Taking you just south of the Southern U.S. border to the best places to visit in Baja California, Mexico. These five cool places are just a few minutes drive from San Diego making it super easy to visit by land.

We live in San Diego and love exploring Baja California, from Tijuana to the most amazing wine region in Mexico, there is so much to see, eat, drink, and do in this amazing part of the world.

If you’ve never been to this part of Mexico, this episode will surely inspire you to visit the best places in Baja California ASAP.  Beaches, bars, amazing Mexican food, rural wine country, and so much more can be found here.

5 Places to Visit in Baja California, Mexico

1. Tijuana
2. Rosarito
3. Ensenada
4. Valle de Guadalupe
5. Mexicali

If you’re looking for an easy trip from the Southern U.S. then take our recommendations of the best places in Baja California and take a day trip or weekend trip across the border – just save a few hours to get back across into the U.S

Best Places to Visit in Baja California, Mexico – Episode Transcript

1 (41s):
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast today, we’re taking it to the 5 best places to visit in Baja California, just south of the San Diego border.

2 (1m 6s):
We love Mexico. And one of the coolest things about living in San Diego is that we’re able to walk or drive over and just a few minutes passes and you’re in a whole different country. And it really does feel like an international country. As soon as you cross that border, it’s an entirely different culture. It’s really fun to pop over there for food drinks. You know, we love tacos, there’s wine tasting, there’s beautiful beaches. It makes for great. We can get getaway great day trip, and there’s a ton of different places in Mexico that are within day trip distance. And we’re going to tell you all about them today.

3 (1m 39s):
Yeah. That day trip distance within our hometown here of San Diego. And I’m always just thinking about little adventures crossing the border. It makes it easy for us because we all have our global entry. So we don’t have to really have that border weight line. But if you are visiting San Diego and you want to hop across the border, you don’t have that global entry. You know, every once in a while, it’s not that big of a deal to invest the time on the weight. And we’ve mentioned this before Brittany and I have use of Tijuana from our home here in San Diego. So it’s literally that close and I’m always so inspired to just do those border crossings and get food, get drinks, and just get a little bit of different culture, quite literally in a new country and a whole new world, just south of the border.

3 (2m 22s):
So I’m excited about this episode. It’s episode 1 0 1. And we’re going to give you guys the 1 0 1 on what to do just a little bit south of the border here in San Diego and Mexico.

1 (2m 33s):
All right, we’re going to start you guys off with tips. We always love to start with the tip

2 (2m 37s):
Mexican tips.

3 (2m 39s):
Well, first Mexican tip. I’m going to give you right now drinking ages 18. Most people probably do know this. Quite honestly. It’s known that a lot of people locals here in San Diego who aren’t 21, yet they go to Mexico to do drinking. So it’s very popular in that regards, just as well for the drinking age and the nightlife that comes with it.

2 (2m 58s):
We also have five places that we’re going to mention today. Four of those are in coastal Baja, and then we have another one that’s not coastal, but when you are driving coastal Baja, there are two main roads that will take you down south highway one and the highway one D

1 (3m 13s):
Does always

2 (3m 14s):
Better go with the D the big D because you’ll be rewarded with coastal views, really nicely paved roads. There are different toll station stops along the way. And the tolls range from like around a $2. I think,

3 (3m 27s):
I think from Tijuana all the way to Ensonata, which is the furthest south, we’re really going to take you here, which is about an hour 30, 45 minutes away from San Diego. Total tools comes to like $10 quite honestly, and it gives you those coastal views and it gives you the better paved roads. So it’s definitely something that you should do. Absolutely.

2 (3m 48s):
You can still take the one, the roads just aren’t as well-maintained

3 (3m 53s):
And not scenic

2 (3m 54s):
And not scenic.

1 (3m 55s):
And on the one D there are pit stops or bathrooms that you don’t have to pay for their free public restrooms, which you’re not going to find in most of Mexico.

3 (4m 2s):
Yeah. And those are at the toll stations. Mind you, so a little bit past the toll stations, you’ll find those free public restrooms. And we’ve talked about this before, everywhere in the world, except for the United States charges for restrooms. So here you are in another country, and there’s that exception to the rule on the toll road.

2 (4m 17s):
Nice.

3 (4m 19s):
Another good tip is to get yourself Mexican car insurance, just like it’s required by law here in the United States to have car insurance. Even if you’re an American driving your car over, you do need to have Mexican car insurance and how to get that. You can Google it online, find it, but the safest most effective way that I would recommend is contact your own insurance company, tell them that you’re going to be going to Mexico. They can put you through a safe outlet. Believe me, all insurance companies know how to do that. Know which insurance companies in Mexico are, the reputable ones that you should go with. So you can Google search if you trust your own intuition, but I would recommend going through your company. Like I said,

2 (4m 57s):
Another thing I want to talk about is safety. From a lot of people I’ve heard that Mexico is not safe or it’s dangerous. And sure there are certain parts of Mexico that you don’t want to go into certain parts of these towns that we’re talking about. Neighborhoods that aren’t as good as others. So you should always be cautious. But for the most part, I have never had any issues in Mexico when it comes to safety and have felt completely safe the whole time.

3 (5m 22s):
Yeah, I can’t stand when I hear people say that they think Mexico is unsafe. Now, granted, everything that you just said, Kim is absolutely true. But if you are cautious about it, not flaunting money, not being stupid. It’s like any other place in the world. That’s a tourist place. You can encounter those things. But I remember one time vividly when we went to new Orleans and I went with Brittany and they told us, literally, if you go one block over in the French quarter, you’re in a completely bad neighborhood. And like, this is somewhere in America, very popular tourist spot. And they tell you, one block makes a difference and it can be absolutely dangerous. So even here in the United States and one of the most popular places to visit you have that it’s just exercising caution and not being silly about it, but overall, absolutely safe.

1 (6m 5s):
And with most of these towns being really, really close to the United States, we have another tip for you. Most of the places here that we talked about do accept American dollars or credit cards. And so you can use either one, but it’s really nice to have pesos on hand. If you do have,

2 (6m 21s):
It’s not just really nice, but you’ll often get a better exchange rate and better price on things you’re purchasing with pesos.

3 (6m 27s):
That is for sure. And going back to what Brittany was saying about the credit cards, another just general tip, when you’re traveling internationally, always advise your credit card company that you’re going to be out of country. What dates that way you don’t have a lock on your card and they think it’s fraud when you go. So,

2 (6m 43s):
And I would also recommend not relying solely on credit cards because some of these places are known to have their credit card machines go down or tell you they’re down because they don’t want to run it for whatever reason. So don’t plan to only rely on your credit card. And then of course, border towns, you’re going to come back into the United States. So as you come back, just plan on a wait at the border, you can check border, wait times on the official website of the border. And there are different lines, depending on the type of classification you have. If you have global entry or century or ready passes, there are different lanes for that.

2 (7m 23s):
So make sure you get into the right lane, but depending on which border you’re crossing, it, it could be 30 minutes. It also depends on day and time too

1 (7m 30s):
Could be four hours.

2 (7m 32s):
It could be 11 hours. I’ve definitely experienced that.

1 (7m 34s):
That’s crazy. I think four is the longest I’ve waited, but yeah, it’s an experience all on its own. And we’ll get right into that in this episode.

