We Traveled 13 hours with a Toddler: Pagupud Ilocos Norte
Disclaimer: This post has been sitting on my drafts for a while now. It took me a while to finish it because, well, life gets in the way. But since this was a nice experience for my family, I decided to publish it in my online diary and hopefully, some parents will find it helpful. Here you go!
My side of the family decided to spend the Holy Week of 2019 in Pagudpud. I've been there several times already so I know that it's beautiful and of course I want to show that beauty to my son. Therefore, we decided to take him on this trip. I know it's going to be a long ride but we were determined to take Jarvis to places so he can experience the world. True enough he experienced so much on this trip alone.
My side of the family decided to spend the Holy Week of 2019 in Pagudpud. I've been there several times already so I know that it's beautiful and of course I want to show that beauty to my son. Therefore, we decided to take him on this trip. I know it's going to be a long ride but we were determined to take Jarvis to places so he can experience the world. True enough he experienced so much on this trip alone.
In this post, I will share, how we get there, what we did during the long ride to keep our toddler entertained. How we still follow the child even if we are on the road or on vacation. What are the things that we brought with us?
It's not easy to travel with a toddler, we all know that, especially if your toddler is like ours who loves to move. But we survived, and you know what? It wasn't so bad! In fact, it encourages me and my husband to take more trips in the future. Not to mention this trip was so eventful. I'll give you the full story if you are interested but if you come here to check the logistics of this trip, I have it here also on the lower part of this post. You're welcome!
Normally, it would take 10 hours from Manila to Pagudpud with traffic. However, it took us more than that because our old van gave up on us in the middle of TIPLEX, in the middle of the night, as in around 10PM on April 17. My father prepared our old L300 van before the trip but I guess since it is very old already it did not survive the trip. We were lucky to still push the van a little further and found a repair shop. The mechanic guy was kind enough to rise from his slumber and helped us. Unfortunately, the van cannot be fixed right away, the radiator gave up and other parts of the van gave up as well. It took 2 weeks before it got fixed.
We were in the middle of nowhere with two toddlers and no hotel nearby and it's almost midnight at this point. We tried our luck and searched for a van rental online. Take note that it's really hard to find one at that point because it's already Holy Thursday and most rental vehicles were already booked. But we were blessed enough to find one. It took us a few hours though to get one.
So during the search my son (who is now 39 months old) and his cousin who is almost four then were still awake at this point. They were sitting inside my sister's car and having a screentime feasts. Well, they cannot sleep and they cannot play either because it's dark and we were near the road. So desperate times call for desperate measures which is screentime for the toddlers in the middle of the night. At some point, they will get tired and try to interact with us. Surprisingly, there were no big emotions (or what others usually call tantrums) coming from them. They were so chill and just patiently waited for everything to get settled. Finally, around 2:30 am the rental van arrived and off we go.
My father decided to stay in the mechanic shop for the night because he thought it can be fixed midday the next day. When they found out that it can't be fixed ASAP. My father took the bus in the morning and followed us to Pagudpud.
Before we head to the Pagupud we decided to visit the beautiful St. Augustine Church also known as the Paoay Church in Paoay, Ilocos Norte. Of course, it is important to make sure we were including the Lord on this trip especially it's because of Him we were on that trip in the first place.
The church is beautiful inside and out especially if you like old structures or antique stuff, which I am very interested in.
But my son's interest, on the other hand, was elsewhere. He was so fascinated to see a fire truck up close and personal. Ah, #lifewithatoddler.
After the church visit, we went to my mom's hometown market in Batac to eat some authentic Ilocos Norte empanada. It's delicious. Have you tried it already? If not, you should!
It was scorching hot during that time, so we decided to go to straight Pagudpod. Anyway, there are a lot of tourist destinations that you can go to before or after you visit Pagudpod. We've been to some of them before so we did not visit them anymore this time plus we were also very tired at this point.
Going to Pagudpud, my son was mostly sleeping but when he wakes up, he's always so eager to look out the window and asks for the name of the things he sees or naming them himself. He enjoyed the views of the mountains and the oceans. He loved the emergency vehicles (police car, ambulance, and fire trucks) that we saw on the road which surprisingly a lot. I didn't notice these things before but now I am also always on the lookout. He was so delighted to see some animals on farms and some tractors! He really had an amazing time on the road!
