One fine day in January 2022, my husband Andrai and I decided we would exchange condo living in Pasig to enjoy island life in Palawan. We never looked back since.
We packed as much as the weight limit on the plane would allow and on January 27, 2022, we hopped on a plane and left and are now living so freely in El Nido with our two-year-old son Avior.
Since the pandemic started, we had been hoping for a better response to COVID so that Filipinos could live life normally again. With a very paranoid husband, and everything seeming so unsafe and unsure, we went out only about a handful of times during the almost two years in lockdown. We never met up with people, not even family who lived in the building right next to us! Our son was growing up not knowing anyone, not being able to play with other kids.
By the end of 2021, when cases were going down and people started going out, for the first time, we risked meeting with friends. We said that if that went well, then maybe we could start going out more often, because no way being locked up in a condo unit was healthy for anyone. Finally we had hope, and entering 2022 was starting to look brighter and we were ecstatic.
From Pasig to Palawan: This family is now living their best life in El Nido. Unfortunately, a week later, news of Omicron spreading were all over the headlines, and another lockdown once again. We were so sick of it, and it was so uncertain when things were going to get better. Will it take six months? A year? Another two years? We were living in a loop. Cases go down, people go out, cases go up, lockdown, repeat. We were starting to get worried for our son’s development.
So that was the last straw for us. On January 14, we said enough is enough, let’s move!
We had the option to move to the US but how would we be able to afford the cost of living there while barely working? Here, we can choose our schedules, spend a lot of time out together, homeschool our son, be at home, and still live comfortably. A first-world country would require us to both work full time, but our goal has always been to be at home to raise our kids ourselves. People don’t know that the Philippines has so many beautiful places to live. There is more to it than Manila.
I was born in Puerto Princesa, but moved to China when I was 8. I’ve always had island girl roots, and I always loved the memories of my life in Palawan. I love the beach, the air of the beach, and living near one. My cousins, aunts, and uncles are in Puerto Princesa, and my parents recently decided to relocate from China back here unexpectedly due to China’s restrictions. They decided on El Nido. I have a great relationship with my parents, and they love being around my son and are also a huge help to us. We considered Puerto Princesa for about an hour, but it’s more of a city there and would probably have similar restrictions to Manila—we wanted somewhere even smaller and closer to my parents. For a lack of a better word, more probinsya. So we said, why not in El Nido as well?
'Moving to El Nido was really one of the best decisions we’ve ever made!'Having been in El Nido for the past two months, I feel like we’ve already established roots. I cannot begin to express how AMAZING it’s been. We’ve already connected with a community who also have similar stories, ones who got tired of the city and wanted to pursue a quiet life, with no pressure in anything, and are also raising their kids in nature, wild and free.
My son has even adjusted to playing with the other kids as well, and that truly brings us so much joy. He’s changed a lot, and to see that is so so worth it. He is so active, he’s also so happy and expresses it verbally. He is keen to explore the outdoors and would now always yell “Go outside!” We are able to teach him what loving life and living is all about. And the education that he can also receive from nature is so exciting. We are people who believe that life skills and people skills are more important than academic grades. How will we learn those being trapped inside a condo? We plan on raising our son knowing and loving nature. So this was really one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
Two-year-old Avior has been loving the island life. We are able to go out wherever we want, whenever we want. And everything in El Nido is al fresco, so it’s less of a worry to us. There are barely any indoor establishments here. My husband is no longer stressed because he sees me so happy. He says that all he wants is for me and our son to be happy and he saw how we were not able to live life to the fullest living in Manila—always hoping for better days, always in fear.
We feel a lot healthier now! For some weird reason, this place adjusted our body clocks, since most people are morning people and the town is basically closed by 7 or 8 PM. We wake up early, are able to be a lot more productive, have a lot more time to spend with our son, we feel so much more energy, and being happy is so contagious, so we are also happier at home. My husband and I have an even better relationship with each other, and our son is starting to build friendships and is starting to be okay with strangers. He used to yell at people he doesn’t know because socializing was never a thing in the pandemic.
My tips for fellow moms who plan on doing the same? The most important thing is that you should always be in agreement with your partner. If you are not, it will be hard and the one in disagreement would in turn become miserable. Research the communities where you can most likely blend yourself well in because they are essential to your living conditions. I’ve already made friends with the moms here and I am loving the bond that we created.
'Once you’ve decided, there’s really no point in prolonging it, take that big leap, because it’s worth it!'