I'm a Black Expat AMA

[Wiseborn]

If you're torn between two or more countries why not pick them all? That's why I say you should choose a region so it's easier to hop between countries.

For example, I like the beach but Mombasa on the coast of Kenya and Santo Domingo are far too hot for me to be there in the summer so I'd have to commute and go there when the climate is better.

That brings up another point. Go during the low season not only is it cheaper if you're considering being an expat you need to see how shyt is at it's worst. For example Nairobi is prone to flooding. I never happen to be in the country during a bad flooding period but during the normal log rains period shyt can get pretty bad You'd want to know how your country handles bad weather.

I was in Santo Domingo during a tropical storm that kinda damaged the gulf coast. The power barely blinked. I wouldn't have known it hit if I hadn't seen downed trees and shyt.

Granted this wasn't a cat 5 hurricane but it shows that the infrastructure can handle a decently sized storm.

 

[Wiseborn]

General money saving tip:

Learn to buy "just in time" In countries not America people go to the market daily. When I was in France you'd see little old ladies going to the market to buy bread (they literally have that with hot chocolate for breakfast they dip it in a bowl of hot cocoa.)

Most countries don't the super processed GMO bullshyt that we eat over here, your food would go bad. In the States a banana brought from the DR lasts a week in the DR a banana lasts maybe three days and since we don't eat overripe bananas I don't buy more than 3 or 4 at a time and I buy them green. Same with pineapples and oranges I buy them "green" and wait for them to ripen.

Needless to say this is way healthier and believe me another benefit to living overseas is that you'll be healthier, The fresh air, the sun ( I was prescribed Vitamin D pills in the states no need for them overseas) The food is healthier shorter supply lines from the farms cheaper, you're sweating and forced to walk longer distances frankly it's hard to find a down side to living overseas.

 

[Wiseborn]

the online real estate guide for Brazil is quintoandar.com/br

 

[Wiseborn]

Money saving pro tip: If you're flying Soul Plane airlines don't let them run up the price on you with fees. Most of the el cheapo airlines charge for seat selection the standard price is 25 bucks. If you don't want to pay extra then don't click Select Seat. If you want an aisle seat or a window seat usually you can request this at the ticket counter if you're there at least an hour ahead of time.

Additionally don't get round trip tickets granted if you have to be back at a certain time then you might want to get a round trip but generally you can save sometimes hundreds of dollars by buying separately. If you go to some countries where they demand you buy an extra ticket you can reserve a ticket on expedia then cancel within 24 hours.

 

[Wiseborn]

Dating app hack from the trickin' forums:

his has helped me save literally hundreds if not over a thousand dollars in the past few years.

Many of you may be familiar with BrazilCupid, DominicanCupid, ColombianCupid, FilipinoCupid, etc.

I've had great success over the years using the Cupid sites (for both freebies and pros) but often the cost is prohibitive. Why pay $150 USD when that can pay for 2-3 girls, right?

Well here is my method. Use a VPN and route your sign-up through Argentina. Steps and costs detailed below.

1. Open your VPN. Select Buenos Aires or another city in Argentina if possible.

2. Open an Incognito window in Chrome so your location data registers as in Argentina.

3. Go to the Cupid site you want to sign-up for. It must be a new account as they store prior location data.

4. Create an account and go to update. You will see two options: Gold and Platinum. Gold is 3000 ARS / year and Platinum is 4000 ARS / year. Select the one you want and begin messaging!

Benefits:

1. Subscription renews at to the 3000 or 4000 ARS price each year. This is $30 USD for Gold and $40 USD for Platinum and by next year, the ARS prices will probably be around $15 and $20 with Argentina's currency devaluation.

2. Definitely can get freebies if you put in limited effort 1 or 2 weeks before your trip. I can't say that definitively for *every* cupid country but it has worked in every one I have tried.

3. The current price for these sites is $150 USD each year if you register from the US. And it would renew at $150. That is insane if you travel to different countries and want to maintain multiple Cupid accounts.

