The Philippines Interests Me, But the Wife Won't Have It
I have long been considering the opportunity of retiring to the Philippines. But I can't get the wife to budge on the idea of it. It is an argument I am sure that I will never win. But I am doing my due diligence, nonetheless, and will continue to present my idea to her to see if maybe at some point I can get her to be onboard with at least the idea of it.
Which is step one, of course.
Part of it is that, of course, it's a foreign country. We like being Americans, and we are used to what America provides in terms of all things. Including amenities. And of course, we love our family too, and a trip to the Philippines from where we live now is at least 24 hours away.
A trip back home is also. So it's not like it's a hop, skip, and a jump to get back and forth.
I will admit that even I am not totally onboard with the idea. Again, I like being an American too, and I like all that America has to offer. I mean, is there a Walmart there? I am sure I could get Burger King or McDonald's. How is Internet access, since Internet activities are a big part of my life?
I know my money would go much farther there. But to what end?
The place I have looked at is Angeles City, which seems to offer much in the way of more of what we are used to here. But of course it is still the Philippines.
I have traveled the streets on Google Maps, and a lot of the houses look rather nice, and are akin to houses I might find in places like Florida. Living seems like it would be comfortable at least.
I am guessing, based on some research, that my living expenses would be about $12,000-$15,000 a year, which is much less than what my living expenses are in the United States. If I wanted to live really comfortably $20,000 a year would probably be more than enough to even hire a maid, perhaps.
Would I be living like a king on $20,000 a year? Only someone who actually lives in the Philippines could tell me that. But considering the average median income there is just under $8,000 a year, it seems to suggest life would be very good on $20k.
Of course, I suppose the wife and I would also have to get used to typhoons and earthquakes. That is also, it would seem, a part of life in the Philippines. But is it worse than what we have here?
Tornadoes are a big thing, and in fact a town about 30 miles from where we live now saw the Amazon facility destroyed by one very recently.
If we moved to Florida, or somewhere else on the East Coast we'd have to deal with hurricanes. Same thing if we moved to Hawaii—although Hawaii is extremely expensive. And our luck a volcano might erupt as soon as we get there.
California also has earthquakes. But it's a liberal cesspool and I could never live there.
The one thing I have been told, and I am not sure if it is true or not, is that at least Filipinos like Americans, and that Filipino people are friendly. My dad, when he was in the navy, spent a lot of time there, and always told me that it was a beautiful country with good people.
And Angeles City seems to have a large population of Americans living there as well.
Like I said, just thoughts to ponder. But something that I will probably never convince my wife to do. One thing I do know is that I have never been there, and it is a place at least on my bucket list of places to one day visit.
Maybe a little vacation there might be enough to tell us both if the idea even has any merit.
Lead image courtesy of Pixabay, user Clker-Free-Vector-Images. Philippines Flag Filipino - Free vector graphic on Pixabay
I lived my early life here at one of the remote areas of the Philippines and I am currently here on vacation. I can say there are a lot of interesting places here in our country including my hometown. You just have to convince your wife to try some vacation and see how you fare here. Again, you will experience a lot of interesting things here and you'll see why despite the many inconveniences, you'll still have a worthy stay. Just saying. Hehehe. You're very kind to consider our country.