In a follow up to an earlier post Living Local, I wanted to delve deeper into what you can do to “Live Local” and save tons of money on your next trip to the Philippines.

Inevitably in your lead up to moving / retiring in the Philippines you will make several if not many trips to your new / future home. We usually go every 2 years to the Philippines and spend a extended time there. We typically are in country from 3-5 weeks depending on what we need to accomplish. In our first couple trips over we exclusively stayed in hotels and took public transportation (i.e. taxis) We stayed in hotels that we could find ratings and reviews for online, before we left. These were always nice hotels and we were never disappointed with the accommodations. This was before we had definitely decided that we were going to retire in the Philippines and were treating the trips as vacations and a chance to visit family and have a good time.

After coming home from a Christmas trip over, I was looking at the expenditures from the trip (which I’m sure you can imagine a X-mas trip to relatives) and saw that this trip was far too expensive and that we needed to find solutions to this issue before our next trip over. I believe that our total trip cost that time was somewhere in the range of $15,000 USD. As I thought about what we could do to lower the trip cost, while looking over what we spent, the single largest expenditure were the hotel fees. Now granted we were not staying in local hotels we were staying in western hotels that were very nice. Priced at daily total fees of approximately $100 USD per night, you can see that this cost could be potentially $5,000 USD for a 5 week trip. Besides the cost factor of staying in hotels during our trips, my wife was constantly asking me if I thought that I could “handle” living in the Philippines and would I be able to endure all the “down sides” to life in a 3rd world country.

So with those two factors in my head, I started researching short term rental houses in Davao City (where we plan to retire). I asked the usual expat forums and such but didn’t get any good information. So I dug into the internet and the never ending “non page 1″ responses from Google. I found several Davao City rentals ranging from $60 USD to $90 USD per night. Most owners will make a deal if your going to rent for several weeks to months. We made such a deal for a rental house with a pool and a car for about 30 days. I believe that we payed about $45 a night for the house and $15 a day for the car, no driver. So for $60 USD a day we had a 3 bedroom house with pool and a car. Of course there is no room service in this situation and no restaurants on-site, but that’s what it is to live local Although we did have “maid” service while we were there. The house lady came daily and straightened up and mopped floors and such. We gave her a nominal tip on our departure, although I doubt it was required.

Make sure you do your looking and reserving well in advance and you will be able to get a better deal. A owner will be more than overjoyed to have their property rented 6 months to 1 year in advance of your arrival. Most of them will require between 40% and 50% down approximately 7 – 21 days advance of your arrival. You can’t really begrudge them that, it is not like they will be able to rent that property within only days of a cancellation. So for $1,800 dollars we were able to have a rental car and a 3 bedroom rental house with pool for our entire stay, at the same time saving a lot of money on food, solely because we shopped and cooked at our home away from home.

So if you want to save a ton of money on your next trip to the Philippines and find out if you can live local, then lose the hotel and rent a house.

LIVE LOCAL

Related Posts:

• A Room The Size Of A Closet
• “Dirty Kitchen” Will / Does your Retirment Home Have One
• Choosing a Architect / Builder in the Philippines
• The Next House is the Last House
• The Ins and Outs of Ceiling Fans

As you all read in my last installment, Location is a very personal choice.  There are so many choices when it comes to where one would like to retire. From my experience it seems to be determined by a persons likes, dislikes, hobbies, and mostly family. Obviously I have no one on my side of the family in the Philippines, although everyone in my immediate family (father, mother, sister) have all been to the PI. I spent a significant amount of my teenage years in Asia. Yes, I am a “military brat”, we spent 4 years in Okinawa, just a hop, skip and flight from the Philippines. It seems as I look back ever since we returned to the states from Asia, I have looked back there very fondly. I distinctly remember being in Okinawa and being mystified with Asia and it’s people.  I went on with my life and started in the telecommunication field.  In the early years of my career, I traveled extensively for work and ended up in China for several trips for extended periods (30-90) days. This re-sparked my interest in Asia. I traveled to western Europe, South America, The Caribbean but none of those destinations seem to call me as Asia did/does. Needless to say I met my wife in Asia on one of these trips again Asia was in the forefront in my life.

Why didn’t I just plan to retire in the US like most everyone else here? Good question I see people in my everyday life that are still working into their 60′s just to make enough to retire comfortably. Not because they like or want to work, just for the mere reason of money.  Average lifespan in the USA is 70something that leaves only 10 years to relax and reflect on life, what kind of crap is that!! I’m 37 today and my 2 oldest children are either in college or on their way there in the next year. If people could retire in the USA at 40 or 50something don’t you think that most would? It is just that they can not.  That is where a 3rd would country comes into play. I never had planned before meeting my wife to “retire” in the Philippines.  I honestly never even considered retiring before, it came to me shortly after spending time there not as a tourist.

