it's almost like a second chance at life I think people forget about the startup cost they go from being underappreciated and visible to all of a sudden having value again hey YouTube Alex here and in today's video we're
talking to none other than Gio from Gio in the Philippines I'm sure most of you are familiar with Gio if you aren't you'll get to know a bit about him and his experience here in the Philippines I can't
thank him enough for coming on the channel to share some of his insight into to life here in the Philippines well welcome welcome today we have Gio I'm sure there's only a few of you who are not yet
familiar with Gio I'm sure many of my subscribers have watched his channel Gio and the Philippines Gio has been here for a while I would consider him one of the pioneers of vlogging in the Philippines he's just got
this long history of great content he is part of the reason that I was able to come here efficiently really saved me a lot of time and money and understanding of the Philippines before I could make it over
here without further Ado can you please introduce yourself Gio thanks for that warm welcome I appreciate that my name is Gio I moved here 8 years ago I I made a first trip a year before that back in
2015 initially and I came out at a kind of a earlier age than most I came out at age 45 or 46 right around there I think that's an atypical age right most of the guys that we're watching
are at retirement age and they're collecting Social Security so with that in mind the first question I have for you a lot of younger guys they're watching your channel they're saying wow you don't have to be at traditional
retirement age and so maybe you know they're curious like how did Gio do it my first question for you is what is your best insight for younger guys who want to make the move to the Philippines that's very
true because to tell somebody to go find a job here it's next to Impossible I just happened to be right timing and I was at the right place you know when when it all happened but it started being
in the states preparation I mean I was working actually three jobs at one time just preparing paying off debt getting a nest egg put together and getting to the point where I had multiple sources of income if one
dried up I had a backup you know I I wanted to be very prepared and I landed a job out here and I was also teaching English online and in the evening time so I was basically making I
had two sources of income both would have been enough to support me but I wanted to be very secure you know being overseas by yourself you want to be secure got it I think the financial portion of the
equation is super important for younger guys they're not as worried about maybe having an emergent Health situation they're probably more concerned about the financial aspect very helpful Gio in that same line of thinking what are the biggest m
steps that you see younger guys who are not at retirement age one again starting at home not having a big enough emergency fun if things go wrong or I think people forget about these startup costs there are startup
costs here as well and you know um Furnishing a place deposits maybe buying a motorbik not getting things like health insurance and something medically happens so I think you need to look into those things and I truly believe
you need more than one source of income if you're younger than Social Security or a pension age you you got to have a second Source in case one dries up um that was always my biggest worry what if
this what if I get fired tomorrow I I need to have a second or you know so I always maintained having a couple sources of income I guess that would be my biggest advice I always have a plan
B and enough money left over to get back home if you have to you've been in dumag Getti for how many years now it's funny I've lived in three places in the Philippines twice I've lived in Deva twice
I've lived in Sao twice and I've lived in dumag Getti twice so I probably have been in dumag Getti I want to say 4 years total between the two times that I've lived here yeah you've lived here twice
a span of four years how has doag Yeti changed in those four years and maybe you could speak specifically some ways for the better maybe some some ways not as much so so I'll start with the better the
the one thing I like is that because there are a lot of xats here you don't necessarily have to see them and run into them all the time so even though it's an xat heavy City you don't really
need to be around them if you don't want to there's stores that cater to us expats where I can get Western Goods uh there's western style restaurants there's a lot to do there's the mountains nearby with waterfalls and
then you got the beaches in D and beong nearby Islands very Central and you can hop over to South SAU and so it pretty much has everything all nearby very centrally located some of the things I don't like
is that the traffic is within dumag Getti is starting to get ridiculous and I think in part it has to do with 2,000 plus tricycles on the roads now I don't know if they're all on the road at
the same time but it certainly feels like it so the roads are becoming an issue here uh the the pollution which happens around the Philippines uh is is kind of bad same with the noise the air in the
trash other than that uh a lot of xats here this is not the what I call the real Philippines experience so if you were to come out here and you're looking for to be immersed in the culture dumag
Getti is really not the place for that you're just another xat walking around they're they're used to us xats how has living in the Philippines changed you well I'm a lot more relaxed like I I have a lot
less stress you know I wake up in the morning I have no schedule anymore as far as even work I mean vlogging is it's work you know I make income off of it and other sources as well but
I don't have a schedule I don't have a certain amount of hours that I have to put in you know but you know the more you work the more you can make and the less you work then the
less you're going to make sometimes so you do have to put some work but I don't have a schedule and I don't have a bunch of things I have to do I don't have all these unnecessary bills car
insurance car payments um just all these different things I I don't have that anymore I don't have to really worry about when I go out to eat at a restaurant I really don't have to look at the menu
at the prices you know in the states that was like the first thing I would do when I walk in a restaurant I'd be like can I see your menu you're thumbing through looking at the prices to see
if it's uh affordable for you before you sit down you know so here you don't really have to do that it's just uh it's just a more relaxed slower Pac stress free life there's some stress with other things
