Any suggestions So California? Maybe day trip Tijuana?

Travel warnings have been given for many, many years. If you walk over to Tijuana you certainly won't be alone. Thousands do it each day. It might give you and your teens a glimpse of what being poor really is. I've even seen warnings for Chicago and Detroit! :)

Thanks! I'll look into that. I was reading about traveling into Tijuana. I was going to study up on all of this as it got closer, but when I saw the travel warning, I got a bit spooked.

Dottie5 wrote:

djgarcia wrote:
I would skip T.J. and go east to Tecate to do your 1 day visit. T.J. is a major "Cluster" of traffic, people , border agents and trail of people walking to U.S to T.J.

What's Tecate like? Can we just walk over into Tecate as well? I really don't want to drive into Mexico.

I have only driven across but I assume you could walk across( go on internet to check). The border crossing is very small compared to T.J. and the town is much nicer and cleaner and fewer people. I would check on taking a tours bus to Tecate but for sure T.J. Once you walk across in T.J. you have to use a mexican taxi to get into the actual town to visit, which could be interesting and confusing. In T.J., I would sign up for a tour bus to avoid all the hassle in crossing the border. In my opinion, T.J. is not a real accurate picture of what visiting and traveling in Mexico. T.J. is like traveling to any large U.S. urban slum, poverty area. Just my experiences and opinion.

djgarcia wrote:
I would skip T.J. and go east to Tecate to do your 1 day visit. T.J. is a major "Cluster" of traffic, people , border agents and trail of people walking to U.S to T.J.

What's Tecate like? Can we just walk over into Tecate as well? I really don't want to drive into Mexico.

I would skip T.J. and go east to Tecate to do your 1 day visit. T.J. is a major "Cluster" of traffic, people , border agents and trail of people walking to U.S to T.J.

We would walk over. But I need to research this a little more. It sounds like most of the problems are people in vehicles traveling on highways around there. We wouldn't be doing that, just walking over for a few hours. But I don't want to mess around with any of it having the boys with us if there is any risk.

Not sure why I didn't see that travel warning before now. It was posted in December 2016.

Passport card is good for land entry back into the US, doesn't matter how far you go (At least for Canada).

If you do go, either park on the USA side or make sure you get insurance on your vehicle specifically for Mexico. Some companies won't even off the coverage.

And turn your phones off or get Mexico coverage.

Thanks! I'll check out those RV parks.

We only have passport cards so I went to go verify some travel restrictions with the card. I think you can only go a certain number of miles over the border with the passport card. I looked on the fed govt travel website and there is a traveler warning for Mexico. Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada are listed :E I might have to rethink this. We'll have our teen boys with us.

Not feeling like long or short term kidnapping makes for a fun vacation experience.

First pick for RV park would be Chula Vista. Very nice full amenity park. Look at their websites monthly newsletter for possible discount coupons.

Second choice is KOA. One of the nicer KOA's I've been too.

I've driven through Tijuana recently but have not stopped in several years. Traveled down to Rosarita and Ensenada to the south. Great beaches and restaurants there. When we have gone to TJ for an afternoon we've parked on the USA side or taken the Trolley light rail which drops you off right at the border. Then walked across for shopping along Rio Tijuana Shopping district. It's a bit of a walk but fun. Can also take a taxi (agree on fare before getting in!). There are also day trip bus tours for San Diego that make it easy.