3 (7m 41s):
Yeah. And if there’s a long wait and you don’t want to do it, check that website, like you said, Kim, it’s the official us customs and border patrol website. You can put what port of entry you’re coming into and it will give you those weights. Exactly. Like you just said.

2 (7m 53s):
Yeah. And it will tell you the average wait time on a typical day and the typical hour, but then it will also tell you what today is like and how that compares to the average.

1 (8m 2s):
So we’re going to jump right into our first city. And that is Tiawana, which is right across the border from San Diego. And like Jamal said earlier, we can literally see the Tijuana hillside lit up at night from our condo complex and our community.

3 (8m 16s):
I love it. It’s beautiful. You know, people think the Awana and they may have some misconceptions and goes back to the tip that we were saying earlier about some places unsafe, but I feel like any city in the world has that. So again, I just want to reiterate, put that out of your mind, but we’re going with, he want a number one because it’s the closest. If you’re leaving from San Diego, this is the first place that you’re going to come across right here. And I know when we first moved down to San Diego, one of the things that we did was go to Tijuana regularly just for the food and eat tacos. And that’s one thing that I love about other countries that America lacks is the street food culture scene. We don’t really have it here. If we do it’s food truck, which is good, but then it’s also pricey at the same time.

3 (8m 57s):
And there’s something to be said about enjoying street food, and doesn’t have to be tacos. It could be thought does it could be it could be churros, churros. It could be really anything. And that’s half the fun is just doing and experiencing that.

2 (9m 10s):
What about TJ hotdogs?

3 (9m 12s):
I have not had a hot dog and TJ,

2 (9m 15s):
You need

3 (9m 15s):
To, well, tell me what the TJ dog is.

2 (9m 17s):
T J dog. You’ll see the stands out on the streets. They are bacon wrapped hot dogs Inside the bun. They put Manet’s up salsa, grilled onions, and they really just top it up. And it sounds disgusting, but after partying and some of these party neighborhoods and TJ, we’re going to talk about that hot dog tastes real good.

3 (9m 35s):
It already sounded good. I mean, to somebody, it may not sound the most appetizing, but you already had me with bacon wrap the Mayo. I could probably do a little bit without, I’m not sure how I feel about that on a hot dog.

2 (9m 45s):
Oh, I feel the same way about Mayo, but the way they do it, you have to get it like that. It is really good actually.

3 (9m 51s):
Well, next time we go to TJ, TJ dog. It is Kim

2 (9m 55s):
Tacos or a ton of taco stands. And TJ, all of them are amazing. Like do a taco tour and sample them all.

3 (10m 2s):
Yeah. And other than just going and eating the street food, one of the main places to go, and you wanna, that a lot of people do is the avenue revolution, which is revolution avenue. If you can’t translate that from Spanish to English, however, it is a very popular place filled with shops, filled with restaurants. And so, yes, you’ll find the street food, but you’ll find more high-end restaurants here, more mid range restaurants, sports bars, regular bars. So this is really a main area. And Tijuana’s downtown that a lot of people congregate on. They even closed down the street. I know last time we went and we went to a restaurant out there, which we’re going to touch upon a little bit later, they had it closed down. So it makes it like this one big, giant open promenade for people to walk.

3 (10m 43s):
And it’s really enjoyable.

2 (10m 44s):
Yes. And they also have rooftop bars here.

3 (10m 47s):
You love a rooftop bar game. Of course he would mention that.

2 (10m 51s):
I have. They’re beautiful. Which

3 (10m 52s):
One?

2 (10m 53s):
Honestly, I can’t remember the name of it

3 (10m 55s):
Too much drinking.

2 (10m 56s):
No, it’s part of a restaurant. We’ll do another episode and I’ll put that in there, but there’s tons of restaurants to choose from tons of bars to choose from. And there’s people on the streets like trying to get you to come in with different drink offers and there’s music everywhere. That is one of the main party areas. The second main party area I would recommend is Plaza Pato, which is this big square area just filled with tons of different bars. It’s just bar after bar and lights and music. And it’s so much fun.

1 (11m 26s):
What time does nightlife start there in Tijuana?

2 (11m 29s):
I would say once the sun goes down, you’re going to start to hear the music. And then it goes and goes, I think around 4:00 AM or so the, wow.

3 (11m 36s):
Yeah, a lot better than California’s 2:00 AM call, which is really like 1 30, 1 45. Right? So you can go all night out there and you want to, and just real quick, we were mentioning LA Veneta revolution. That restaurant that we were talking about is called Caesar’s. And just so you guys know, this is the place that actually invented the Caesar salad. I’m not bullshitting you. This is real. You can really Google it. This is actual facts. Most people think it’s Italian, but it was created here in Tijuana by an Italian immigrant who was in the United States. And when prohibition occurred here, he said, I’m leaving the U S I’m going to Tijuana. We can do some drinking. He made his restaurant. And as a matter of fact, the Caesar salad was brought to Europe by part of the Royal family when they were visiting Mexico.

3 (12m 22s):
And they took it back and the recipe to Europe, and that’s how it became popular in Europe, Google it, research it that as 100% sure and true.

1 (12m 30s):
And I really wanted to go to Caesar’s and we had been talking about it for a really long time. I know Kim had gone before him and Jamal and I were like, let’s make a point to go there. And we had a friend come visit us. And we were talking about like, did you bring your passport? We should go out to dinner and TJ. And she was like, yeah, actually I did. So Kim, her boyfriend, myself, Jamal, and our friend Robin, we all across the border, went to Caesar’s to try it out. We all ordered the Caesar salad, which they make at tableside. And it’s inexperienced

3 (12m 58s):
The dressing from scratch everything from scratch tableside for it

1 (13m 2s):
Really good. They have amazing apps and really good food. And it’s going to be a lot cheaper than what you can find at any fancy restaurant here in the U S

3 (13m 10s):
Yeah. And what I really liked about it also is they did have the outdoor patio dining, like right on the avenue Nita, and they also had indoor. So you could get either or, and it creates a great ambiance. And this is, I don’t want to say like super high class fancy, but this is definitely an upper scale restaurant. And for five of us to have our apps, the salads, all main entrees, I think wine, right. We got two bottles. Did we not came to $200 a little bit over that, right. Yeah. And so I want to reiterate your money goes a long way over there. And it makes for an amazing time. Quite honestly, two people can’t even go to a restaurant here in the United States and do that for $200.

3 (13m 53s):
We were five people

1 (13m 54s):
Also from Caesars. You can see the arc de Tiawana, which is one of the symbols of TJ. And you can see it just walking down that main street. So if you’re in that area, be sure to take a look at it. Cause it’s very beautiful.

3 (14m 6s):
And another thing too, if you want some Mexican beaches, they have lost playas. They Theo wanna, which are the beaches out there. You can catch a cab ride very, very inexpensive. It won’t be more than about $10 and that’s high end of scale. And it will take you to their beaches. They have all these waterfront restaurants, shops, things there. It’s a really an activity to do is to go to their beaches there. And it’s really, really fun too. And the last thing that I kind of want to touch upon, have something to do. And to wanna, I would be remiss if I didn’t say this because it is something that Tiawana is very known and famous for. They do have a red light district down there it’s called zona zona north day. And supposedly it really rivals what they have going on in Amsterdam.

