Stages Of Life As An Expat/visitor

[Mr Lee]

These are from my point of view, please feel free to post your POV.First is first time visitor, where our eyes are wide open to the beauty of the country and the many smiling faces, but especially all the women who seem to be unable to keep their eyes off of us, boy what an ego booster that is. :o We think we would like to live there full time.Then maybe more visits or when we move to or spend a lot of time in, we realize that many, not all of those people were seeing dollar signs on our foreheads and that was why they could not keep their eyes off of us. Even many of the women were looking at us in the hopes of a better life but once we separate the people who want to be friends with us or our partners for the right reasons, then being with those people is fantastic and we still think we would like to live in the Philippine full time.After a year and renting or owning (not living in a hotel, pension house or a relatives home and not even a place where they provide all utilities because that is not real life of having to deal with issues) we wake up to the reality that getting things done is not easy in the Philippines with the many redundant systems that seem to make even the slightest task difficult. Anyone who has had to have electricity, cable, a phone or dsl turned on or even had to pay property taxes will understand this one. I would say the easiest thing to do in the Philippines is get a prepaid cell phone and load for it, but getting a post paid is a whole other story. Well at this point we are starting to have second thoughts about living in the Philippines full time.Then after a few years of living 3 to 4 months a year the realization that many of the things that we thought before moving to, may not at all be the facts, and then we start to question what we did and why would we ever wish to live full time in a place where even shopping can be frustrating at times. In my case it took me until the last couple of years because at first we were visiting for 21 days at a time since there was no Balibayan privilege back then, and then longer once the BB privilege was made law, until eventually we bought our own place almost 5 years ago and started living in the Philippines, first for 5 months a year and then 4 months and now both the wife and I are considering even less time and realize that living in the Philippines full time is probably not for us unless things drastically change for the better or get much worse in the US. During the course of those 17 plus years we kept moving from area to area trying to find the best place to eventually move to and had decided on Cebu City once realizing that the whole Philippines is basically the same, it is just a matter of putting up with different issues in different places, but always having to settle for less than we wanted, but I guess that is basically how life is anywhere in the world, just exacerbated while in the Philippines.So what is your POV based on how long have you been in the Philippines in total and for those that have visited, how much total time have you spent in country and have you had to deal with any govt agencies during any of those trips? Please list your stages and how you see things and has your thoughts about the country changed after spending some time in country?

[bows00]

Very interesting perspective. After reading your thread, I realize I may be jumping the gun to move there permanently after retirement. I only visit 2 weeks at a time and never get pass the stage where the filipinas find me very interesting. And of course, it does wonders for my ego too. But I guess we are different in that you are already married and I am still an eligible bachelor.

[Mr Lee]

Very interesting perspective. After reading your thread, I realize I may be jumping the gun to move there permanently after retirement. I only visit 2 weeks at a time and never get pass the stage where the filipinas find me very interesting. And of course, it does wonders for my ego too. But I guess we are different in that you are already married and I am still an eligible bachelor.

lt is not my intent to discourage anyone, only open peoples eyes. After a few years either people still love it or hate it and often those with no choice just grin and accept it. Which one will you be, only you will know.

[bows00]

i guess you are right about the love hate reactions from expats, it is just that I have only seen the positive reactions while there. My friend is truly happy with his new wife - I am assuming to a point where the negative aspects that you mentioned are tolerated. But in the long run, you have a valid point... it is something to consider and emphasizes the importance of having a plan that includes an option to move back home if things dont work out there (i.e., rent first)

[Jim Sibbick]

After a while, the problem isn't finding a nice girl but beating them away with a stick.I used to live permanently in a hotel in Cebu City because I didn't want to deal with all the hassles. One payment per month and I was happy.My girlfriend arranged everything for the current apartment on Leyte. I just had to hand over the money. Except for a few purchases I made myself in Cebu City.You have to listen politely to every request but learn to say no politely. A good tool I found is to get people to work for the money. There is always something that needs doing.Never lend money unsecured as it will only cause problems in the future. If you want to hand over money, say it is a gift. That way you don't lose a friend when they can't pay it back.

[Jake]

Some of us will refuse the realities of living off the economy (beyond tourist stage). Some of us will continueto liquidate more cash savings, plastic accounts, just to maintain the tourist/honeymoon stage. And thenthere are some of us will return as soon as money is saved up again or cash out your job, current marriageand 401K accounts. And then the chit hits the fan with no emergency funds to get back. Those of you that have somewhat succeeded in their long term plans, my hat is off to you. Not only did yougo with the flow regarding extended family issues, behavior of a totally strange society and government, butyou have also kept your head above water by keeping your overall stress level down as compared to whereyou came from. I personally will give myself a maximum of 6 months to really decide whether my native land is right for me atmy current financial and stress level. Probably for the first couple months, travel to exotic locations and alsocanvas potential residential sites. And then get back down to earth.Respectfully -- Jake

[gapotwo]

Being that i was born in the philippines as an american citizen,and carried an ACR.card while i was still there, made me feel like a foreigner in my birth country. Fast forward to 35 years later.after spending my life in Alaska and Hawaii i am on my way home soon, really soon.its been such a long time that i feel like im going there for the first time.but now as a dual citizen.unlike others i am already established over there, a family inheritance from my parents, i could live the rest of my life very comfortably in the pinas. but lately as my departure date gets closer, i start wondering, if it is the right move for me. I am already dug in and setteled in Hawaii .I have no dependants, my daughters are on their own and grown up, i got rid of the nagging wife,kicked the dog and shot the cat. opps, am i babbling again? Any way ill give it a try and if i dont like it i probably sell all the houses and hightail it back to Maui. :unsure: and if i decide to stay in our house in the philippines it wont be much of a retirement manageing the bussiness.you probably see that i hate making decissions, but what to do? will i expat or just visit? only time will tell. East or West? Tanks EJ.

