Before we hopped on the bus, we looked around in the nearby stores for sunblock to use at the beaches in Pagudpud. We didn’t find any. Well, it turns out we were in for a surprise up north after all.

From Laoag to Pagudpud bayan (town proper), we traveled 71.9 km by bus (₱60/person); then another 18.4 km by tricycle (₱300/trip) to the resort we were staying in, Kapuluan Vista Resort in Barangay Balaoi. The tricycle ride is expensive. Scroll to the bottom for an alternative.

Along the way we’d pass the towns of Bacarra, Pasuquin, Burgos, and Bangui. The bus was already full when we boarded, so I got to sit just behind the driver. Jackie took the seat behind me.

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Jackie and I decided to make a beeline for faraway Ilocos. We were up for an adventure in a relatively foreign place.

The plane ride

Laoag City in Ilocos Norte is the airline entry point to get to the region. I would have opted for a bus ride from Manila if not for the ~14-hour trip. So we took Cebu Pacific flights from Cebu–Manila and Manila–Laoag. We did not buy tickets for connecting flights as they weren’t part of the seat sale. Thank God we weren’t delayed on our flight to Manila, or else we’d have problems catching our flight to Laoag. The Laoag flight was delayed instead.

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