3 (14m 50s):
And now Prague has actually taking over Amsterdam is the new capital, light red light district of the world. So honestly the one in Tijuana and those two, I just mentioned are really top three. So if that’s your thing and believe me, there are a lot of Americans who go down there and partake in that. And from what I understand from people, even couples go down there and it’s just something they’d go do and experience without partaking in the legal activities that they have down there. So it’s a spectators event. And so just throwing that out there that is there and something you want is known for

2 (15m 21s):
The second town on our list is Rosarito. And this is about a 30 minute drive from the border. And it is a coastal beautiful town that you again, want to take the highway D to reach because that’s going to take you on the scenic drive, but there’s a ton of stuff to do there. The beach is amazing. There’s tons of entertainment and food and drinks right on the beach. You can rent horses and ride them on the beach.

3 (15m 45s):
I think Zayna mentioned this on a previous podcast episode before, and we’ve mentioned our friend, Nicole, they rode horses on the beach in Rosarito. So you can rent horses, ride it on the beach, but they have all those activities that you were doing.

2 (15m 58s):
You can rent ATVs and do the same thing. I was just there a couple of weeks ago for my boyfriend’s birthday. We actually rented a condo in Las Gaviotas, which is about 10 minutes, south of Rosarito in a private gated community with its own private beach. And we went into Rosarito and spent some time there, but I’ve been there several different times. Actually, my first time ever leaving the country, I was 26 years old, palled up my car with all my girlfriends. And we drove down to Rosarito to meet a friend there. And this was a few years back. So we didn’t have phones that worked in Mexico. We had written instructions on a piece of paper and the signs down there are not like the signs you would expect in the United States. So if you’re lucky, if it even had a street sign, I don’t know how we ended up finding the house or her, it was a fricking miracle.

3 (16m 44s):
It’s like old school, like printing out MapQuest directions or something, but those were handwritten that’s wild. Yeah.

2 (16m 50s):
Yes. And I would also recommend using Google maps and not iPhone maps. Google maps is much better in Mexico,

3 (16m 57s):
IPhone maps. I’ll tell you what, when they originally rolled out, they had so many glitches and I’ve never made my way back to see if they’re good at all on Google maps all day,

2 (17m 5s):
You are an Android user.

3 (17m 7s):
I am, but you know, sometimes you know, this I’ve mentioned this before. I like just randomly looking at maps. We have a Mac book and sometimes I will pull up apple maps and just like, look at it, see their features on, I am not a fan. I won’t lie to you on that.

1 (17m 20s):
I do like Google maps and another tip for you guys in regards to Google maps. If you don’t have service in Mexico or TJ or Rosarito in general, if you are on airplane mode before you go make sure to download offline maps and you’ll be able to get around Mexico, just fine using your offline maps, if you have pre downloaded that area.

3 (17m 39s):
Yeah. And just a little bit of perspective. Rosarito is about 30 minutes from the border, maybe 20 minutes from Tijuana along the coast. So if you start in Tijuana making a day or more time down there, you would just had a little bit south at south of that I had mentioned earlier. So Rosarito is really just a beach town area and they have all the fun Mexican activities that you would expect in Mexico there. And it’s really not.

2 (18m 5s):
Yeah. There’s tons of bars and places to eat and drink during the day, but there are also a ton of nightlife, places to go out at night, they have the big Papas and beer. They’re little John plays. They’re often actually saw little John there For spring break one year. And it’s just really fun. A lot of young people. This is actually one of my favorite places in Baja to go because it’s so close and you can really get a beautiful beach front stay for very inexpensive.

3 (18m 32s):
Not only that, it’s a very relaxed vibe, even though it is close to Tijuana, the population is nowhere near what you want. It is. So it’s a lot more mellow paste that you’re going to find there, which makes it really nice also.

2 (18m 45s):
Yeah. I love it there. I would definitely recommend checking that one out.

1 (18m 48s):
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1 (20m 2s):
All right, so we’re going to head further south down the coast down to Ensonata. It’s not as about two hours away from TJ, and it’s also really beautiful. They have beautiful beaches and also known for Laboo fedora, which we’ve talked about in previous episodes, which is a big blow hole for anyone that needs that translation. But it’s a part where you’re on like a cliff and the way that the water goes into that area, it blows up. And so it keeps pressurizing pressurizing, and then all of a sudden, a big wave comes in and there’s so much pressure. It blows all of that water up. And everyone’s just standing there watching, like admiring the show.

3 (20m 39s):
It’s like a natural ocean Geyser in a way. So you’re on the sea cliff. And then it just comes in through that open hole. And other than just seeing that cool act of nature, Laboo fedora is a very popular tourist attraction. So it’s another place where you’re just lined up with shops. You have souvenirs, you have restaurants, you have food all along the beautiful coast and you see the sea cliffs and everything. So it’s a whole experience. And on top of that, you get a unique piece of nature that you don’t see every day along the ocean coast. And it’s really, really fun.

2 (21m 11s):
I compare in, so not a lot to Rosarito in terms of like beaches and things to do. There’s a ton of restaurants and places to drink. Margarita’s you can also ride horses on the beach here.

3 (21m 21s):
I would say the main difference though, is that Ensanata is a larger city like Rosarito and it’s not, not a city, but Ensanata is a lot larger. They have a cruise ship port here. So it’s geared up to tourists in that way also.

2 (21m 34s):
Yeah, for sure. And they also have a lot of the same nightlife. They have a Papas and beer down in, and it’s not as well. So check that out while you’re there.

1 (21m 41s):
I still need to check out a Papas and beer. I haven’t been to one

2 (21m 44s):
Yet. You should go on your birthday because they’ll make you a Dick shaped cake and sing happy birthday to you.

3 (21m 49s):
Britney’s day. I’m sure of it.

1 (21m 52s):
But Jamal, I have been to Ensonata and stayed there as well. And we got a hotel that had ocean views and the window was from the floor to the ceiling. And when we woke up, we could just lay in bed and look out to the ocean and just see the waves and the beautiful sky. And it was a really, really nice, we didn’t even have to get out of bed to enjoy our views.

3 (22m 13s):
Yeah. And there’s lots of good restaurants in Ensonata couple of them that we really want to mention and highlight. If you’re wanting like authentic Mexican food taco Maria style, one place that we always go to when we’re an Ensonata is going to be the tacoria El trilateral and another fancier restaurant. If you’re wanting a little bit more than a typical tacoria is L restauranty Punto Mauro. And put the motto is actually a really large hotel resort. That’s along the coast and they have a really nice restaurant and we have eaten there. Once it’s along the rocks, you could see the waves crashing the sunset because you’re on the west coast and you can just see it from there. It’s absolutely beautiful.

3 (22m 54s):
So I would highly recommend that

1 (22m 55s):
To get to Ensonata. You can either drive your car again, down the highway one D or you can take a bus there as well. That will get you down there for not much money. I think it’s like $10 for the trip down there. But while you’re driving from Tijuana down to Ensonata, a lot of times people like to stop in Porto new WEBO, which is a place that Jamal and I have stopped in. It’s a different town it’s in between and it’s the lobster capital of Mexico. And that’s why a lot of people stop there. So if you’re into lobster and seafood, this is a great little city to stop in to get lunch or breakfast or dinner. And we went to a place called via or take us. We both got Margarita’s tortilla soup shrimps of each a, a one pound lobster, which came with rice beans and tortillas for like $40.

