For pinoy balikbayans, how much do u spend when you go back home?

Question

minus the airfare that is. a co-worker says she spent $5000 for a month-long break. do you spend that much?

Answer 1

i spend squat when I'm at home. except for the electricity for the a/c since it's so freaking hot. last month i spent like $200 on electricity alone when I'm at home.

Answer 2

yea id say tht much or a little more than that. I wish I was in the Philippines rite now. =]

Answer 3

usually when i go to the philippines for vacation.

i bring about 10k thats good for a month. just for the shopping and all

since my family owns a house in cebu i dont really have to worry

about accomodations.

Answer 4

yea. about exaactly that.

it adds up when u buy:

*pasalubong

*pay for the boxes

*(hotel)

*shopping

*going to resorts

porbably 4000 without airfare

Answer 5

$5000 is not "alot" for a month-long break. Plus, everything's cheap in the Philippines, I think you'd want to take the opportunity to spend more anyway.

Answer 6

boastful braggarts. your going to h**l for that mr purple.  whats a dooler?  cant even speak english, hahaha

Answer 7

Sure. That's too much though. The thing is...most balikbayans would have a sense of excitement when they come back here. Most would get stuff or go to places even if its not needed. Filipinos have this thing about converting foreign money to peso. Now when they get here, they will convert peso to foreign money. When they realize that most of the available stuff here are far more cheaper than buying it abroad, before you know it...they almost bought the whole shop!

I went back here last year, and just shopping at Duty Free alone would make you spend around 1k USD. And thats just either the day or the day after arrival. So you can most likely get the picture of what will happen on the next 26 to 28 days.  

Answer 8

I think that's too much but then it depends on the lifestyle that she had while at home. When I went home this year for three weeks, I took my first-degree family + my immediate family to Boracay and then my immediate family to Bohol. Me and hubby did some shopping along with my family too and we took some friends out. You can say I spent around PHP 150K including airfare for my family plus hotel stays.

Answer 9

sounds like it could be fun.. i've never had that much money to spend

Answer 10

I always make sure that I spend no less than 28 days in the Philippines every time I fly there... less than 28 days is just a waste of airfare.

And I try not to spend more than 3 to 3.5K in US doolers... with the exception of my last visit there with my ex-girlfriend last Feb when I spent near 6K (plus her own shopping money)!

Travelling there again this December... with gas pricer nearing 65peas/liter and almost surely 70peas/liter in a couple of months, I'm hoping 4K US doolers is gonna be enough for 38 days. And no, I don't do any pasalubong shopping aside from the 3liter Jack Daniels bag I always get my bestfriend over there.

Airfare is around 2.5K US doolers for a roundtrip.

But then again, there's always this guilt about spending that much money always when you know that while sipping your Starbucks coffee in makati, a married couple in the slums of Manila is wondering how they can do with 2 packs of instant noodles per meal for them and their 3 kids.

Answer 11

For people who travel back home frequently that would be too much.

But that would be about right for somebody who do not go back home regularly or every year. Because that is just $100 a day (food/gas/etc.) plus a total of $2000 for all the pasalubong/souvenirs/great deals that you found there to bring abroad.