I actually think that out of all the countries in Asia that a westerner could decide to settle down in the Philippines is probably makes for the easiest transition.  A good majority of the population speaks English and as in most Asian countries the people as a whole are enamored with Americans. That combined with the fact that western convinces, especially American, are well represented in the Philippines. From our fast food chains, to our clothing brands and practically everything in-between. When you get off the plane in Manila, one can definitely see Manila being just another city in the USA. (well except for the trikes and Jeepney

My wife being Visayan has pushed my decision towards the southern Philippines. I have been to the 3 major islands and I have to say I like Mindanao the best. I thinks its the combination of everyone being down to earth, Davao still being a large metropolis, and the fact that you can drive 1-3 hours and practically being in the middle of the jungle. I am very much looking forward to discovering Mindanao with my family. I thought long and hard about settling in Cebu or Mati (Davao Oriental).  Manila never really entered my mind as a place to retire, just for the fact that it is sooooo crowded and much more expensive to retire modestly.  I decided against Cebu just for the fact of the landscape and how it seems that the city is so crammed together between the mountains and the ocean, also the island itself is not that large. I then was very seriously considering settling in Mati, but in the end I could just not see myself so far, 2 1/2 – 3 hours drive from “civilization” . Couple this with the fact that I love to play golf, and imagine that I will play forever, the choice was suddenly narrowed.

Friends here at my age and a little older, that have reached a equal station as me in life, are all driving expensive cars living in big houses (with large mortgages and payments), not us, we are living very humble. I saw a new neighbor of mine yesterday drive home in a new BMW and I thought to myself, I could have one, sure I could make the payments, but what would that do to my time frame for retirement. I think that people here for the most part are expecting, whether consciously or subconsciously, to work into their 60′s. Of course it would be nice to be in a brand new SUV every couple years and a large house on a golf course, but what is the price?  Choices I made earlier in life caused me to miss a great deal of my older children’s child hood. I will not do that with my younger ones. I have learned from my mistakes. But that is life, no?

For me …… I have decided that I can not afford the high price of luxury, both monetarily and family wise.

Related Posts:

• The Next House is the Last House
• Lot 41 / 21 Home Sweet Home
• A Room The Size Of A Closet
• Choosing a Architect / Builder in the Philippines
• Our Retirement Locale

In my first on topic post, I would like to talk about what we call here at home Living Local. This means when you are visiting a country for more than a couple days to live as the locals do. This is the best way to get a good understanding of their culture and their country. Bruce over at American in Davao blog discussed this very topic just the other day. That discussion led me to think about this further and how it relates to people that have not spent significant time in the Philippines and have “made up their minds” to move there.

People often think that they are resilient and can take anything, but if you have not spent time in a 3rd world country for a extended period(s) , you really may not know what you would be missing by moving there. I purpose that one self examines their life and thinks about what they can live with and without. From my experience it takes weeks to really see what you miss from home. In my 17 years in the telecommunications industry, jaunting around the globe, I have spent months at a time in 3rd world countries and you really get to see what the country and people are all about. Most of these trips I lived local, in rented apartments/houses and drove myself around. (Hotels and Taxis get very expensive when your staying somewhere for 60 days (even in 3rd world countries)) I almost always had chaperons, assigned by the company, to be there if I need anything. I became good friends with most of them and spent my free time while in the country out with them and their friends and families. I still have several friends that we keep up with today overseas that we have met thru business.

Staying in a hotel and riding around the city in taxis, is NO WHERE NEAR, “Living Local”, not matter how long you spend there.

Just a few examples (as it pertains to the PI):

In the hotel you are most likely not experience brown outs. These happen all over the country quite frequently, most establishments tourists frequent run on generators.

When you are using taxis you get on your phone or look around at the sites or talk to friends and pay no attention to the silly driving habits of the locals and the extreme traffic.

When your eating in restaurants that cater to westerners you can’t really appreciate how simple the locals “menu” is.

Simple things in a 1st world society become down right hard and frustrating in cultures that have limited infrastructure and large bureaucracies that are often corrupt.  You all know the exercise in patience the DMV is in the states, just imagine what its like to renew your visa or drivers license in a 3rd world country.

This post is in now way meant to discourage any of you from following your dreams and chasing the “Dream Retirement”, only to possibly open your eyes to new ideas that you may have not thought of before. Mostly to give you all something to consider as your time come closer to retirement.

Related Posts:

• A Room The Size Of A Closet
• “Dirty Kitchen” Will / Does your Retirment Home Have One
• Choosing a Architect / Builder in the Philippines
• The Next House is the Last House
• The Ins and Outs of Ceiling Fans