1 (23m 41s):
It was amazing.

2 (23m 42s):
That’s amazing. I remember one year, my agency’s Christmas party was in Mexico, so they picked us up on a charter bus at 10:00 AM, drove down to the next place we’re going to talk about. But then on the way back, we went to Portland WEBO for a big lunch, we had a mariachi band singing to us in the restaurant. We had pictures of margarita is on the table. And then we got to walk around the little town afterwards, and it’s really geared for tourism. There’s tons of shops, people selling stuff, little trinkets and Mexican styled, everything you can think of. So it’s a good place to shop too. Do

1 (24m 14s):
You remember what restaurant you went to?

2 (24m 16s):
No idea by that time. You no idea. No memory there. Well,

3 (24m 21s):
Papas and bureaucracy,

2 (24m 22s):
No. Had too much wine at the next place we’re talking

3 (24m 26s):
About. That’s right. That’s right.

1 (24m 27s):
Yeah. So via or take us as right on the water. So we saw out on the deck, which overlooked the ocean and it was really nice.

3 (24m 35s):
It’s a really popular place. I think they had three levels. They had three levels to sit on the deck to get ocean views while you’re having your lobster. I mean, they have a specific lobster season, but you’re always going to get lobster there. But it’s one of those things that if you’re driving through, I would highly recommend stopping. And do you can’t really get seafood like that here in the United States and all this stuff that Brittany just mentioned at that little bit of a price. It’s great.

2 (24m 59s):
Number four on our list is via de Guadalupe. This is just a little bit east of Ensonata. So about, about, about two hours from the border, and this is Mexico’s wine country.

3 (25m 12s):
It is the equivalent of Napa here in the United States via Guadalupe is Mexico’s Napa tourists from the U S com and obviously local tourists from all around Mexico. Come to this area here via the Guadalupe. And we have a previous episode on this, that episode was episode 77. So we go into full, full detail on via Guadalupe, but we have since gone back several times since that episode has aired and we recorded it. So we want to give you a little bit more information of the new places and things that we did there that wasn’t in that episode 77.

1 (25m 50s):
Yeah. So we’ve previously mentioned some of the wineries we’ve been to like Quatro Quattros vena cava, Donna LoopPay, Domecq so many more. And we mentioned them all in that episode. And one other thing I wanted to mention before we talked about some of the other wineries we’ve been to in that area is that via Guadalupe is still very rustic. You’re going to be going down dirt roads and it has a very rustic feel, but it’s, it’s so quaint and so beautiful, like being surrounded in the valley there. So one of the most recent wineries we went to was called Adobe Guadalupe. And this is a really, really nice winery. It’s a beautiful white building with a blue top, and it has a wine tasting in the cellar that you go down to Jamal.

1 (26m 34s):
And I actually got a private tour because the people that were supposed to be on our tour never showed up. So they just ended up going with the two of us. And as they’re taking you down there, beautiful vineyards with the mountain backdrop. And I actually went out for a little photo shoot in the vineyards to take some really nice pictures.

3 (26m 53s):
Yeah. And I know you jumped right into that winery, but one thing I want to say real quick as a tip is that the roads out there, because you mentioned it is rustic. It is designed to be that way. I remember specifically asking our tour guide here at Adobe Guadalupe, you know, are they going to try to pave the roads? Now main roads are paved, but those side roads are still rustic dirt roads. And she was saying, it’s a battle between the municipality who wants to make things a little bit more modern so that they could cater to more tourists, but the locals like that feel to it. So it’s not underdeveloped because they’re not putting money into it. It’s underdeveloped because they’re trying to keep it that way.

3 (27m 32s):
Or at least the locals are to have that more homey feel to it too. So do keep in mind, you know, you’re going to be on some dirt roads. You maybe want to bring a higher vehicle such as a Jeep truck SUV versus a low riding vehicle out there.

1 (27m 46s):
We also went to another winery. It was called Lomita and it was super cute. It had a outdoor deck that was partially covered, but it looked out to the vineyards and they had hanging succulents and the like hanging egg chairs and couches and things to sit on. So it was just like a really comfy cafe type setting. And we did a wine tasting there. And when we went, he was like, we have a three, four or seven wine tasting. And at first we were going to do like a four wine tasting. And then he brings out the first bottle and I was like, actually, why don’t we do the seven while we’re here?

3 (28m 18s):
There you

1 (28m 19s):
Go. I like that.

3 (28m 20s):
So Brittany ended up getting absolutely trash

1 (28m 22s):
Trash because he was pouring those tastings. They weren’t like an ounce. They were like two or three ounce pours. And he was like,

3 (28m 29s):
He was giving us like full glasses with each tasting. So he was being really nice, but it was really funny as you know, and this goes to all the wineries, most of them. And by most, I would wager to say, 90% of them require you to have a reservation. This isn’t just a COVID thing. This is something because it’s so popular, they do require you to have reservations. And so when we made reservations here at Lomita, we made it for the four tasting. So we thought we were just really going to get that. But even when we were there, he gave us the option. And then we were just like, well, we’re spending the night. We’re going to be going to dinner later on out here. Yeah. Let’s let’s have the seven tasting. So we had a good time out there.

1 (29m 4s):
Yeah. So I got a little trash. I was so glad that we actually stayed in the valley that time, because we went back to our little Airbnb, which is a tiny house, which was super cute. And I took a little nap before we went out to dinner, to deck mins, which was quite an experience. It’s a really nice restaurant that’s outdoors. And you can actually see the kitchen from like where you’re sitting and you can like smell all of the food being cooked right next to you. The only downside is it’s smoky from all of the food being cooked right next to you, but it’s really, really nice. Food’s excellent. They have wine pairings and tastings there as well. And we did a menu and it was great.

3 (29m 43s):
Yeah, really good. I think that’s one of the awesome things about via Guadalupe. Also, even if you are not a wine connoisseur or really wine person, it is becoming a very, very popular food scene place within Mexico. So you’ll find lots of good food out there and it doesn’t even have to be Mexican food. They have a lot of like European fringe, American style restaurants. And obviously, yes, you are going to come across Mexican restaurants, which is another one that we’re going to talk about here. But the food scene out here, I can’t stress enough. How absolutely amazing it is. So even if you don’t want to go for the wine, check out the food scene out here

2 (30m 17s):
is another restaurant, highly recommend. It’s a huge property. They have big wine barrels. You can climb up and take pictures on it’s vast. There’s tons of places to sit. The food is really, really good. The wine is really, really good, highly recommend that place. If you’re to read a list of the top five places to eat and via Dickman’s would be one and Finca, Altona would be on that list.

1 (30m 39s):
And then another one would be Lakou Siena de Donna Estella. However, this isn’t a place to eat like dinner. It’s a place to eat breakfast. It was actually ranked the best breakfast in the world by, by snooze. So Jamal and I were like, damn, we have to go check it out. And it happened to be that the time we went to go to Lomita winery, we saw it going there because it’s right along the way.

