Guy F.

I'll say to you what I regularly say to my wife. "Yes dear, whatever you say dear."

One could argue that the US has better reporting, which would make the the actual difference between the US and the Philippines larger. A better measure of quality of life is life expectancy at birth. Here are the numbers, courtesy of the CIA World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/life-expectancy-at-birth/country-comparison The PI is 70.32 and the US is 80.43. I'll say that a person in the PI who has money probably lives as long as an average person in the US, and has more fun.

Other appropriate labels: Vax evader, vax dodger. I'll be using vax evader. I like the reference to "tax evader". Fewer young people will 'get' the reference to "draft dodger". "Plague Rat" is too insulting for regular use. I'll save it for extraordinary circumstances.

Plague rats

Maybe you've been paying too much attention to Tox News. Only a few such places in big cities in the US need armed guards. A fair number of public schools have "Resource Officers" who are actual police, but armed guards are present at some businesses only in large cities, if at all.

That photo shows only about a third or quarter of the narrower upper portion. The nearby rice terraces are very reminiscent of the famous rice terraces at Banaue. There's a nice resort and no harassment from local "guides", vendors and such.

Fil-Ams lobby US gov't to expedite Moderna vaccine shipment to PH https://www.rappler.com/world/us-canada/filipino-americans-lobby-united-states-government-expedite-moderna-vaccine-shipment-philippines

You think you are joking, but it's really possible. Kan Umantad Falls in Bohol is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the Philippines, but it only flows on weekends. Most of the time the water goes to the very large number of rice terraces nearby.

Thanks for reminding me how good I have it at my Winter Palace in Bohol. No bars on the windows and not in a gated community but nothing important has ever disappeared. We contribute to community projects occasionally and I consider that to be an insurance policy. We are usually not there but the caretaker couple stay there at night. The largest disappearance in the past 8 years was of a Wrist Rocket slingshot which I believe was taken by a guest of a former caretaker.

Or The Lord of the Rings trilogy. With a smartphone or an ereader you can carry an entire library with you. There are a large number of free ebooks at https://www.gutenberg.org/

Having reading material helps with tolerating lines.

Travel time to the Philippines would be 15 minutes instead of 15 hours.

Welcome to this forum Michael H. You have chosen well. There is a wealth of relevant information here. It's going to take a while for you to sift through all of it. I hope you like to read.

Except when their lips move. By the end of 2022?!

nm