The Move to Southern Suburbia

Living in Singapore for 3 years rewires you.  My husband Jinggoy and I enjoyed our time there as we started a family with our 2 mini-schnauzers Noah and Isaac and Mayumi, our first child.  We loved the lush greenery, the clean air and the fauna, which we enjoyed even while living at the heart of the city.  It's a great place to raise a family and pregnant expats at every square meter in Tanglin Mall proved that point.

When we decided to move back to the Philippines, we said that quality of life was a non-negotiable.  We're done dealing with traffic and pollution and we'd like to be able to give our kids an alternative life, similar to the kind of childhood Jinggoy had while growing up in Samal, Bataan where kids can simply be kids.  

And so we were bent on getting a place in Tagaytay but went slightly farther than that in a charming town called Alfonso.  To a lot of people, Tagaytay and Alfonso are dream retirement places.  Some said we were crazy for choosing to live this far away but who says you can't live your retirement as early as now?  We call this country club living. Moreover, the travel time from Alfonso to Bonifacio Global City where I work is just an hour and a half away, which is the same time it takes to travel from Quezon City to BGC without the stress.  Not bad at all.  It's a choice between kilometers of green vs. waiting in traffic.

Today, I wake up excited.  I look forward to going to work in the city and I look forward to going home in the suburbs.  Weekends are bliss when you live in one of the Philippines' top vacation spots because there's loads to discover.  This blog exists to share the journey with you and tickle you a little bit on what the new Philippine suburban life could be. 

Cheers to life!

Mutya