3 (31m 3s):
Yeah. I mean, while you’re on the deck at Lomita, you have a view of LACOE Sina, Dedania Stella. And we were really excited because again, we love breakfasts. You know, this, we talk about it all the time, but this one wasn’t a breakfast buffet, but that’s okay. Sometimes I like to order a LA carte, which makes it all the more better. And on top of vice news is ranking it’s even well-known that Gordon Ramsey himself has come out there had yet Estella teach him some Mexican techniques. They have a photo of them together. And the restaurant like it’s so popular. It brought one of the most famous chefs in the world to be taught by her some Mexican cuisine techniques. So really, really recommend before we talk about the food. If you don’t get there in the morning when they open, like at around eight o’clock, I promise you, you are going to be waiting in line in your vehicle, on the dirt road for probably three, four hours, just to even get into the parking lot.

3 (31m 53s):
As you’re waiting for the slow trickle of people to leave the restaurant. So get there early, otherwise invest literally half of your day to wait to get in.

2 (32m 1s):
Wow, that’s crazy. In via, there are a ton of really cute places to stay. You guys mentioned you were in a tiny house, but there are so many unique stays there. You can find a lot of them on Airbnb. They have one that’s this giant bubble

1 (32m 17s):
I really want to stay there.

2 (32m 18s):
It’s climate controlled. So there’s AC and heating depending on what time of year you go,

1 (32m 22s):
But in the bathroom, in your bubble.

2 (32m 24s):
Yeah. And they have showers and the bubble is clear. So at night, when there’s not a lot of light pollution out there, you can see all the stars beautifully from laying in your climate controlled bubble.

3 (32m 35s):
Imagine that having a glass of wine you into bed, it’s

2 (32m 38s):
Amazing. And it’s on the vineyard and there’s tons of other cute small places like that, that are on the vineyard. There’s some that are made out of giant wine barrels. There’s some that just look like tiny houses sticking out of a cliff.

1 (32m 52s):
There’s some glamping opportunities out there as well on Airbnb. You can actually filter unique, stays and have all of them pop up for that area that you’re going to,

2 (33m 1s):
And they’re fairly reasonable priced. So this is a must go to, you can do this as a day trip from San Diego there’s tours that you can purchase that will pick you up either on the San Diego side or the Tijuana side. And you can also drive yourself down here.

3 (33m 13s):
That’s true. And those tours, if they’re not from a tour company, they have Airbnb experiences that do those tours where they’ll pick you up from your hotel or wherever you’re staying and take you to like three of the wineries. Your drinks are included. It’s your transportation. Very, very moderately priced as well. So do check that out. Quite honestly, I would recommend. And I know we’re only on number four, all five of the places that we’re going to mention here. But if you’re going to do one, I swear Vita Guadalupe should be the one on

2 (33m 39s):
Definitely, which brings us to our fifth and final town in Baja that we recommend you visit from San Diego. This one is Mexicali and we were just there.

3 (33m 51s):
Mexicali is, as Kim said earlier, you know, four of these five are along the coast here. Mexicali is further inland. So we went a little bit east from Ensonata divided Guadalupe. This one is even further east, and this is not along the coast. Now you can drive within Mexico and get here. But quite honestly, my recommendation is if you’re going to be coming from San Diego, you head east on interstate eight to Calexico from Calexico. You cross into Mexicali. And here you are now in another country. Now a couple of tips though, about Mexicali is like we said, it’s further east you’re in the desert. It is hot, hot, hot, hot. When we were there, it was 103 degrees.

3 (34m 32s):
And if you go during the summer do expect that. And because it is that hot, a lot of places, especially where you’re going to go. Cause we didn’t mention what Mexicali is famous for yet. They have a lot of outdoor seating for that. So because it’s hot during the summer, a lot of these places that we’re going to talk about, don’t open up until later in the evening, like five, six o’clock.

2 (34m 55s):
We mentioned that it’s hot in the summer. And to expect that I would go a step further and say, do not come in the summer. I would do not recommend you visit in the summer.

1 (35m 5s):
I wasn’t sure we were going to last all day. Cause it was so hot outside when we went

2 (35m 9s):
Like your eyeballs will be burning. That’s how hot it is.

3 (35m 12s):
But see, we live in San Diego and we’re spoiled with the weather. Lots of people all across the U S right now are having a hundred plus degree. We’re from a hometown that had consistent a hundred degrees. I think we’ve just gotten used to it. But point being, yes, it is absolutely hot out there. Yeah.

2 (35m 25s):
You can enjoy Mexicali more. If you do not go in the summer,

3 (35m 29s):
Go during the winter. We were talking about next time we go, it’s going to be during the winter. So now that we talked about Mexicali a little bit and just those tips and the fact that it’s hot, why don’t one of you ladies tell our listeners what Mexicali is famous for? What brought us out there?

1 (35m 43s):
So Mexicali is famous for breweries and Chinese food because apparently they have a big Chinese population and they have a lot of Chinese restaurants actually even have a Chinatown in Mexicali and their craft. Bruising is hyping up out there as well. Like I said, there’s a lot of different breweries. And so we had a really specific plan. We were going to go to a brewery, then get Chinese food, then go to another brewery and then go get Chinese food again

3 (36m 8s):
From a different restaurant. Mind you in different breweries, mind you,

2 (36m 11s):
Chinese food brewery, Chinese food.

1 (36m 14s):
That was our plan. So, you know, we get there and we’re so glad to be sharing this with you. So you don’t make the same mistakes as us. And we look at the brewery and it says, it’s open on Google and we get there and they’re closed. And we get there at like 1130 and they’re like, yeah, we don’t open till five. We’re like, oh no.

2 (36m 31s):
Oh, what else do? Yeah. And then most breweries don’t open till five. So we were like, holy shit. How are we going to go brewery Chinese food brewery, Chinese food. If none of them were open.

1 (36m 41s):
So we had to change our plan a little bit and we ended up getting Chinese food first. And so we ended up doing Chinese food brewery, brewery brewery,

3 (36m 50s):
And no other second Chinese food, which is another reason why we need to go back. But I love Asian cuisine. I love Chinese food. And even though Chinese food is Chinese food, you know, it’s going to be catered a little bit different to the local tastes, right? Like Mexican, Chinese food sounds weird. But let me tell you something. We had a bomb Chinese experience. What was the name of the restaurant again? That we went to ladies,

2 (37m 12s):
The name of the restaurant was El Rincon de Panchito.

3 (37m 16s):
And what did we get?

2 (37m 17s):
We got a lot of good food. I was very impressed with the food here.

3 (37m 21s):
Odd like super, super impressed.

2 (37m 23s):
And first I just want to say San Diego does not have good Chinese food. We’ve lived here for a long time and we have not found a good Chinese restaurant. And everyone in San Diego says the same thing, which is why we were excited to go to Mexicali. And we went all out at this place,

1 (37m 38s):
Takes through the spread

2 (37m 39s):
Is we were going to do, you know, brewery trainees, food brewery, Chinese food. And so we were going to eat a little bit from each place, but since we had to start here and there was no turning back, we went all in. We’ve got orange chicken, Pork fried rice,

1 (37m 53s):
Veggie,

2 (37m 53s):
Egg rolls, chicken, lettuce wraps.

1 (37m 56s):
Those were really good.

2 (37m 57s):
And six beers

1 (37m 58s):
All for $55.

3 (38m 1s):
What a deal, honestly,

1 (38m 2s):
Plates or massive. I mean, huge portions had huge portions of the orange chickens, huge portion of the fried rice that fried rice was towering. And there was four of us and there was leftovers of everything that we had.