If you don't have or know what a VPN is, there are hundreds of Youtube videos that can help. You can get a one-month VPN subscription for $5 (much cheaper if you buy longer subscriptions), sign up for all the Cupid countries you might ever want to visit and then cancel the VPN (if you don't have use for it). I would still recommend using a VPN in general.

Even if you continue logging in from the US after the initial sign-up, it will renew your contract at the ARS price.

Cheers!

 

[Wiseborn]

@Wiseborn how much cash do you carry on you on average and what would you recommend for someone traveling to the DR? How do you go about getting cash in the local currency? Is it one main stop at the airport or how does that work?

I don't really recommend this but I've been told by veteran digital normads that you should have about 5 or 6 stacks in US currency and you should strategically change a couple hundred when the local currency drops against the dollar. a lot of third world countries are desparate for US dollars and you can sometimes get better than the official rate if the country is hard up for US currency like now when COVID fukked up the global economy in general and some countries haven't begun to recover.

 

[Wiseborn]

I'm reluctant to endorse multi trillion dollar financial institutions but I do use Navy federal especially for Credit card purchases in the states I have the Chase suite (well I don't have the Sapphire reserve) I use that for international credit purchases (no international fees) and Schwab for an ATM card (no international fees) Chase has an ATM card too and it's a decent alternative to a schwab debit card.

 

[Wiseborn]

Country research resources:

Like I said a countries overall GDP matters more than it's GDP per capita but don't sleep on the Human development Index either

Again the relative size of an economy aka it's GDP matters more because the larger it is the more "america like" the country is going to be like I said Nairobi is way richer in the DR but the people have more and they're overall "richer" or at least not as dirt poor as the poorest Kenyans

But you'd be way more comfortable in Nairobi than you would in Santo Domingo Hell you'd be more Comfortable in Nairobi than in Cali Colombia. Again you can go ice skating and they have 2 indoor swimming pools in Nairobi as far as I know there's no ice rinks in Cali or indoor olympic sized pools (even though they do have a nice outdoor pool)


Anyway expatistan.com is a good tool in figuring out the cost of living and it's ranking system is Gold. Numero.com breaks down a Quality of Life chart that is sorta like the UN's Human development index. Obviously Numero's charts are subjective but again a decent tool to begin to narrow down a search on where's the best place for you to retire.

 

[Wiseborn]

House hunting protips:

Generally avoid getting an apartment on the first floor. Being on the first floor can be low key noisy unless you live on a very quiet street. In the third world there's gonna be cats selling random shyt. Also check in the corners for any cracks or leaks again third world spots even in nice areas cheap out your shyt can get flooded I'd rather be on a second floor than a first one.

Also check to see if there's any cracks in the sidewalks try to go after a heavy shower you'd want to know what the drainage is like on your street.

 

[Wiseborn]

If you've found your paradise location that you plan to retire to I'd suggest buying now. I see dudes taking advantage of sky high house prices in the states selling and using that money to buy mansions overseas.

Again be extremely careful and if you're getting a dream home for yourself that you plan to live in immediately I'd build it. If I was still planning on grinding a few more years in the states I'd buy a condo preferably in a small coastal town or a suburb on a big city with a mountain view. Depending on the country you could easily make triple your investment year by year I'm not saying that if you buy a Condo for say 25,000 you'd make 75,000 what I'm saying is you'd make maybe triple of what you'd pay if you paid a mortgage. having a professional property manager would eat into your profit but would avoid headaches especially if they can help market your unit for you.

 

[Wiseborn]

I was thinking about Brother Rah Amen today ( he was a repat with a small youtube channel living in Kenya)


Mainly for repats but also applicable to any expat in the third world. Get a full medical check up before you go If you go to Africa and get sick 90% of the medical issues you have can be fixed in any country with a GDP of 25 billion dollars and even in countries with smaller GDP's it's routine for Africans with means to do medical tourism to a neighboring country. Now if you have something that it's touch and go even in the west then you could either head to South Africa or AbuDhabi to get treated for things like Cancer or a joint replacement.