you know like traffic and an organization sometimes but I I try not to let it bother me absolutely I can definitely appreciate that there's some minor challenges but to compare them as though they were equal to the challenges
we've dealt with in America is not accurate it's an apples to oranges comparison you moved here you had work lined up some guys find that it's not for them for whatever reason they decide hey the weather isn't my
jam I miss XY or Z back home home what has kept you here honestly I would be really bored if I was just here 365 days a year I like to travel I like to go to Thailand and
Vietnam and we just came back from Japan so I like to keep it interesting I like to Island hop and see different places if I was just stationary and do MTI all the time I think I would be
bored and I would probably be wanting to move off some somewhere else and um I just am constantly wanting to explore and see new places within the Philippines and outside of the Philippines and uh you know now I
do a yearly trip back to the US so I'm always off going somewhere doing something and I just stay pretty busy and that just kind of keeps me motivated plus the the vlogging I without it would honestly I
would be kind of bored I think sometimes just uh my day would just not be so exciting so yeah I know that you are a committed man now that your married to your wife Maya Congratulations by the way
would you ever consider moving with your wife back to the US and why or why not we briefly talked about it and it really just even financially it just doesn't make any sense it the cost of living is
going to be much more we talked about the benefits of her becoming a citizen and waited against you know the increase in the cost of living and things like that and having to buy a car again and all
the things that go with it and and a big house payment possibly or rent and it's just not worth it so we are going to work on getting her tourist visa which we think we can achieve now she's
traveled outside of the country enough that we think she will be able to qualify and uh so she'll visit and the beauty about the American Tourist Fe is it's good for 10 years and she can visit up to
6 months at a time which is uh phenomenal so really I don't see the benefits of moving there we briefly thought about it but we're happy here and we're happy traveling around southeast Asia and here we will stay
so yeah so last couple questions why do so many men find happiness here in the Philippines I think they have a lot less stress here usually just the cost of living is less and they're able to find a
a younger prettier more traditional woman here and it's almost like a second chance at life you a lot of these guys have gone through nasty divorce es where they've lost their house and you know it's just been a
painful experience financially and and mentally and then they come over here and they go from being underappreciated and visible to all of a sudden having value again you know and I think that's like a big thing do you
feel that the struggles or the challenges in your life help you to better Savor or appreciate the life that youve built here yeah I mean if you're still content in the US and you're uh you know you never
went through anything horrible like a nasty divorce maybe you're just a single guy I I don't know I don't think you a lot of guys just don't even think about looking outside of the US they're they're looking for
a blue-haired gray uh lady their age you know they don't realize what what else is available or they don't realize they could go live at a fraction of the cost of their of the cost of living or they
could live in a warm tropical Place year round now again you give up a lot of stuff I had to give up things like I really loved mountain biking and things like that that freshwater fishing those things you
I just can't do anymore but uh the things I've gained you know I've gained a lot of things here as well so yeah what are some of your favorite activities that you've been able to get into here Hobbies
you able to develop that you wouldn't be able to do back home I'm big into the hike and discovering waterfalls I don't like going to the ones that are so publicly accessible I like the ones that take like
a your hike and you got to really trck Through the Jungle to get to that hardly anyone ever sees those are the exciting ones and just beautiful crystal clear water and refreshing I love the snorkeling the scuba diving
and I love driving uh my motorbike on you know trips that's exciting for me to go up into areas maybe in the mountains that some of these Filipinos have never seen you know uh Western people and they they're
running out into the street to give you high five as you're driving by I mean you just those are amazing moments you know thinking about a discovery trip right guys see that you're living here you put a lot
of planning and time and effort into it they're not quite ready what are some of the things that guys should consider when they're trying to plan a discovery trip are there any cities you recommend for first timers are
there activities that they should do what kind of steps should somebody take when they're thinking okay I'm not ready like Gio was ready but I want to get part of the way there I recommend like a soft Landing
for guys who have never really tra Trav too much or overseas places like Sabu dumag BGC maati and Manila kind of a soft landing and you know maybe stay there three nights in a hotel see how you like
it and if you like it then you book something longterm if you don't like it you can uh have the freedom to move off to another place I I think too many guys will book like a whole month
Airbnb in a place where they've never been to they get there and maybe they're bored or they don't like it after 5 days and they booked an entire month at an Airbnb so I really think that's a mistake
I think you should do three nights in a hotel and then see how you like it and and then extend or move on thank you so much for your time today Gio it's been wonderful to sit down and
chat with you you know there's just so much Insight I feel like I have a million questions but then this interview would be like four or five hours where can people find you how can people find your channel
two ways it's just search on YouTube goo in the Philippines and I have a website Geo inthe philippines.com that you can reach out to me and contact me there as well and uh it's connected to my YouTube as
well excellent thanks so much be sure to check out Gio's Channel like I said I've been watching his channel for years now there's so much insight to be had there I think he's got close to a th000 videos
on there so you have enough content to watch Daily for a very long time so I want to thank GI again for his time today he's been very generous to sit down with me hope everyone has a wonderful
full rest of their day thanks so much Gio