3 (38m 15s):
And even those lettuce wraps that we talked about, they were basically kind of like fried noodles with the chicken on top. And you wrap it in the lettuce, you know, your homemade spring rules in a way, if you will. And even though that was listed as an appetizer at the plate was huge. The portion sizes were absolutely crazy out there. And since we weren’t able to go to a brewery first and it was already hot by the time we got there around 11 30, 12 o’clock we needed to have some beers. So we had some beers while we were there also. But to get all that food, six beers, $55, what a steal, again, want to reiterate the value that you can get in terms of drinks and food down in Mexico.

2 (38m 53s):
So we filled up, we ate as much as we could there and killed some time. We went over to Costco to get some gas there. So there’s another tip. If you want some cheap gas

3 (39m 2s):
Go to Costco, they have a Costco in Mexicali.

2 (39m 6s):
And then we went to brewery number one,

3 (39m 9s):
Brewery, number one, this was cerveza REIA Chapultepec. Now, if you don’t know Spanish survey, Ceria just means like a big beer place. If you ever hear something with area at the end of it like Tacori a Panaderia beer. Yes. It means it’s like a place that serves specifically that cervezas beer. So figure out what cerveza Rhea means. Right? So , this was the only place that we really found that had opened early. And by early it was like one o’clock. And so we’re like, all right, we’re going to have to really go. Now, this one is quite honestly a chain. They have a survey here in Tijuana. I know they have one in Mexico city.

3 (39m 50s):
They have one here in Mexicali. So it is a chain, but it is still a nice restaurant to go to and have just different style. Next can beers. They do also have their own line just as well. So unfortunately this place, wasn’t one of the localized breweries that they have out here in Mexicali, but because it was one of the few places to open early, we had to go and we got five margaritas, which seems odd considering we were at a survey Ceria, but you can’t go to Mexico and not get a margarita. We had five beers. We got some appetizers, even though we had Chinese couple sliders and all of that was for $15. You want to know why? Because everything on the menu is 23 pesos.

3 (40m 31s):
And if you don’t know, rough equivalent, 20 pesos is one us dollar. So we got pretty much everything there for like a dollar and 10 cents. It was

2 (40m 39s):
Amazing.

1 (40m 40s):
And the mango margarita were so good. They

2 (40m 42s):
Were really good.

3 (40m 43s):
I just want to reiterate Kim’s boyfriend was with us on this one. So that was four people, all three of us aren’t motoring through all that. So I just want to reiterate this Mexicali trip and everything we’re talking about for people here for all this stuff.

2 (40m 55s):
So after we overstayed our welcome there, we moved on to brewery number two,

3 (41m 0s):
Yes. Survey Ceria, Econo.

1 (41m 3s):
I really liked this brewery. It was a really quaint rustic feel inside. It was really nice, really spacious. And in the a hundred degree heat, they had nice fans and AC going. So that was a plus. And here we got one pizza margarita pizza, which had eight slices. We got fries. We had eight beers amongst the four of us, but they also had other options like barbecue and other pizza items and other things on the menus burgers, things like that. And total here, we only spent $40 for all that we got.

2 (41m 33s):
That is crazy. Cause even four beers in San Diego would be $40 and we got eight beers plus food

1 (41m 40s):
Plus food.

3 (41m 41s):
Yeah. I really like this place for two reasons. One, because it really is a local brewery to the area in Mexicali, which was one of the whole purposes and reasons why we went, you know, San Diego has a craft brew scene. It’s probably the best in the United States. I’m just going to come out and say it it’s the reality of it. And so this brewery out here reminded me of a nice place in San Diego had that awesome fuel that you were talking about on the inside. The beer was absolutely amazing. We all, each got different styles. Beers tried each others. They were all very good. The food was also just as delicious as well. And so this was a really, really good place, very large interior also.

3 (42m 21s):
So it makes a really awesome lively experience that we had while we were in there.

1 (42m 25s):
Jamal, tell us about the urinal in the bathroom.

3 (42m 28s):
Oh my gosh. I went to go to the restroom as most people have to do when you’re drinking and let alone having beers for that matter. And I came out and I just kept raving like, oh my gosh, that’s like the coolest urinal I’ve ever used the restroom in. And then I pulled out the photo cause I had to take a photo of it. It was a keg cut open that was made into a urinal mounted up on the wall. Like any traditional urinal. I know it sounds silly, but like I was really enthralled with the theme that they had going on in the restaurant for that. I liked it a lot.

2 (42m 58s):
You guys can see a picture of this keg urinal on our website at Travel Squad, Podcast dot com for the page that we have on this episode.

1 (43m 7s):
Did you notice the lights that were coming down over the table were made out of beer bottles? Oh

2 (43m 11s):
Yeah. They had so much cute decor.

1 (43m 13s):
They had really cute.

2 (43m 14s):
I had a big giant mural of this beautiful lady. They had a bunch of survey Suh, reassigns,

1 (43m 19s):
And then we were sitting right next to where the pizzas were being made and the pizza oven. And so it was just a really nice time and it was still cool over in that corner because we had some fans hitting us directly.

3 (43m 30s):
You know, what I find funny is obviously I know we mentioned we were going to go get Chinese food because of that. And we did, and we didn’t get that second round, like we talked about, but it’s hilarious. Each brewery that we went to, we always ended up getting more food. Cause it just looked and was so good and so cheap. And it was just like, well, we’re here and didn’t get that second round at Chinese. So again, we got to go back for that.

2 (43m 52s):
Well, it also needs to be said that we went on this trip in July and at that time in Mexicali COVID restrictions were still very much in place and they did have rules. You had to order food with your drinks.

3 (44m 5s):
Yeah. Kind of like how it was here in California. That that is very true. So we try to get little smaller ones, but as time went on and we had a few more drinks, they became larger items that we ended up getting

2 (44m 14s):
And we enjoyed eating. It

3 (44m 16s):
Was good. It was all good. And right after surveys, three Econo right across the street, another survey, Syria, how can we not go from one side of the street to the other and just experience it? It was 6, 8, 6 survey. This

1 (44m 32s):
Was probably my favorite of the breweries that we went to. It was really cute on the inside. They had this beautiful black couch with these really comfortable pillows. And then, you know, there was like this coffee table in between us. And it was just a really relaxing vibe,

2 (44m 48s):
Very lounge vibe,

1 (44m 49s):
Very lounge. Their AC was on a blast.

2 (44m 52s):
It was cold.

3 (44m 53s):
And that was the coldest point. You know, when we went inside, we’re like, oh yeah, this is great. And then honestly, after five minutes, I said to myself, I’m not going to say it’s too cold because we’ve been complaining about how hot it was. So I just accepted it and was thankful for it. But after a while sitting inside is just like, man, it’s actually like really a little too cold in here, but you gotta be really lucky to sit on the inside. We got there early kind of when they had opened up. And so those comfortable couches that you ladies are talking about, they were wide open for us, for the taking, but there’s very limited interior seating. Most of it is geared up to be outside patio, which, you know, once the sun went down, it was still warm out. But it was definitely like, okay, I could be out here if I had to, but an awesome atmosphere with the strewn lights going across.

3 (45m 37s):
And just that party vibe, everyone having fun, having drinks, live music. Yeah. This place was on 0.6, eight, six survey Ceria.

