"I have been the newcomer and the local in the same country. Let me show you both sides of the move.."
Lloyd Chua
Philippines Guide · Metro Manila · 12 years in the Philippines · English and Tagalog
- Philippines Guide · Metro Manila
- 12 years in the Philippines
$ 50 / 40-min call
MeetL Lloyd Chua
A quick hello before you book
Lloyd’s story
I was born in the Philippines, but I grew up Canadian. My family moved to Toronto when I was nine, and I spent the next 25 years studying, working, and building a life there. So when I moved back to Manila 12 years ago, I arrived the same way you would: with a foreign passport, foreign habits, and a thousand questions.
That is what makes my perspective a little unusual. I have been the newcomer and the local in the same country. I understand what Metro Manila looks like through North American eyes, because that is how I saw it too. And I know how the city actually works underneath, because this is where my roots are.
Since moving back, I started my own business here, and today I also consult for several expat owned businesses. I also founded and organized Expat and Friends, one of Metro Manila’s most active expat groups, where digital nomads, retirees, US veterans, and business owners help each other figure out life here, from finding an honest contractor to reading a lease properly.
The first thing almost everyone asks me is how not to get scammed. It is a fair question, and it has an answer: know how things are supposed to work before you commit to anything, and have people around you who have already made the mistakes. That is what I bring to a call. Real talk about neighborhoods, cost of living, banking, visas, healthcare, and the difference between what Manila looks like online and what it feels like to actually live in.
If you are considering the Philippines, whether for retirement, remote work, or a fresh start, I am happy to walk you through it honestly. And when you get here, there is a whole community waiting for you.
“Know how things are supposed to work before you commit to anything, and have people around you who have already made the mistakes.”
Lloyd Chua, Philippines Guide · Metro Manila
Why book with us
Why book a call with our Costa Rica guides?
Carefully Vetted
Every guide on Retire Abroad Hub has been carefully vetted. We verify lived experience, assess communication skills, and ensure they can provide honest, balanced perspectives , not sales pitches.
Real Lived Experience
These aren't consultants reading from a script. The guides have personally gone through the visa process, navigated bureaucracy, and built actual lives in the new country. They know what works and what doesn't and share their expirience.
Pick Their Brain
This is your chance to ask the questions you can't find answers to online. What does banking really look like? Which neighborhoods should you avoid? How hard is the bureaucracy? What do people get wrong? Ask anything.
Honest & Unbiased
No Sales pitch, no real estate upsells. Our guides are paid for their time and knowledge , that's it. You get the truth, including what's difficult, frustrating, or not ideal about living in a new country.
In our call we can cover
- Whether the Philippines is genuinely the right fit for you, from someone who has seen it as both outsider and local.
- How not to get scammed: rentals, contractors, and the offers that look too good because they are.
- Cost of living and neighborhoods, and the difference between Manila online and Manila in real life.
- The practical side of settling in: banking, visas, and healthcare, and what actually trips newcomers up.
- Years of experience helping retirees, US veterans, digital nomads, and business owners find their footing here, through the Expat and Friends community he founded.
- How to build your own circle from day one, so the Philippines becomes home and not just a place you moved to.