Ryan Counsell, 28, a Muslim convert from Nottingham, allegedly spent years stockpiling military equipment.
He told Woolwich Crown Court he was "an obsessive person" who collected things.
Mr Counsell, who denies all charges, said he was "interested in terrorist movements" for "religious" purposes.
Mr Counsell, who converted to Islam in 2011, said his interest in the Philippines had been prompted by watching the series New Lives in the Wild by the presenter Ben Fogle about an American man who had moved there.
"It was about a man from America who wanted to find a life sustainable with his income, so he moved there," he told Woolwich Crown Court.
He said he had also considered other countries including Egypt, Somalia and Bosnia, but Somalia was rejected because his Somali-born wife considered it too dangerous.
Married father Mr Counsell denied he planned to join the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, which is affiliated with so-called Islamic State.
He described his interests as religion, conspiracy theories, history, and military equipment, along with "wanting to live off-the-grid so to speak, living without connection to electricity or gas in a caravan or a tent".
He told the court: "I have always been a very obsessive person."
He added he collected military field manuals and material on Islam.
He also said he was interested in survivalism but was "actually quite scared of leaving the house" and did not like travelling.
Mr Counsell is charged with preparing acts of terrorism by obtaining information about Islamic terrorist groups in the Philippines, arranging to travel to the Philippines to join and fight for an Islamic terrorist group, and purchasing equipment and clothing for use when having joined such a group.
The trial continues.
A supermarket worker accused of trying to join an Islamic terrorist group in the Philippines actually wanted to live "off grid" after watching a TV programme by Ben Fogle, he told a jury.