Seriously making an overseas move.

Wasn't sure where to put this. I already announced my plans to travel. But can't find that post. And this is going to be much longer. And soliciting/discussing advice and plans.

So I'm 60. Grew up in rural miuntains. Was in the Marine Corps. And have spent a good 20 yrs contributing to ZS, here and other prepping forums.

I ended my 30 yr marriage at the beginning of the year. It's amicable and civil. We agree we are better off apart. Turned out better than expected.

I purposely left her and my adult son the bulk of my finances. I did invest a decent portion for myself. And I get social security of $1400 a month in less than 2 yrs. So enough to rent or buy a home in the Phillipines. And travel frequently around SE Asia.

So I have SE Asia money - but not really US money. 

Monthly expenses there are around $1500-$2000 per month total. Including everything. Rent, utilities, health insurance, food, transportation, entertainment etc.

The amount of money I have I would be living very frugally in a very rural area in the US. And honestly I couldn't afford to retire. The cost of a place alone would set me back.

I've been considering this for some time. Enough that I am going for a long term stay hopefully next month. First to some locations I've researched in the Phillipines. Then possibly to Vietnam or Thailand. 

For the moment the plan is a base house or apt/condo in the Philippines. With cheap regular travel around SE Asia. 

How did I come to this decision?

It's a big departure. I have to admit. And a pretty drastic philosophical change in my life. Much of my plans and life have revolved around homesteading, prepping and survival. 

I've gone thru some pretty major life changes over the last three years. Mostly in the area of self improvement. I got back in shape. Lost 80lbs and maybe 8 different medications for various health reasons. That have improved or outright disappeared. All of which came with side effects. Changed my diet. Got a new therapist. And just sort of went thru a 180 degree change in my medical/physical and mental health life.

Living in SE Asia is very different in terms of prepping, homesteading and survival. And my mind has changed a great deal. I wouldn't say I'm not going to use most of those skills there. It's a third world country. With questionable access to power and water. And essential supplies. With a real need for living off grid. No matter where your set up. 

So most of my acquired skills in this area won't go to waste. 

But I won't be taking any guns. That I know of. There are gun ranges in the PH. But I have not looked into gun ownership etc. And that's where the big change comes in. I won't be joining the local patriots like in the US. Lol! Or be concentrated on the more paranoid aspects of prepping. 

And think that's where alot of my own changes personally lay. 

I wouldn't say I'm no longer a prepper. But I do think your own mental health can play a role in how you approach prepping. And mine has shifted a great deal. For the better at least in terms of my own life. 

So anyway I've been working on this move for awhile. And will be posting gear lists. And strategies for keeping myself and my possessions safe. As well as good comms. Both for contacting people and managing finances. 

Luckily I can travel light. I don't need alot of clothes. And I'm not really roughing it or hiking or backpacking. Mostly between hotels, Airbnb or similar monthly or daily rentals. 

Long term. If it works out. I'll set up a beach house with back up solar and water. 

A 20ft shipping container is less than $1000. From LA to PH. So eventually it will make sense to ship my Jeep and whatever belongings or essential items I can stuff in the rest of the shipping container. If I was ready I'd probably fill it with solar system and any water system supplies I might be able to get cheaper or better quality from the US. 

So I guess I'll be changing from more of a militant(?) prepper to more of a natural disaster prepper. Which in some ways is a good change for me personally. But I will still set up as much defensive preps as I can. 

I have another thread on choosing a carry on hard suitcase and day pack. 

https://ufozs.com/smf/index.php?topic=2804.0#msg52214

So feel free to ask questions! And help me vet my decisions? Thank you all.

One of the good things about the Philippines is that they are one of the least restrictive places for firearms in SE Asia. There's just a few hoops to jump through, and you can even get a license to carry in public. One of my high school buddies became a passport bro, married a nice local girl in Mindanao, and moved. He has legally-owned guns in his house now. He had to wait for his immigration to process before he could apply, but once that was over he was good to apply for a firearms license.

Good luck, man. Sounds like one hell of an adventure.

Quote from: DarkAxel on May 13, 2025, 11:45:15 PMOne of the good things about the Philippines is that they are one of the least restrictive places for firearms in SE Asia. There's just a few hoops to jump through, and you can even get a license to carry in public. One of my high school buddies became a passport bro, married a nice local girl in Mindanao, and moved. He has legally-owned guns in his house now. He had to wait for his immigration to process before he could apply, but once that was over he was good to apply for a firearms license.

Good luck, man. Sounds like one hell of an adventure.

Wow. That's good news. I'll look into it more. I hold an FFL01. So I'm hoping I'd eventually get approved for something like that. 

