⌛ Greetings All!

27/m, soon-to-be expat coming from Tempe Arizona! I'm massively excited to leave the rat race behind for awhile and spend some quality time (6 months - 2 years) abroad. I'll be looking at the local universities/colleges to keep myself busy and get a student visa if any of them are appealing.

From reading the forum it seems that the best approach for finding long term housing is to hop on a scooter and find a place in person. Can anyone suggest a good hostel or inexpensive hotel for the mean time?

I'm also curious about the following:

It seems like the cheapest approach for travel is to buy an onward ticket. Can anyone suggest a destination that is inexpensive to fly to from Cebu or Manila? I probably will not be using the ticket.

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to the wealth of good information on this site. You've made my planning and decision making much easier! I look forward to meeting some like-minded expats and drinking some PI beer!

-JJ :D

 

You may want to check the Silliman University Alumni Hall - they have a 'hotel' there and you might get a student discount, too!

I have not tried it there yet (must make abuse of my being a lifetime member as an SU-alumna next time and enjoy the privilege) but what you normally do when you want to look around? You dont need to stay inside the room the whole day, you only need it to take shower and retire for the night and to keep your things safe while you are away to look around.

Give it a try!

 

Thanks Josephen, sounds like a cool way to check out the campus at the same time. I'm assuming there are apartments in the vicinity that are affordable and house predominately students, a place like that would probably fit the bill.

 

Best of luck JJ,

I too am from AZ - more from the West Side and will be making a trip to Dumaguete next year with my wife.

 

For a cheap onward ticket, go here;

Welcome To Tiger Airways

Larry

 

Larry is correct that Tiger has the cheapest outbound tickets from the Phils. However, Tiger flies out of Clark (of course, if it's a throw-away ticket it doesn't matter.)

Since you are travelling...why not check out some other places? Purchased in advance and with some flexibility you can often find RT tickets Cebu/Manila to Bangkok for as little as $100. And Thailand is definitely worth a visit!

You will have no problem finding inexpensive hotels in Dumaguete...usually around P600/night. Some that my friends have stayed in and liked include: Grand Central, Harold's Mansion, Moriah Pension and OK Pension. Also...all of these offer discounted monthly rates.

Silliman is the best university around here but there are others. Are you interested in pursuing a degree or just audit some courses?

P.S. If you are just auditing courses, I don't think a student visa is necessary. One can stay up to 2 years on a tourist visa, so I wouldn't worry about the visa.

 

jj,

there are a lot of hotels in dumaguete and are affordable too.. but if your planning to stay for months i think its better if you rent an apartment instead.that would be cheaper.. there are apartments from 5,000-7,000..

yes, its effective when you just rent a motor bike and drive around the city there are a lot of posters around the corner advertising different apartments..

 

Hey Rottweiler, nice to know there's a fellow Zonie around. I've been telling my (only somewhat) concerned family members that Dumaguete is safer than Mexico right now, maybe even some parts of Phoenix. Am I misinformed or is that your feeling too?

 

I'll second that! :D

 

I'd love to see Thailand (Mmm Thai food...) but I was under the impression that it was a little too politically unstable at the moment, any thoughts?

Awesome, thanks for the recommendations!

I was holding of on a decision until I get to see the schools in person. I already have a 4-year bachelor's degree so an additional degree isn't my highest priority. If I end up really liking the town/school another degree is definitely a possibility though. We shall see...