyeglasses bring a prescription. If you are likely to need to wear smart clothes bring a suit and a couple of good shirts and ties and shoes in a suit carrier so they don't get wrecked (if you find yourself with a business meeting in Makati you will need these...)

Condoms are unobtainable in many places.

The most useless thing to bring is a woman from any other country - she won't enjoy it.    

[earthdome]

For long term visits bring 3 months supply of any prescription medicines.

 

If you have any favorite off the shelf or over the counter medicines/vitamins bring a sufficient supply of those. These items are much more expensive in the Philippines and instead of buying a large bottle you end up buying these by the piece or a bubble flat of 10 pieces. Last time I went back to the Philippines from the US I brought over a years supply.

[Gerald Glatt]

On 6/27/2016 at 4:17 AM, skyskyper said:

 

Totally FALSE! It has been scientifically proven that finger geometry and foot size have no direct correlation to the size of your "another part of my anatomy!"

Right little hand

[Gerald Glatt]

Don't forget wool blankets if you intend to use the air conditioning.  If your companion is native to the Islands they may be uncomfortable with any thing less than 30 degrees and 90% humidity.

[robert k]

2 hours ago, Gerald Glatt said:

Don't forget wool blankets if you intend to use the air conditioning.  If your companion is native to the Islands they may be uncomfortable with any thing less than 30 degrees and 90% humidity.

Good idea! I had so many Filipinos tell me they would like to see snow that I wanted to find a walk in freezer somewhere where we could go in and stand around for half an hour and see if they still really wanted to go "see" snow.

When it would rain I used to say it was "Hot" snow. I got some funny looks, then smiles.