Yes. It's an adventure. I don't usually make small decisions. They're usually big ones. But it's worked out thus far.

Really it comes down to finances. I just can't afford to live here anymore. And I don't want to work two jobs until I die. Just to afford food. 

Greetings Moab,  Before you leave please, please, please look at the rules on collecting S.S.I.  You could be out on collecting,  they know you are out of the country by cross talk between State Dept. and S.SI. Dept.  The State Dept.  now tells S.S.I Dept. you are out of the country.  That's what they told me,  I was heading to Mexico, not anymore.  The best to you.

Quote from: Te on June 22, 2025, 10:55:34 AMGreetings Moab,  Before you leave please, please, please look at the rules on collecting S.S.I.  You could be out on collecting,  they know you are out of the country by cross talk between State Dept. and S.SI. Dept.  The State Dept.  now tells S.S.I Dept. you are out of the country.  That's what they told me,  I was heading to Mexico, not anymore.  The best to you.

Thanks for the update. 

thanks for the bump on moving.  I have been waiting, impatiently, for  the SO to retire for several years.  We have been spending the last several Januarys in Thailand, between Bangkok and Chang Mai. We /I had mentioned about moving somewhere after she is done. 

 I was impressed with the cost of living there. As an example,  A meal of street food is between 1or 2 dollars, A good size house or apt $800.  A lot of friends don't cook at home at all.  Our friend, a native, has been trying to get us to commit, but also continuously warns about the heat/humidity problem. We use zoom for chats and when it is 95 degrees and similar humidity and you watch the sweat pour off it makes me question my sanity re: the move there. And 95* isn't the highest.

I like the firearms rules in the Philippines,  I will look at the summer weather.

And thanks for pointing out possible SS problems.  I had not heard that issue.  

Quote from: ssa dot govYour right to Social Security
payments when you are outside
the United States
If you are a United States citizen, you
may continue to receive payments while
outside the U.S. You must be eligible for
payment and you must be in a country
where we can send payments. If you are
not a U.S. citizen, you must meet one of
the conditions for payment described in
the next section.

You should be good, I didn't see any exclusions for The Philippines.

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf

Quote from: roadart on July 11, 2025, 07:54:17 AMthanks for the bump on moving.  I have been waiting, impatiently, for  the SO to retire for several years.  We have been spending the last several Januarys in Thailand, between Bangkok and Chang Mai. We /I had mentioned about moving somewhere after she is done.

 I was impressed with the cost of living there. As an example,  A meal of street food is between 1or 2 dollars, A good size house or apt $800.  A lot of friends don't cook at home at all.  Our friend, a native, has been trying to get us to commit, but also continuously warns about the heat/humidity problem. We use zoom for chats and when it is 95 degrees and similar humidity and you watch the sweat pour off it makes me question my sanity re: the move there. And 95* isn't the highest.

I like the firearms rules in the Philippines,  I will look at the summer weather.

And thanks for pointing out possible SS problems.  I had not heard that issue. 

There are no problems with ss. I looked into it. Only certain types of disability or something are restricted. But doable even then.

The firearms rules are screwed tho. Filipinos can own guns. And there is an entire region dedicated to making firearms. Ghost guns. But pretty decent copies. Foreigners can not tho. Your wife can. So I guess if you married you could have them via her ownership. But your not traveling to a range to shoot or anything. Although I did not look into whether it's illegal to shoot your "wife's gun". My female friend who is from here. Tells me many people own guns. And few follow the legal ownership guidelines. So I think ghost guns must be pretty prevalent. But violent crime is very limited. It is incredibly safe. They don't tolerate any types of street crime. And it rarely exists. Women can walk the streets in the worst neighborhoods in the middle of the night without fear.

But as far as taking my own guns with me. Not happening.

Rents here are substantially less. I've been looking at 2 and 3 bedroom homes, new or newer for around $350. On Panglou and mainland Bohol. It's pretty crazy. I'm moving from San Fernando LA Union in a week. To Bohol. A more central island where my friend is from. It's home to one of the 7 wonders of the world. The Chocolate Hills. It's surrounded by beautiful beaches and Panglou island. And the center is farm land and mountainous jungle. 

I'm going to find a long term rental. Either on the beach or up in the mountains. There are a couple areas I want to explore for more permenant property and either house or having one built. It's homesteading basically. Solar, well/rainwater and septic tank/drain field. Or possibly wind depending on proximity to ocean wind. Growing season is year round. And cattle, pigs, goats, chickens and other animal raising is common. I'm over the chickens tho. Every damn neighborhood (not that I plan on living in a neighborhood) sounds like a chicken farm at every hour. I don't notice it anymore. But it's still annoying. 