2 (45m 46s):
And we got there. We walked right in, got the couch spot. When we left, there was a line to get in.

1 (45m 51s):
Yes, there was. Yeah. People were lining up on the side.

3 (45m 54s):
Why don’t you ladies tell everybody what we got and how much we paid here. I mean, we got a lot at this place. This was the most expensive by far. But if we do the total here, we definitely spent the longest here and got the most stuff here too. So that makes sense. Also,

2 (46m 6s):
This was the most of all our favorite. We got the most food and drinks we spent the longest time here. It was the coldest. We got four waters. You have to pay for water in Mexico. They don’t give you tap water. So we got four waters. We got a plate appetizer of pork belly, Brittany, Louie, and myself had not one but two rounds of tequila shot.

3 (46m 27s):
I was D D otherwise I would have partaken. And again, another reason why I want to go back, I want to partake in those tequila shots and we’ll spend the night.

2 (46m 36s):
Yeah. The city express, right.

3 (46m 37s):
City express.

2 (46m 39s):
We also got eight beers between the four of us, one Carnegie case idea that was freaking amazing.

1 (46m 46s):
Yes.

2 (46m 46s):
And two sliders, which are also really amazing.

3 (46m 50s):
They were good sized sliders and they were delicious by the way.

2 (46m 52s):
Oh. And they came with fries too.

1 (46m 54s):
Oh yeah. Like the little potato wedges.

2 (46m 56s):
Yes. So for all of that, it came out to about a hundred bucks.

1 (46m 60s):
I can’t even imagine what that would cost here in the United States.

2 (47m 4s):
Eight beers in San Diego would cost you about 80 bucks.

3 (47m 6s):
I know let’s just be nice and say it’s $8 beer instead of 10 and put it at 64, but that’s still crazy. That’s more than half and just the beers and not even including the food.

1 (47m 15s):
And we got six shots of tequila. So I mean right alone.

3 (47m 20s):
And I think you guys ordered top shelf tequila too. I mean, if you got regular tequila and I’m not saying well, cheap stuff, but you know, mid grade, the bill could have been a lot lower. I didn’t really pay attention on the receipt to see how much each shot was, but I know Louie had ordered top shelf.

2 (47m 35s):
I didn’t catch that, but it was good. It was good tequila.

1 (47m 38s):
Yeah. So total cost for our entire day in Mexicali for the Chinese food, all of the drinks we had at all three breweries and all of the food that we had came to $210. And that included 27 beers, five Margheritas and six shots of tequila and all of the food we talked about,

2 (47m 57s):
That’s amazing for simply eating and drinking on the cheap. I would highly recommend Mexicali, but again, not in summer.

3 (48m 3s):
Yeah. And I just want to say like, honestly, Mexicali, you really going to go here for what we described to have the unique culinary scene of Chinese food within Mexico. They’re famous for it. Not just like locally, but throughout Mexico, because they have that big population in that area.

2 (48m 19s):
in Mexicali is the biggest Chinatown in Mexico.

3 (48m 24s):
Yes. And obviously the craft brew scene. So this is really a culinary scene place. Other than that, quite honestly, there’s not a lot to do in Mexicali, but if you’re going to be going for the food scene and the drink scene, this is a fun place to go. Especially as we’re saying during the winter,

2 (48m 40s):
Jamal, did you tell the listeners the history behind why there are so many Chinese restaurants there?

3 (48m 45s):
I did not. And now you’ve kind of put me on the spot. I don’t remember. I didn’t

2 (48m 49s):
Give you,

3 (48m 49s):
Yeah, please do I read on why there was a big population there and I have forgotten it. So refresh my memory and let the squaddies. No,

2 (48m 58s):
It will come back to you. So in the late 18 hundreds, early 19 hundreds, when the railroad was being developed, a lot of Chinese people, and I did read it with some, from the Hong Kong region, specifically migrated to this part of the United States, Mexico area to build the railroad through the United States. And then once that was done and the work kind of went away, they just settled right there in Mexicali.

3 (49m 24s):
And now that you say that that refreshes my memory, and I think they settled in Mexicali because they were told that they would be paid higher wages for whatever normal work they would do now that the railroad’s done versus what they would be paid wage wise in the United States. It’s ringing a bell to me now. So very, very interesting on that. And I think I even read something that, because there’s a large population, people who continued to come in the 20th century. So the, like the 19 hundreds went to that area because there was already a population of Chinese. Yes. Yeah. It all came back to me. You were right.

2 (49m 55s):
I love how things like that. Like the real road or different like development projects in not just the U S but in the world affect migration and affect things like for hundreds of years later. It’s so interesting actually, in via when we did the guided tour there, if I had to Guadalupe the guy that was giving us our tour was telling us there’s a big Russian population there, a lot of Russians have migrated there. And then we mentioned TJ, the Italians that migrated there and made Caesar’s restaurant. So, so interesting. Mexico is very diverse. You may not expect that, but it is.

3 (50m 27s):
I think a lot of people have a misconception that people from other countries want to go to certain places in Europe, or obviously here in the United States. But believe me, Mexico is a very big immigrant fueled country in terms of its diversity. So

1 (50m 41s):
There’s also a lot of Lebanese in Mexico as well,

3 (50m 43s):
Really that there is the richest man in Mexico is of Lebanese descent. Oh

2 (50m 47s):
Wow.

1 (50m 49s):
So, you know, although you go to Mexico, you have a really great time. You have to come back to the U S at some point, and that is an experience all in itself,

2 (50m 56s):
Crossing back the board, I will say Mexico Belize, border crossing. I think we were in and out within 30 minutes, it was very simple,

1 (51m 3s):
But the Tiawana one, that’s a whole nother story. That is an experience in its own. Like Kim said earlier, she’s been in line for up to 11 hours when we went to Caesar’s just for dinner on a Saturday night to just cross back over, it was a four hour.

3 (51m 18s):
Now, keep in mind that 11 hour and four hour, we went with people that didn’t have global entry. If we have our global entry we’re in and they’re real quick and fast in and out, right? Yeah. But that 11 hour as an abnormal day, or as to when we went on a weekend. So when weekday it’s going to be better, I just want to throw that out there. So I don’t discourage people from going to Mexico. Right,

2 (51m 38s):
Right. Weekdays are typically better when to Caesars on a Wednesday night for dinner. And we came back within 20 minutes, the 11 hour situation and another situation I had at eight hours. We’re both on three-day holiday weekends for the United States coming back on a Monday night. So that is what you want to avoid at all costs, Louie. And I actually went over new year’s. And so we came back on a Friday and that’s usually when everyone’s going in, it was extremely fast and easy to get back into the U S so you’ll want to time it right. Coming back across.

3 (52m 8s):
Yes. But let’s talk about the border experience while you’re waiting in the car to cross you’ll. Maybe even see this in the walk, across standing line, but more specifically in the car line. What are we going to see ladies?

2 (52m 20s):
Tons of people selling stuff. I mean, you can get anything from like a tequila dispenser with matching shot glasses, to a giant Wicker laundry basket, which we have both purchased and

1 (52m 32s):
Great purchases.

2 (52m 32s):
And they really were. You can even buy a little baby puppy.

