My family officially started the summer last April 6, with a family and group tour to Vigan, Ilocos Sur and Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

Almost a month before this, I started contacting resorts and hotels in Pagudpud to ensure our accommodation. I was surprised that almost all of them were already fully booked long before the holidays came. So I searched and searched online for affordable types of living quarters and discovered what they call "homestays" in Pagudpud. These are bungalow-types of houses which the local residents of the province places for rent on a per day or per head basis.

I contacted almost all of the homestays I found listed online. Good thing 3 were available on the date we had planned on going to Pagudpud. I chose the one in Blue Lagoon, Pagudpud which offered 3 rooms because we were going there with 2 other families, who were close friends of my husband. And they will be bringing their children along so I want to make sure the children were comfortable. Plus Blue Lagoon is considered to be a virgin beach in Pagudpud compared to its other beach which is Saud.

We were all 13 persons (including children) in the van we rented and we left at around 1 AM of April

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