I'll post some pics.

You cannot view this attachment.

Behind my rooftop apt on the beach.

You cannot view this attachment.

From the rooftop deck in front of my apt. Looking down the beach.

You cannot view this attachment.

Looking the opposite direction.

You cannot view this attachment.

Looking out at the ocean from rooftop deck.

You cannot view this attachment.

Night time on the deck.

You cannot view this attachment.

The deck.

You cannot view this attachment.

Looking into my 2 bedroom apt. $500 a month. Not in a tourist town.

You cannot view this attachment.

Roughly the kind of house I'd like to have built. Land house less than 50k USD. But I want to be up in the mountains like in the rear of the pic. 

You know, that was just wrong starting out with that first picture .   What is the proximity to Pinatubo?  I also often see that the phil islands seem to be the hurricane magnet on the other side of the world.

The down for me is the SO is not an island person.  Loves the beach but,  "WE MIGHT GET STRANDED THERE"

Maybe it will be checked out on the way back this year....the pics and your posting make it look good.  And the temp and humidity are lower than Thailand even though the latitude is about par.

Quote from: roadart on July 11, 2025, 07:12:23 PMYou know, that was just wrong starting out with that first picture .  What is the proximity to Pinatubo?  I also often see that the phil islands seem to be the hurricane magnet on the other side of the world.

The down for me is the SO is not an island person.  Loves the beach but,  "WE MIGHT GET STRANDED THERE"

Maybe it will be checked out on the way back this year....the pics and your posting make it look good.  And the temp and humidity are lower than Thailand even though the latitude is about par.

Pinatubo is south nearer to Manilla. And closer to the other San Fernando. One is close to Manilla. And the one I am at is further north in the coast. 

There are storms here just about everyday. As it's rainy season. But they frequently come and go within an hour or two. Brilliant lightening storms off the coast, over the ocean, at night sometimes. Truly a spectacle. Hurricanes are a concern. But not like South Central US concern with like tornados. Bohol is a central located island. It's surrounded by other islands. So I think it has more protection than others. The typical cinder block house is rated for hurricanes. Reenforced with rebar. 

The island issue and being stranded is sort of mute. If your living on an island that's where you live. It's not like you were normally travelling from your island to a mainland. The island is large and your home. It doesn't feel like your trapped or anything. And there is no mainland you need to escape too. I'm sure in a disaster supplies are limited. But most live a self sufficient life anyway. As services are regularly stopped just from the quality. But your really talking only power. If you were in city water and sewer only. Then yes. But outside of the cities your in your own well and sewer anyway. And power regularly has brown outs even in the city. So most have some form of back up power. Or in my case I will always have a solar system and Starlink. As well as a private well/rainwater collection, and private septic tank. Your kind of forced to live off grid anyway. 

The upside is the weather actually. Your not contending with so much. As you would in most of the US. Because all the protections and energy sources needed for the cold are unnecessary. Keeping the weather out is the opposite. Having a lot of ventilation - open sliding wall windows, elevated roofs, etc helps with the heat. Clothes are a minimum. Stocking up firewood for the long winter or some other energy sources is not necessary. The most energy source required is refrigeration and AC. And can be easily handled by a solar or wind generator. And of course you'd always want a fuel run generator as backup. 

The drawbacks are the protectionist economy. Retailers are family owned and protect their status by making sure everything not from them is heavily taxed. Or hard to import. You can buy alot from Amazon or AliExpress. But it has higher shipping and customs duty fees. Even main stores at the mall have no return policies. They take everything out of the box and prove that it works. As once you pay it's yours. Which yes, is ridiculous. As Amazon or Lazada (the PH version of Amazon. But it's like Temu Amazon. Some good stuff. But a lot of poor quality crap.) will send a driver out to pick up your returns. You don't even have to take it anywhere. Goods from AliExpress ( and I think Amazon are not taxed if under $200) but larger purchases you are forced to go with a local retailer. Buying a car overseas is not possible. They protect the car dealers by making the import process cost twice as much as the car. If you can even get thru the red tape. 

This isn't to say you can't find products for a good solar system, rain collection, labor and construction supplies are very cheap. Building a homestead is way cheaper and accessible here than just about anywhere else. And with the good weather the requirements are far less. Growing season is year round. And meat, fish and chicken are super cheap.