But keep in mind Hospitals in the 3rd world in general act like mechanics. Meaning they'll fix only what you complained about and try to shortchange you on healthcare and since you're an american overcharge you at the same time. I was presented with a bill in Santo Domingo for 1425 for Pneumonia that they didn't even admit me for due to Covid. If you're fukked up you're gonna need an advocate someone who is somewhat educated and even then in Africa people tend to defer to "experts" and not question them. If you take meds you might want to get a massive supply because although they'll have all the major brands (most of them) If you get a generic that's different from a generic in the west. In the west a generic is basically the same medication that the patent has expired and usually use the same recipe and made similarly as the brand name stuff.

In Africa it's the same except generics are made in China, India and Egypt. You may not want to fukk with these drugs additionally fake ass copies get through so you could be taking a placebo or worse. One other thing an African Drugstore is not run by a Pharmacist at least one a trained one. Granted gone are the days where a Pharmacist mixed drugs behind the counter You don't need someone in a lab coat handing you a bottle of baby aspirin. But the African Pharmacists (they cal them chemists in britsh Africa) are used to people cheaping out on seeing a doctor and just going to a chemist with symptoms and the chemist makes an assessment on what he thinks will fix the problem based on his experience. That being said I take meds and I never had an issue so there's that. It's just something to keep in mind.

 

[Wiseborn]

Speaking more on research especially for Repats take anything said on Youtube with a massive grain of salt. Usually any expat or repat channels are trying to sell you something. But even so the information can be good and you can ask questions that no one ever asks (like my medical post)

But If I had to recommend a Repat channel I'd say the overall best one is the Kenganda channel:



Again no channel covers everything but Oshay's channel is one of the realest repat channels out there.



One of the worst is Dynast Amir's channel. Again if he was promoting Travel to West Africa not Repat shaming (from a guy in Atlanta) I wouldn't have much of a problem with him. It's the Repat shaming tactics (from someone not even living there) for me. He promotes other goofies who live in Non African countries who also shame people for not dropping everything and moving to Africa even though we seen several people do this and fail at it.

I'd be super leery of any ADOS female living on the continent with a youtube channel but there can be some gems if you look past the rapat babble. Low key a lot of ADOS females are basically sexpats.

 

[Wiseborn]

Again for repats and expats moving without passive income. If you do decide to go this route then you better have at the very least 64 grand or about ten years of absolute bargain basement living expenses saved. You can't predict the future you don't know what will happen. I will say if you're still there 18 months to 2 years then you're probably there for the long haul.

But there's gonna be massive unexpected expenses shyt it's gonna take you six months just to find an acceptable house,

Additionally for a single male expect that you're tricking budget will be off the chain especially expats in Latin America. Again most brehs especially ones old enough and have the inclination to move overseas can't fathom how cooperative women will be. Dimes will literally fall into your lap especially in the DR. This is mainly because of the way they dress. A lot of brehs in Santo Domingo go to El Conde and kick it in Paco's or one of the other bars and restaurants and peep chicks all day. I asked them how could they stand looking at bytches and not hollering 90% of the time it's because they already smashed them.

Keep in mind the vast majority of women you meet anywhere you happen to be unless you're the only foriegner that you see will be a chick who deals with Travelers especially if she's fluent in English, It's HARD to learn a language without talking to someone in that language daily. You may want to take a picture and post it on the traveling forums and ask Who Dis? more than likely she will be a ran through. Assume that she's playing the long game with you and that many nikkas have hit that before you. Again it would be far batter to even get your trick on at least untill you're fluent than to wife up a ran though who's gonna do everything in her power o prevent you from meeting flyer chicks with less mileage on her.

 

[Carolina Slim]

@Wiseborn Was it nuts down there when Johnny Ventura passed? Judging from what I was able to see here in the states with the news coverage on the Dominican channels, it was like 24-7 news coverage.

 

[Wiseborn]

@Wiseborn Was it nuts down there when Johnny Ventura passed? Judging from what I was able to see here in the states with the news coverage on the Dominican channels, it was like 24-7 news coverage.

I'm not in the DR right now but yeah even on social media there was wall to wall coverage about this Listin Diario had a huge segment about him.