During one of our usual conversations in messenger, one of my best buds said he’s proposing. I asked when and where? He said: “This April in Pagudpud, are you coming?”. I was silent for a while… not because I didn’t want to come, but because I was contemplating whether I still have vacation credits left. From what I know, Camille’s vacation credits have been also allotted exactly for our upcoming travels this 2018. Bahala na si Batman, I said “Of course man – with bells on!”.  

There were lots of follow up questions after that, like who’s car to use? Who will drive? Who’s coming with us? Where are we staying in Ilocos? Well, we boys see the world as our oyster. So, its “fun” first, planning just comes second (To be honest, this is the only travel I have been to without any plans! 😊)

We left Manila around 3 AM and I volunteered to drive until Pagudpud. It was an exhilarating experience for me since the farthest I have driven north was Tarlac. Around seven in the morning, we’ve reached San Juan, La Union. We decided to pull over and grab some breakfast. Then, we carried on driving towards Vigan. We reached Vigan around lunch time and since we didn’t have any prior plans nor reservations on where to stay, we wandered around the city to find an inexpensive hotel. Luckily, we found one!

Since we still have a couple of hours to burn before the scheduled proposal in Pagudpud, we decided to stroll around Vigan. We gorged on different Ilocano dishes like Poqui-Poqui, Vigan Longganisa, Warek Warek, Vigan Bagnet and Ilokano Style Pinakbet at HIDDEN GARDEN LILONG and LILANG RESTAURANT.

After indulging ourselves with sumptuous Ilocano food, we strolled around the city center and towards the renowned and packed CALLE CRISOLOGO. With all the old houses and kalesas, it was a little surreal and nostalgic even though I haven’t really lived on the same era as this place.

The following day, we got up early to continue our trip north. We passed by PAOAY CHURCH which was built in 1700’s and is now considered a UNESCO world heritage site. Of course, a photoshoot with the group is a must!

We’ve been engulfed by the beautiful Ilocos sceneries that we literally lost track of time. We almost missed the scheduled proposal in Pagudpud. Fortunately, we made it in the nick of time.  So was it a sweet Yes? Well, let this picture answer that!

Before going back to Manila the following day, we decided to tour around Ilocos Norte. First on the list is the BANGUI WIND FARM.

Our Ilocos trip had been short and sweet. But, it’s definitely one of the most memorable trips we had!