Have Internet Will Travel Traveling the world, wherever there's WiFi. The adventures of two freelance digital nomads.

This week our update comes from the beautifully manicured grounds of the Thalatta Beach Resort. We decided to celebrate Kelly’s 30th birthday with a little change of locale and some diving, swimming, and spa time. Just 15 minutes south of Dauin in Zamboanguita, with 12 nice little cottages just off the beach and a large wine and spirits selection, Thalatta has been a nice place to kick back, relax, and celebrate the latest arrival to middle age. Its a shame they don’t have a seniors diving discount… :) Read More…

I can’t believe it’s 2009 already, and that in a week I’m going to be 30! We rang in the new year on a beach, with a couple bottles of champagne and some of the friends we’ve made over the last 4 months here in the Philippines.

2008 has been a year of change. It was back in January that we started planning this crazy adventure and pretty much everything we’ve done over this past year has been in anticipation of this. In March Mike quit his job and went freelance full time. I spent most of April getting my loft ready to sell, and finally listed it in May. We made trips to Vancouver Island, Kelowna, and Edmonton, to make sure we saw all our family before we left. I gave notice at work in June, but stayed on till just before we left. August is a bit of a blur, what with packing, planing, organizing, and an endless amount of good-bye drinks, it all went by so fast. Read More…

Ok so I know I’m a couple of days late with this week’s post, but we’ve been busy. I’m not really sure doing what, but with it being the holidays and all, I think I have a pretty good excuse to be a few days behind. Besides, we already kind of gave you the highlights of this week in our Philippines Christmas Recap post.

This week brings us up to almost 4 months in the Philippines, and in doing so, means our visas were also set to expire. On Monday we headed into town to pick up a few groceries to see us through the holidays, and figured we’d stop in at the immigration office and check their hours over the next few days. Last time we renewed our visa we were in-and-out in less than 30 minutes so we figured this time would be much the same. Boy were we wrong. It seems that every other foreigner in town also chose that day, to renew their visas as well. Read More…

It’s strange spending Christmas in a tropical country, especially when it’s snowing like crazy back home. I’m not usually one to get homesick, but around the holidays I think even the most seasoned traveller gets a little nostalgic.

I remember my first Christmas away from home. I had been living in Amsterdam for almost a year, and couldn’t afford a plane ticket home for the holidays, so instead I was staying put.  I think I tried extra hard that year, to keep my self busy with all kinds of Christmasy things just so I wouldn’t have time to miss home. 

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December 15th… Only 10 more days till Christmas, and it couldn’t feel less like the holidays. Despite the fact that this country is a little obsessive about decorations, and lights and especially carols, I’m still not really in the ‘holiday spirit’. Perhaps it’s partly because I’ve been hearing Christmas carols on the radio and in stores since we arrived, and that decorations started to pop up in early September. Yes that’s right…. September.

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This week was all about the diving. We had a bit of a break from the work side of things and decided to take advantage of it while we could.  At the beginning of the week we did a couple of dives around Dauin. One at the Pier, which was a little bit busy for our liking, and then one by ourselves on the House Reef, which we’ve become quite fond of. There are a few schools of larger fish and a resident turtle who’s there pretty much every day.  Also a few weeks ago the boys from the dive shop relocated their old speedboat which sank a few years ago, to just inside the reef. It’s become home to a bunch of groupers and a few bat fish already. The added benefit of the house reef is that we can dive it whenever we want, since we don’t need a boat to take us there, which means we’re usually the only ones on it.

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We’ve been in the Philippines for 3 months now. Since we’ve finally settled we decided to throw a little housewarming party at our new place and invite a bunch of people over to celebrate. We started out the week by heading into town for party supplies. Off to Hypermart in Dumaguete, we loaded up a shopping cart full of Mexican food supplies, and another cart full of beer, rum, gin, and soft drinks. We nearly cleared the shelves of San Miguel. The grand total? About $200. I love how cheap food and beverages are here. Unless you’re wanting specialty items, nearly everything is 50% what we pay back home. Booze and beer is even cheaper with no government taxation like in Canada. Read More…

It’s starting to feel like we actually live here now, and not just like an extended vacation. We’re starting to get into a bit of a routine and things are feeling really comfortable. It’s also been almost a month since we’ve done anything really ‘touristy’.  So when Cita, the woman who owns our house, asked if we wanted to join her and some friends on a day trip to Bias, to go dolphin watching we jumped at the chance.

Dolphin watching in Bias has been on our list since we got to Dumaguete, but we hadn’t managed to make it up there yet.  We hadn’t figured out the best way to get to Bias and arrange the boat trip, and we also weren’t sure when was the best time to actually see dolphins. The ‘tourist trail’ in the Philippines is significantly under-developed compared to a lot of countries we’ve travelled to. It can be hard to find specific information on arranging travel and sorting out details, so when Cita invited us along, we were quite happy to let her do the organizing. Read More…

We love the new beach house we’re renting. This week has been all about getting set up in our new place. We went into town on Tuesday to stock up on food and get a few other essentials. We had a rice cooker in our last rental at the resort and I don’t know how we survived without one before. They’re invaluable! They take the guess work out of making rice and go into warming mode when the water has been absorbed or evaporated. Not to mention how light and fluffy the rice is. I recommend everyone get one.

I finally found a French press to make coffee at HyperMart, which is the local Costco equivalent of a warehouse with everything from appliances and furniture to groceries. Now if I could just find a decent supply of ground coffee. I’ve found I can buy a small bag or two now and again at the market, but it’s sometimes hit or miss. Whole beans are available in many markets, but I haven’t found a coffee grinder yet. Freeze dried instant coffee is the norm here. I want no part of that. Programmers need high test rocket fuel to function. Read More…

Another week gone by. Week 10! I can hardly believe how fast time is flying. This week was mostly spent working and looking for a new place to live.  Both of us had a few work projects on the go, and finding a new home has been top of the list for a couple weeks now. I’ve actually been a bit surprised at how hard it’s been to find something decent. I realize we have a lot of things on our list of wants/needs, but for some reason I thought it would be a little easier.

Much like we did when we first arrived in Dumaguete, we checked out a couple of cafes where they have a few listings posted. One place in particular, the “Why Not Bar”, seemed promising at first, but we quickly realized most of their listings were for show, and not much was actually available. We did a few more searches online, and even resorted to the old fashioned walk/drive around looking for ‘for rent’ signs.   Just as we were beginning to give up and start looking at other options, (such as heading to Thailand earlier than we thought) we found something. It turns out, as with most things in life, it’s all about who you know. Read More…