The beauty is the nature and the people. The extremely cheap economy. You can live a much better quality of life on far less here. I can not afford to even homestead in the US. I can afford a really nice homestead here. You kind of have to ignore or give up your American "the customer is always right" mentality. There is Internet everywhere. But like no one uses Google. You can't look up all the local businesses in Google. People just don't participate in it. And there is no yellow pages to my knowledge. Someone you know knows it exists or you've seen it. Or you know someone to ask. Or your gonna be looking for it for a long time. Facebook marketplace is used a lot tho. But their use of the internet is limited. Even though almost everyone has it. And the PH set the record for most text msgs sent in a day. More than the US and another major country combined. They seem to still rely on word of mouth and local knowledge. 

They do have big box hardware stores. And suppliers of just about anything. Your just not gonna go online and compare products and pricing like you would in the US. But honestly everything is so cheap. That might be why people have not adapted to that here. I really don't know.

Alot of the business practices in the third world leave you scratching your head. You can buy a Toyota Hilux here. The best truck in history. But other simple goods like any better food ingredient for anything other than local cuisine your probably not gonna find. Some of the food here is really good. Grilled chicken, fish or meat is great and very cheap. Local dishes are incredible and very cheap. But don't expect McDonald's, pizza of any kind, or a burrito to taste like anything you'd want to buy twice. At least not in the province. Maybe in Manilla or Cebu. And supply is always short. Menus never have everything available. Even at international chains.

But that's not why I live here. I live here for the homemade homestead life. Where everything in that level is cheap, fresh and easily accessible. Everytiwn has a wet market. With that morning fresh vegetables, fruit, fish, chicken, meat anything gotten locally. And it's dirt cheap. If you can cook and preserve it's the best. Or don't mind eating clean grilled fish, meat or chicken with rice and vegetables. If you can stick to that it's a cheap way to eat clean. But 80% of items sold at restaurants also come fried or with a ton of sugar. Plain coffee besides an Americano is impossible to find. As is artificial sweetener unless you buy it in a store. Coffee shops will give you a percentage of sugar as much as you want. You order no sugar, 25%, 50%, etc  But you don't get to add your own. And don't expect Splenda or equal.

So cheap eats are available. But its really best for those wanting to homestead, cook at home, etc. But you can also live in Manilla or Cebu. In a new hirise glass condo building for $500 a month. And walk up and down the block for any western chain restaurant. Or any service you could possibly need. But that's not my style. Maybe if I get old and need to live down the street from a hospital. But that's a different life. More of a digital nomad. And your not really getting a Phillipines experience. Your just getting a very cheap big city. But that has its advantages for many.

The key slice of life here for me is either the ocean or the mountains in the province. Villages and towns are very dirty and noisy. No trash pick up in a lot of places. A ton of garbage near cities in the beach and just in the street. It's a third world nation. But you get out in the country with larger tracts of land. And locals more into the nature. It's better for me.

I'd been here and to other third world nations before. You really have to experience it to see if it's right for you. Generally if your an upright person looking for US quality of goods and services it's not for you. Maybe some of that in the few big cities. But it's gonna drive you mad when no one gives a shit that your a paying customer. Lol. It's just backwards in that way. Businesses would rather take you for an extra $5 than have repeat customers. They really have a different way of doing business. It's like the business is in power. They are in the driver's seat because they have something you want. Not the other way around - like I have a business and I need you the customer.

But then again you can get your laundry done for $2! And build a house for $1000. Or a decent house for no more than 35k USD. You can have a guy build custom cabinets or custom windows for next to nothing. But you can't buy too of the line ones from a manufacturer. (I don't know that for a fact. Just a vague example.) Cement work is too nitch. Everything from outdoor cement or cement counter tops custom made that look like something out of a design magazine. 

The advantages for someone who was going to otherwise homestead in the US are vast. You can really create a luxurious tropical homestead here for way less than in the US. It wouldn't be possible for me otherwise. Or at least I'd be living in a van on a 5 acre plot in Nowhere Arizona. Eating rice and beans.

But I'm not an expert on the Philippines. These are just my observations to date.

Thanks for that writeup.   Like I said island life will probably not happen for me, because of she who must be obeyed,  but I will definitely take a spin through.    We are not ones looking to dine out as a general rule, we are both good cooks, but like in Thailand,  the cheap high flavor fresh food for a buck is hard to pass up.
Having been to African and Asian and central American  countries as well, I am familiar with the trash issue.  It is sad. Sort of like old Detroit  or the downtown LA were my old office was by little Tokyo/skid row.

Just as an aside.  I just found 12v a/c units for trucks and rvs. for less than the cost of 110v.  solar panels and a couple large li/fe batteries = no big elec bill.
Don't know the elec prices there but some of the 3rd world elec habits I've seen are frightening.