So Alaska/Horizon tickets were about $450 from LAX to Loreto and I was in San Diego with an itch to go fishing.
Determined Baja traveler that I am, I decided to give the Volaris route a try.
I walked down to the Greyhound station in San Diego at 1st and Broadway about three hours ahead of my flight - about 6:00am. It was very close to my hotel in San Diego and I found the walk quiet and pleasant in the calm coolness of the morning.
The ride on the Curcero-USA bus (http://www.crucero-usa.com/) from San Diego to the Tijuana Airport was $15 US but you can get tickets for a few dollars less on the web. Buses run every hour or two from 6:45am to 11:30 pm. It takes about an hour to get from downtown San Diego to the Tijuana airport but leave early boarder delays are always possible and unpredictable.
Here we are about to cross over to el otro lado. I haven't made the land crossing at San Ysidro in a while and while much is still the same a few things have changed. The south bound traffic backed up in the photo are cars being stopped for searches on the US side prior to entering Mexico.
All vehicles were being stopped and we had to wait while a crew of officers really looked over a nice SUV and pick up driven by two young latino guys. Afterwards a series of three very serious officers visited the bus covered by an officer with the most fearsome looking shotgun I have ever seen. I think these guys were ICE but it was serious enough that I forgot to write down who was doing the searches. They ran a dog through the bus and made some announcements about carrying more than $10,000. This isn't usually a worry for El Moscero. If I had $10,000 I wouldn't be on the bus.
After a significant but not fatal delay we were on the way.
Always build extra time into your travel plans. You will need it here.
A volunteer from the bus gets to push the Aduana (Mexican Customs) red/light green light button - we got lucky and dozen or so people on the bus cheered as our volunteer got the green light.
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