1 (52m 36s):
Oh my God. That’s like one of my favorite parts when they come up with the puppies and we’re like puppies and they, they hand you the puppies and the puppy start cuddling you. And you’re just loving on them.

2 (52m 46s):
They’re so cute.

3 (52m 48s):
They dressed them up to be really cute. So you could play with them in the car. And then, you know, they’ll take them back. These puppies, they show vaccination cards and not they’re fixed and all that stuff too. But that’s a fun experience. If you didn’t get enough food, you want food in your car. They have people that are runners that you tell them what you want. They’ll go get it for you. You can get tacos, you can get tortillas, you could get your churros. You can get whatever you want while you’re waiting in line. Like, honestly, that makes the line way as sucky as it is tolerable because it’s its own experience coming back.

1 (53m 19s):
You can even buy beers to get delivered to your car can,

2 (53m 23s):
And that’s the other thing is anything you want, you can ask someone and they will run and go get it for you. And you can trust them too. If you give them your money a hundred percent, they’re coming back

1 (53m 32s):
Seriously. They, they hustle out there and they’re like, they’re really good. They follow your car and they know what’s up. They’ll come back to you.

3 (53m 38s):
They do. But quite honestly, at the same time, if you’re a little hesitant to give somebody money and wait for them to come back, I swear. If you tell them, I’ll pay you. When you come back, they have more incentive to, they were going to come back anyway. But if you need that comfort factor, just ask for it.

2 (53m 51s):
Yeah. But honestly, you have nothing to worry about. Like we said, it’s safe. And these people, like, I think that’s something that irritates me about a lot of American’s perception of Mexicans that they’re this or that. But I find them to be some of the most honest kind, very generous will go out of their way to help you just genuine people.

3 (54m 13s):
I mean, when you cross the border and you see everybody doing what they’re doing, that we’re talking about as the experience coming in, they’re hustling, they’re working, you see it. You have to respect that work ethic because I know a lot of people don’t actually have it. So it’s awesome to see in a fun experience coming across, I would get tired of it if I waited 11 hours like you did for that, Ken, but still it would have made the first four tolerable.

1 (54m 37s):
I mean, when we were there with Robin, she bought sandals for her mom. She bought like a Chucky statue.

2 (54m 43s):
That was creepy.

1 (54m 45s):
There was a lot of things. We got like five bags of churros. Logar there. Lots of tiny tacos, beer, everything we got the whole works. It was quite the experience.

3 (54m 54s):
Any final thoughts ladies on our five south of the border that we gave everyone the 1 0 1 on episode 1 0 1 on before we get to questions of the week,

2 (55m 3s):
That’s all from me.

1 (55m 4s):
I would just say, you know, if you haven’t been to Mexico and you live anywhere close to San Diego and Tijuana go down and experience it, it’s super safe. We’ve had a great time. And it’s a really beautiful place to visit.

3 (55m 18s):
Yeah. I would say don’t let negative stereotypes or misconceptions hinder you from going to Mexico. I promise you, you’re going to have a really good time. It’s going to be an experience that you love.

2 (55m 28s):
All right, well, let’s get into questions of the

3 (55m 32s):
Week.

2 (55m 40s):
Our first question is coming from Miriam, from Oceanside and Miriam Ask is asking, is there anywhere just south of the border that you haven’t visited, but want to visit?

1 (55m 49s):
There’s actually a place that I’ve been wanting to visit that is south of the border. It’s just not south of the San Diego border. It’s south of the Texas border. So on the American side, there’s a big bend national park. And if you cross the Rio Grande day, it’ll take you into bulkiest de Carmen, which is a cute little village that you can visit. You can go across the Rio Grande de via ferry, and then you can take a donkey into town or take a truck. But I think that’d be a really cool experience. And it, I think it’s really unique to be able to cross from a national park into another country.

2 (56m 22s):
That is cool. Very cool experience.

1 (56m 24s):
But right now it’s currently closed due to COVID. So I am watching and waiting for them to open back up.

2 (56m 30s):
Nice.

3 (56m 30s):
Yeah. Miriam, there’s lots of places in Mexico that I want to go to in terms of just south of the border. Not necessarily, I feel like the good ones are here on the west coast where we’re at minus what Brittany had just mentioned. So most of my places are on the interior. Quite honestly, not along the border,

2 (56m 47s):
Miriam, I’m going to hook you up with something that I wasn’t going to share in this podcast, because I kind of wanted to keep it a secret, but in Rosarito or just south of Rosarito, there is a little gated resort community called Los Rokus. And if you want to feel like you’re in Cabo, but you’re just 30 minutes south of San Diego, this is the place to go. It’s guarded, gated. Beautiful. There is a infinity pool, right on the cliff of the ocean. There are lounge chairs. There’s a beautiful like Tiki hut bar red on the ocean. There’s a restaurant places to eat. It has a spa. It is the most beautiful getaway you can even imagine. And it’s just 30 minutes south of San

1 (57m 26s):
Diego. I can’t wait for us to go there.

2 (57m 27s):
And me too, it’s it’s going to be amazing.

1 (57m 30s):
So our second question comes from Tony H from Carlsbad, and he says, you’ve mentioned global entry and TSA pre before, but how do you get it?

3 (57m 40s):
So that’s a really good question, Tony. The first thing you want to do is get in front of a computer and you want to go to either the department of Homeland security’s website or customs and border patrol, customs and border patrol is under department of Homeland security. So either one will be good and you want to find the link that talks about their trusted traveler program. And from there, you can go ahead and do the application process as it stands. Now it’s a hundred dollars for five years. You do the application online, pay your fee, answer the questions that they have, which are really background questions on you. And then basically goes to somebody to review. They make sure what you say to them as accurate.

3 (58m 20s):
They do a background check on you, and then if you are approved, they let you know, you have to go to a certified place where they will conduct an interview with you, fingerprint you, bill tell you where all that is. Should you get approved, but that is the process to get your global entry, which then gives you the TSA pre on top of that. So basically the application process is all online for you. A hundred dollars, five years, well-worth it.

2 (58m 45s):
It’s not all online though. You do the online portion. They approve you. Then you have to go in for that in-person interview,

3 (58m 51s):
Right? The getting started is all online. Like I was saying that you do have that interview process. Yes. And they’ll let you know where you have to go. You schedule an appointment for that. And if you have to schedule, that’s a good news because if you don’t get approved, they won’t even bother to tell you, come in for the interview.

2 (59m 6s):
And that’s a good point. Not everyone gets approved. So if you’ve had things from your past criminal record, it’s likely you won’t get approved. It depends though, but in your interview, they may ask you about certain things that are pulling up in your record. I think poor credit could also be something that they look at. It’s essentially the government doing a background check on you. So not everyone gets approved and your a hundred dollars doesn’t come back. If you apply and you don’t get approved,

1 (59m 29s):
That’s good to know.

2 (59m 30s):
All right, well that is our episode for the week. Thanks for tuning in with us. Keep the adventures going with us by following us on Instagram and YouTube at Travel Squad Podcast, tag us in your adventures and send us in your questions every week.

3 (59m 42s):
If you’ve found the information in this episode to be useful, or if you thought we were just playing funny, please be sure to share it with a friend that would enjoy it too. And as always guys, please subscribe, rate, and review or a podcast and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes,

1 (59m 56s):
Stay tuned for next week’s episode, we have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you

2 (1h 0m 0s):
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