I brought some books and some of his favorite toys. I even brought sticker books just to make sure he has something to do when he gets bored on the road. But we ended up not using them while traveling. The views outside the window were enough to keep my son entertained. At some point, though we changed the music to his favorite nursery rhymes and that made him happy even more. He likes listening to music.
It was surprisingly easy to manage him on the road. He's a mover so I thought sitting for a long time will be challenging for him but like I've said, everything went smoothly. If anything my only challenge was he was sitting on my lap most of the ride so that's pretty difficult for me but it something that I can take. It's still worth it.
Pagudpud beach was beautiful. We truly enjoyed swimming on the beach, the water was so refreshing. Almost similar to the feel of Boracay beach. I just find the sand a little finer in Boracay than in Pagudpud but it's still worth the visit.
Jarvis enjoyed playing on the sand but he doesn't like to swim. He has the tendency to feel afraid of water that he's not familiar with. Like when we first brought him to the pool he also didn't like it but he did not protest the second time. It's his first time on the beach so he's not so thrilled to dip in it. I tried to encourage him and even let him feel the water but he strongly refused so I did not force him. He spent so much time playing with sand though.
Going home we also took a side trip to the windmills, a must when you visit this side of the country. There were so many language opportunities for our little one here (windmill, white, tall, "elisi" or fan blade, sky, sand etc.)
Overall, we had an awesome time and we will surely go on more trips together. For more family adventure you can always follow me on my social media. In the meantime, read below if you want to know the logistics of this trip. Have a good day! Thanks for being here!
Travel Time
Before we head to the Pagupud we decided to visit the beautiful St. Augustine Church also known as the Paoay Church in Paoay, Ilocos Norte. Of course, it is important to make sure we were including the Lord on this trip especially it's because of Him we were on that trip in the first place.
The church is beautiful inside and out especially if you like old structures or antique stuff, which I am very interested in.
But my son's interest, on the other hand, was elsewhere. He was so fascinated to see a fire truck up close and personal. Ah, #lifewithatoddler.
After the church visit, we went to my mom's hometown market in Batac to eat some authentic Ilocos Norte empanada. It's delicious. Have you tried it already? If not, you should!
It was scorching hot during that time, so we decided to go to straight Pagudpod. Anyway, there are a lot of tourist destinations that you can go to before or after you visit Pagudpod. We've been to some of them before so we did not visit them anymore this time plus we were also very tired at this point.
Going to Pagudpud, my son was mostly sleeping but when he wakes up, he's always so eager to look out the window and asks for the name of the things he sees or naming them himself. He enjoyed the views of the mountains and the oceans. He loved the emergency vehicles (police car, ambulance, and fire trucks) that we saw on the road which surprisingly a lot. I didn't notice these things before but now I am also always on the lookout. He was so delighted to see some animals on farms and some tractors! He really had an amazing time on the road!
I brought some books and some of his favorite toys. I even brought sticker books just to make sure he has something to do when he gets bored on the road. But we ended up not using them while traveling. The views outside the window were enough to keep my son entertained. At some point, though we changed the music to his favorite nursery rhymes and that made him happy even more. He likes listening to music.
It was surprisingly easy to manage him on the road. He's a mover so I thought sitting for a long time will be challenging for him but like I've said, everything went smoothly. If anything my only challenge was he was sitting on my lap most of the ride so that's pretty difficult for me but it something that I can take. It's still worth it.
Pagudpud beach was beautiful. We truly enjoyed swimming on the beach, the water was so refreshing. Almost similar to the feel of Boracay beach. I just find the sand a little finer in Boracay than in Pagudpud but it's still worth the visit.
Jarvis enjoyed playing on the sand but he doesn't like to swim. He has the tendency to feel afraid of water that he's not familiar with. Like when we first brought him to the pool he also didn't like it but he did not protest the second time. It's his first time on the beach so he's not so thrilled to dip in it. I tried to encourage him and even let him feel the water but he strongly refused so I did not force him. He spent so much time playing with sand though.
