Slow Life in the Philippines

Planning To Move - Sometime

We have discovered that it is very difficult to ship packages from the Philippines If you use conventional removers or even Courier companies you end up paying through the nose. Inwards shipping is not so difficult as you can use the balikbayan box system from virtually any country where Filipinos are working and shipping rates are very low.

Yesterday I discovered I was not alone and others are having the same difficulty. One guy in Manila has even set up his own business to help people out. We approached a local packer and he suggested using the local postal service which can ship parcels weight up to 31.5 K, the only drawback being shipping by sea to Cyprus will take around 3 months.

We are bow having a rethink on our strategy and are considering carefully what we plan to ship, where items cost more to ship than we can purchase new.

We are getting really frustrated with officialdom in the Philippines it seems Jasmins paper work is at least another week away, this will have a knock on effect on our whole schedule and I can see us not being able to leave the country until May which is cutting very short to enable us to raise paperwork to visit the UK to celebrate my fathers 100 Birthday.

The Spanish I think invented the word Manjana and of course they colonised the area so its understandable that the locals just are not in a hurry to do anything other than sleep.

David Ogden
Dipolog city
+639991141149

http://seriouswealth.net

Leaving the Philippines

Planning To Move

This last week with three months to go to our planned move, I decided its was rime to get down to some detailed planning and costing and this is why moving house is so stressful. WE last moved a year ago.

We are going to rent in Cyprus for a year, so although we have a couple of properties earmarked we will need to wait until we can inspect them and check out the surrounding areas. We we arrive we will rent an apartment for a week at the moment there a quite a few available so we plan to choose one in an area that we will also consider for long term. As soon as we know our passports and visas are going to be ready we can make bookings for flights and temporary accommodation.

Once again the local weather effected our plans our lawyer was due to go to Manila to collect final Annulment documents but flight was cancelled so the contingency time we had in our plan has been wiped out which may delay our departure, praying now for no more hiccups.

One area we have been rethinking is our baggage our initial plan was use my bike box as accompanied baggage to carry my bike and other bulky gear, but then I remembered the first time I arrived in Cyprus with the box and had to hire a stretched Limo as it was too big for an ordinary taxi so this time we will air freight it and travel only with out clothing and my computer. As we will be renting a furnished property for a year we will leave our other possessions until we either sell our house or have storage space in Cyprus.

We have had one offer on our car, which we have not yet put up for sale, but will consider nearer the time after we have advertised it as the offer is too low.

We have also had an offer on our Dipolog city house but once again not really in the ball park, so are making tentative plans for Jasmins Parents to live in the house until it is sold/

David Ogden
Dipolog city
+639991141149

http://seriouswealth.net

Life in Philippines - 2013

A Good start to the year

The new year started with a bang and 30 minutes into the year there was a black out and since then power and Internet connection has been effected by bad weather. We are keeping pour figures crossed that next week we will have all the documents required to start registering our marriage in February.

We still are waiting clarifications of our visa requirements for Cyprus but have drafted out a schedule made at the moment are looking for a packer and forwarder. We do mot have that much to move just personal possessions. we have also started to research in detail what properties we are interested in renting.

We are also ramping up the sale of our Dipolog house and lot and it would be great if we can get a buyer before we move, or else Jasmin's parents will live here with the dogs until such time as it is sold. we also will be putting our car on the market. Finances are going to be tight and we will need to dip into our savings to finance the move, but it seems we are off to a good start.

We still have worries about our respective parents health and Jasmin's mother will need to consult a heart specialist for treatment.

David Ogden
Dipolog city
+639991141149

http://seriouswealth.net