Filipina wife? - I couldn't find the Philippines on a map! Now here I am happily married to a Filipino beauty. If you're wondering where to start or need some inspiration, here's my story, 'How I married a Filipina and brought her halfway across the world to start a new life in the West'.

I joked about it once or twice, but never thought seriously about a Filipina wife. Marry a Filipina? - Not the sort of thing an ordinary guy does. The Internet has made the world a much smaller place, so when I found myself single at fifty, I decided to take a look.

I didn't have a clue where to start. Whenever I saw a guy with a Filipina wife, I wanted to ask how they met.

I spent over a year hanging around in chat rooms. Myth or reality, Filipinas are petite beauties whose sole ambition in life is to make men happy? One thing is clear from the outset; Filipinas have a much different attitude to Western woman. A Filipina will greet you with a warm smile - she'll be friendly and polite. But all that glistens isn't gold.

Beggars, thieves and perverts; I met plenty of them. Yes, I did meet some very nice Filipinas but none of them were Mrs. Right - mostly still legally married and/or lots of kids.

I took some good advice and joined FilipinaHeart. Suddenly everything looked very hopeful. In the first few days, I received more messages than I could cope with and some of these Filipinas were absolutely perfect. The great thing about a good Dating site is, you can see someone's personal details without contacting them. I drew up a short list.

Over the next few weeks, I shortened the short list to just a couple. Then out of the blue, I got a cute one liner while I was checking my messages. I clicked her profile to have a look. Now, have you ever been in the situation where you think a very pretty girl is smiling at you but it's really the guy nearby she's after? When I saw the picture - no, she's clicked the wrong link; that message surely was for someone else.

It was me. We started chatting daily and really did connect. We could talk for hours and made each other laugh.

Three months later, I was looking out of a plane window as it descended towards Manila. I'm here, this is the Philippines - am I really doing this? We were about to meet face to face for the first time. There was no Plan B - what if she wasn't there? Worse, I had this awful vision of being abandoned at the hotel because she didn't like me.

Like so many men before me, I walked through the tunnel from Arrivals to the meeting area not knowing what to expect. As I emerged into the searing Manila heat, across the road was a sea of faces. Then I saw her.

We spent two great weeks together. As I returned to the UK, I had this horrible feeling I would be greeted with a polite 'I'm sorry, goodbye' email or she would just simply vanish. I needn't have worried.

Over the next few months we talked about marriage and her coming to the UK. If you're thinking the Filipina just wanted out of the Philippines - not so; she had her own house there and a good standard of living.

With summer approaching, we applied for a Visit Visa so she could experience life in the UK. It was refused. In November, almost a year after first meeting online, we applied for a UK Fiancé Visa. Three months later it was granted and she arrived in the UK as spring was approaching. Two months later we married and she was granted Further leave to Remain in the UK.

My only regret is not doing this years ago!