Bryce's son did not want to go.

A 17-year-old being dragged to the Philippines over Christmas was not exactly his idea of a holiday. But Bryce had been planning this scouting trip for months. BGC first. Then Baguio. Then Iloilo. Then Cebu. Then Makati before flying home New Year's Eve.

By the end of it neither of them wanted to leave.

Twenty years in the suburbs of Seattle. Cybersecurity consultant. His own company. Successful by every American metric.

But Seattle had changed. Mass theft. Drug crisis. A city he grew up believing in that no longer felt like itself. And then there was the invisible part.

Bryce had not dated in years. Not because he was not trying. Because in Seattle he simply did not exist in that way. Nobody makes eye contact. Nobody stops. Everyone locked in their own lane, their own stress, their own screen.

He put it plainly. You are invisible. You do not even know if it is worth trying.

The first morning they walked to Uptown Mall and found a Japanese restaurant. His son — the teenager who did not want to come — said almost nothing because his face said everything.

By day three BGC felt like home. Clean. Safe. Walkable. Guards who greeted them by name. Christmas lights that put Seattle's displays to shame.

Then came the eye contact.

In a mall in Iloilo Bryce rode an escalator up and locked eyes with a woman at the top. Neither looked away. He stood there thinking — how long do I hold this? In Seattle that interaction does not happen. You are invisible. Here he was not just visible. He was noticed.

He said it directly. I feel alive here. Something as simple as breakfast at a local spot feels different. You feel treated differently. And you feel like treating people differently back.

By the end of the trip the teenager who did not want to come was saying thank you po to every Grab driver getting out of the car.

Nobody told him to. He just watched how people treated each other here and started doing the same.

That is what the Philippines does. Even to 17-year-olds who did not want to be there.

Bryce is coming back next year. Six months — a month in BGC, a month in Cebu, see which fits. His son may come with him.

He ended with one piece of advice for anyone sitting on the fence.

Buy a ticket. A lot of people say yeah I'll do it next month, next year. And then they get back into their routine and it never happens. Just come out and do it.

He is right. The information is never what people are waiting for.

Click here to start your move to the Philippines the right way

Travel Well,

Evan Lorezca

The Savvy Expat