Going home we also took a side trip to the windmills, a must when you visit this side of the country. There were so many language opportunities for our little one here (windmill, white, tall, "elisi" or fan blade, sky, sand etc.)
Overall, we had an awesome time and we will surely go on more trips together. For more family adventure you can always follow me on my social media. In the meantime, read below if you want to know the logistics of this trip. Have a good day! Thanks for being here!
Travel Time
Approximately 10-13 from Manila to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte hours with heavy traffic.
Accommodation
We stayed in June and Carol Beach Cottages. We rented two rooms for 3 days and 2 nights. One room can accommodate up to six adults and the other room can accommodate up to eight persons. The rate is Php 1000.00 per head/ day. Price may vary depending on the season. The rate that we got was a little bit higher than usual because we went there during Holy Week.
The rooms are okay. They are spacious and clean. Beds are of decent sizes and comfortable. Their bathrooms are spacious but one of the rooms we rented doesn't have a shower and toilet flush. We are also not satisfied with the air-conditioning system they have. The air conditioning unit they have are too small for the rooms, therefore it's hard to keep the room cool, especially during summer.
There are available rooms near the beachfront but the ones that we stayed in are just 2-3 minutes walk to the beach. It's not very far. We just don't have the beachfront view, which is totally okay.
They have a nice restaurant near the beach. The foods are fine. At least to our standard. There are some delicious meals that we tasted but there are also some that didn't pass our standard. We love their sisig, chop suey, some seafood meals, and barbeques. Do not bother with their chicken adobo, it doesn't taste good. Food servings are generous, one order can usually satisfy 2-3 persons. The price range is okay too, around Php150 to Php200 plus per serving depending on the dish.
Most of the staff are nice and accommodating. So that's a plus for them. They also have a somewhat ATM machine where you can withdraw money if you need to with Php 30.00 fee per transaction.
The beach near the area is super nice. The water in Pagudpud beach is really refreshing. It's really worth the long hours of drive. They also have amazing views of the windmills. Generally, I recommend this place if you are not very picky with rooms. I am not sure if there are luxury accommodations in the area but so far June and Carol Beach Cottages is an okay resort to stay in.
Transportation:
We ride a van fit for 14 people. The rate may vary depending on the season. But you can also ride a bus (ordinary and air-conditioned)
Things to Bring for your Toddler on the beach:
➢His favorite toys- We ended up bringing a lot of his favorite toy cars because he can play with them for hours.
➢Beach Toys- For this trip, we just brought the basics: Pail, shovels, sand molder, toy dump truck, toy payloader. He enjoyed playing with the things we brought. I observed him before the trip and made sure I brought the things I know he will love.
➢ Aqua shoes- I find this very important because sometimes children hate the feel of sand inside their sleepers or shoes. Jarvis hated it! So it's nice that we bought him aqua shoes. As much as I want him to feel the sand and I know it's good for sensory experience, I feel the need to protect his feet from other debris on the beach that might hurt his feet. Not to mention the sand can get a little hot during midday.
➢ Life vest - Just something to ensure your child's safety in the water. My son did not swim though. He's not very excited about swimming yet.
We ride a van fit for 14 people. The rate may vary depending on the season. But you can also ride a bus (ordinary and air-conditioned)
Things to Bring for your Toddler on the beach:
➢His favorite toys- We ended up bringing a lot of his favorite toy cars because he can play with them for hours.
➢Beach Toys- For this trip, we just brought the basics: Pail, shovels, sand molder, toy dump truck, toy payloader. He enjoyed playing with the things we brought. I observed him before the trip and made sure I brought the things I know he will love.
➢ Aqua shoes- I find this very important because sometimes children hate the feel of sand inside their sleepers or shoes. Jarvis hated it! So it's nice that we bought him aqua shoes. As much as I want him to feel the sand and I know it's good for sensory experience, I feel the need to protect his feet from other debris on the beach that might hurt his feet. Not to mention the sand can get a little hot during midday.
➢ Life vest - Just something to ensure your child's safety in the water. My son did not swim though. He's not very excited about swimming yet.
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