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Driving to Tijuana

infection

infection

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Hearing some conflicting things regarding what you need to get back in to the US -- some say passports some say drivers license but can't really find any official word. We're going to Disneyland the end of October and contemplating either driving the SF to spend a couple days then head down PCH or going to Disneyland first and then driving down to San Diego, spend time at the beach and dip in to Tijuana briefly. We'll be traveling with our four kids who have never been to SF or SD (or "out of the country") so we've yet to decide. Anyone have any recent experiences?

P.S we don't have active passports.
 
If you apply for a passport now, you'd likely have it before you the end of October.
 
My understanding is that you need a passport.
 
Need passports. Jump on it quickly as it takes a few weeks, I had to re-new mine in the last year and it only took about 2-3 weeks, but I'm not sure on how long it will take for new ones.
 
Looks like we may have to do SF instead. My wife's drivers license has married name but social security is still her maiden name. We just moved to Utah and she'd have to get a Utah license before she can address the social security thing, which I assume would be necessary before getting passport.
 
JazzMan4Life said:
Need passports. Jump on it quickly as it takes a few weeks, I had to re-new mine in the last year and it only took about 2-3 weeks, but I'm not sure on how long it will take for new ones.
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Yep, you need a passport now. I also applied for a renewal a month ago and it only took 2 weeks to get the new passports. But I would not count on it going that quick.
 
My recommendation is to not visit Tijuana with children. I work with several people who have family there and their advice for us was to stay away. They don't even go back to visit. It isn't the safest place right now. Here is the travel warning from the state department:

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/mexico-travel-warning.html

Baja California (includes Tijuana, Rosarito, Ensenada, Tecate, and Mexicali): Exercise caution in the northern state of Baja California, particularly at night. Criminal activity and violence, including homicide, remain an issue throughout the state. According to the Baja California State Secretariat for Public Security, the state of Baja California experienced an increase in homicide rates compared to the same period in 2016. While most of these homicides appeared to be targeted, criminal organization assassinations, turf battles between criminal groups have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens. Shooting incidents injuring innocent bystanders have occurred during daylight hours. Due to poor cellular service and general road conditions, U.S. government personnel are only allowed to travel on “La Rumorosa” between Mexicali-Tijuana on the toll road during daylight hours.
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LogGrad98 said:
My recommendation is to not visit Tijuana with children. I work with several people who have family there and their advice for us was to stay away. They don't even go back to visit. It isn't the safest place right now. Here is the travel warning from the state department:

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/mexico-travel-warning.html
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State Department warnings on Latin American travel have mostly been crap. I've been to Tijuana dozens of times in the past 10 years and haven't felt anything dodgy... even when I was wandering pretty far off the beaten path.

Should you go down there with kids and walk wherever you want to? at night? No. Just like you shouldn't do that in every major US city or the cesspool places that exist on both sides of that border.
 
lots of things to do SD too. balboa, old town, coronado, ect... Tijuana should be fine as long as you don't go too far from the tourist area
 
infection said:
Hearing some conflicting things regarding what you need to get back in to the US -- some say passports some say drivers license but can't really find any official word. We're going to Disneyland the end of October and contemplating either driving the SF to spend a couple days then head down PCH or going to Disneyland first and then driving down to San Diego, spend time at the beach and dip in to Tijuana briefly. We'll be traveling with our four kids who have never been to SF or SD (or "out of the country") so we've yet to decide. Anyone have any recent experiences?

P.S we don't have active passports.
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Why would ya wanna visit a **** hole in tha first place? There literally ain't nuthin ta see other then a bunch of street venders sellin junk. I drove there plenty of times an traffic is a nightmare. 3 lanes become 5 an everone drives where the hell they wanna.

My only suggestion is ta bring a roll of quarters ta by yer tp when ya gotta **** at the grocery. Don't wait ta **** neither cause them lines is long they got a full time employee an everthink takin quarters for ya ta take a dump.
 
infection said:
Looks like we may have to do SF instead. My wife's drivers license has married name but social security is still her maiden name. We just moved to Utah and she'd have to get a Utah license before she can address the social security thing, which I assume would be necessary before getting passport.
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I will add my own confirmation to the others: you need a passport.

You should also remember that you can't drive all the way up/down the PCH right now because of the big landslide that covered part of the road.
 
If you are driving down to San Diego for the beach, that's fine I guess, but you'll have a better beach experience somewhere between Malibu and Santa Barbara than you will down there. And SD, the city, is mostly crap. Anyway, you could fold your beach experience into your trek northward to the Bay.
 
also, if you decide to go to Tijuana, then don't drive there. Park at one of the parking lots on the US side and then walk over the border to the taxi stand. Doing it this way will save you tons of time and headache. TONS, because walking back across is 100 times faster.
 
NAOS said:
also, if you decide to go to Tijuana, then don't drive there. Park at one of the parking lots on the US side and then walk over the border to the taxi stand. Doing it this way will save you tons of time and headache. TONS, because walking back across is 100 times faster.
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I'd wondered about that. Last time I was in SD we talked about going across and everyone said it took forever to get back across the border.
 
It's not a long walk and definitely worth parking in U.S. Plus you have the added bonus of not over-buying because you know you have to haul it all back.
 
I'm just going to add some clarity to what others have said regarding documentation.

You do need a passport.
However, there is a passport book and a passport card.
The card will get you in and out of MX when driving. The card is cheaper and faster to get.
If flying you need the book.

Peace.
 
Dr. Jones said:
I'm just going to add some clarity to what others have said regarding documentation.

You do need a passport.
However, there is a passport book and a passport card.
The card will get you in and out of MX when driving. The card is cheaper and faster to get.
If flying you need the book.

Peace.
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Main you ain't noin ******. Ima go wit Cheech an Chong on this one.

[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sFUFw1GH6ic
 
bigb said:
I'd wondered about that. Last time I was in SD we talked about going across and everyone said it took forever to get back across the border.
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They bottleneck the hell outa it so yah have ta see all them street vendors wares. One think tho iffin yous driving out grab some of them hot pepper candies. Anyone else tried em? Good stuff.
 
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