[Bundy]

As a first time visitor to the Phils in 1986, i was 27yrs old and had travelled overseas a few times to UK, Europe and Singapore.Philippines was something new to me and my first time in a 3rd world country and to be totally honest, my first impressions were "why oh why did i come to this sh&thole"On that first trip i arrived in Manila and then two days later i ventured to a completely "lawless" place called Davao, i was happy just to get out of there still in one piece and breathing.For me it took several more visits before i started to see behind the festering garbage and the uneasy feeling of being constantly watched as a potential target.These days, the same sights are still there, the same feelings are still there, but i manage to deal with it and over the years have got to the stage whereby pretty well nothing bothers me anymore.The country itself is in my opinion pretty much the same no matter where you go, so when looking for a place to settle down i don't really think it makes too much difference.Life is what YOU make it to be and to determine whether or not you would be happy to live in ANY place is IMO largely determined by the person YOU are. Some people would not be happy to live in the Philippines but just maybe those same people are not happy living ANYWHERE.I was born and raised in a wonderful country and currently live in a beautiful country town in Queensland where i'm working pretty well 7 days a week on the farm.Hard work, but life isn't too bad, so why would i want to put myself in a position of living in the Philippines? In my case it's very simple. Purely financial reasons. If i go to the Phils, i can afford to retire and hopefully avoid some nasty physical legacies of years of smallcrop work.If i remain here i know i will be working until i drop.It has taken quite a while but the missus is in full agreement.We are happy to live here, make no mistake about it, but we know we will also be happy living in the Philippines too.

[Art2ro]

Some of us will refuse the realities of living off the economy (beyond tourist stage). Some of us will continueto liquidate more cash savings, plastic accounts, just to maintain the tourist/honeymoon stage. And thenthere are some of us will return as soon as money is saved up again or cash out your job, current marriageand 401K accounts. And then the chit hits the fan with no emergency funds to get back. Those of you that have somewhat succeeded in their long term plans, my hat is off to you. Not only did yougo with the flow regarding extended family issues, behavior of a totally strange society and government, butyou have also kept your head above water by keeping your overall stress level down as compared to whereyou came from. I personally will give myself a maximum of 6 months to really decide whether my native land is right for me atmy current financial and stress level. Probably for the first couple months, travel to exotic locations and alsocanvas potential residential sites. And then get back down to earth.Respectfully -- Jake

You got that worded correctly Jake in our particular situation, but it took us 13 years in the making to get where we are today! We do now live an idealistic modern western life style without too much of the hassles! We are happy and content for the most part and we will probably stay indefinitely unless something changes to make it otherwise, but so far, so good!

[Mr Lee]

As Art always says, it is a matter of money, so IMO if a person can afford to live in a first world country, then other than to find a wife or have a less expensive life (that would not really apply to those who could afford to live in a first world country) why the Philippines, when there are many much better countries to live.While some like to think my posts are negative about the Philippines I am just telling it like it is and some may not wish to read it, but I believe they too will wake up once they have spent as much time as I have and realize nothing changes. I am quite happy in Florida and think of it as a paradise except for those darned hurricanes, but during my life I have found that no place is perfect 100% of the time. If anyone thinks my posts are negative they should read some other forums where people commonly say the whole Philippines is a cesspool, sh&t hole and other words which I would never use when referring to the Philippines. I just say it is what it is and we enjoy vacationing there and with each passing vacation, it makes me appreciate Florida all the more.What always amazes me is people compare apples and oranges instead of apples and apples. If a person lives in most countries, I would bet there is a less expensive place to live within most of those countries. For instance those that live in California or Hawaii US, they might find Florida much less expensive and we have no state income tax and sales tax is only 6%, so a far cry for the 20% VAT in the Philippines. So what am I saying, a person gives up a large house in the US and moves to a small apartment in the Philippines and uses that for comparison, when they could have moved to a small apartment within the US somewhere where it was less expensive. I cannot speak for other countries, so maybe others who can will, but for the US and the Philippines, I can say first hand when comparing apples and apples that costs are around the same or even less in the US because of better buying power and large chain stores in the US, so without all the import duties the Philippines seems to charge.We all have choices and what is right for me is not necessarily right for others and I wish those others who enjoy life in the Philippines the best that life can give them, but if you are going to move into a smaller house or apartment in the Philippines, then look at comparative costs elsewhere in your own country and then decide based on those. If you are going to the Philippines for the women, then I will totally agree with you because my wife has been a blessing for me but if you have other reasons, look within your own country or other countries you are allowed to move to where you would be welcomed with open arms and not have to deal with a country where you will most likely never have equal rights.I had one American who owns a big home tell me when he moves to the Philippines he no longer has to pay the damned high priced homeowners insurance because he will be living in a rental, that is the exact logic I am referring to, if he moved into a rental in the US, then he would not have to pay the damned high cost of homeowners insurance either but to get away from that high cost and the cost of car insurance he is going to move half way across the world to where he will take taxis, well there are communities in the US where a person does not need a car either and can take trams or buses to get most places needed and one community in Florida uses only golf carts to get around within it and has everything within it, so to me his logic is off but if he said he was moving there for the women, then his logic would be right on.Weighing all your options when making choices that may change your whole life is all I would like people to think about. Apples and apples.

Edited December 23, 2011 by Mr. Lee