What NOT to do in Mexico

Well, it's taken a few days, but here is my final post from Rosarito -- just a few tips on what I would wouldn't do if I were to go back to that area!

1. Don't worry about changing your money Everyone accepts US dollars -- they seemed to prefer them in many places -- so it wasn't worth the hassle of going to the bank and getting all of that done.
2. Don't hire a mariachi band to play for you at dinner A lot of restaurants have this and it just isn't worth it. We didn't do it, but we did have to sit through a few loud dinners where the people next to us had...
3. Don't sit next to anyone who looks like they would hire a mariachi band to play for them at dinner I know that this is hard to actually follow through on, but still.
4. Know how to properly cross the border US Customs appreciates it and you won't risk missing your flight. I read a lot of books but none of them mentioned which lane to use or any of that, so just make sure you ask someone before you go through the wrong lane.

And that's it, I guess. Pretty simple stuff!! Go to Mexico and go wild, everybody!

Home Again

In Mexico, my dad brought up the fact that I've never done any conclusion posts after any of my trips, so this is it (ok, there is going to be one more on my tips for traveling in Mexico but this post will sum up my last day in California and flight home).

I last wrote about our misadventure in crossing the border and seeing our dad off to the airport, after that, we took a shuttle to our hotel, The Declan Suites. Our room was on the 20th floor, which I think is pretty shnazzy. Whitney utilized Siri to find us a place for lunch and we ended up at Hodady's, scarfing down monster burgers and burning hot onion rings.

I wish I could say that we did something super awesome during our afternoon in San Diego, but we really just watched TV in our room -- which was still pretty awesome. It was a nice lazy day, that ended with a walk to the Ghiradelli chocolate store and a Bride Day marathon.

My direct flight home left hours before Whitney's, so I was off before the sun was up. I got to the airport far too early for my liking and was forced to listen to a middle-aged couples loud and bigoted ranting. Nothing compacts a fear of flying and a fear of ebola quite like sitting in an airport listening to people talk about various related conspiracy theories.

Things did get better though -- I was seated next to that couple on the plane! They weren't as bad on the plane, the husband spent most of the five hour flight -- I kid you not -- reading the Bible.

I was flying Alaskan Airlines and instead of having legitimate movie screens, they allow you to rent what are essentially tablets. I went ahead and got one of these and ended up sleeping through most of X-Men Days of Future Past.

After sleeping through most of Epic as well, it was time for us to land and me to go home, which is where I am now!!

Whitney is having another difficult travel day apparently and might have started another Twitter war with United... We shall see!

Mexican French Toast and Border Patrol

The prime objective of today was to get back into America and we almost screwed that up... But more on that later.

The first task of the day was packing up and shipping out, plus breakfast. We returned to our hotel's restaurant for the latter and that is where I got "Mexican French Toast." Technically it was just listed as French toast on the menu, but I wanted the novelty of French toast from Mexico. It was pretty standard French toast in the end.

After that, we hit the road. At the top of the week, Chuck had had some difficulty finding his way to the border and then crossing it. He'd wound up in the ReadyLane for people with passport cards instead of passports and was told that the next time he came through, he needed to use "the other lane." Once again, he got lost, but this time he was determined to redeem himself by taking "the other lane." We got in the "Sentri/Solo" lane. Well, this was not "the other lane." This lane was designed to be thr EZPass of border crossing and there is apparantely a third lane that no one knew how to get to from where we'd come from!

They take going through the Sentri Lane a lot more seriously than they take going through the Ready Lane, so while my dad got a verbal warning on Sunday, today they put a cone on our car and made us pull aside for further inspection. We drove through an X-ray machine and then we were left to sit there. *Cue waiting impatiently montage* Eventually, someone came to our service and they were thorough -- checking every inch of the car and our bags and basically everything they could besides us. We werI may or may not be an international criminal now. What have you done today? We were given a warning and told that if this happened again, it could be a $5000 fine and with that lovely thought hanging over us, we were free to enter the country.

We returned our rental car and took the shuttle back to the airport with our dad. We helped him check into his flight and I looked like a crazy person as I carried a jug of water we'd bought in Mexico but hadn't finished around the San Diego airport. Now Whit and I are off to figure out what to do with the last night of our vacation.

Last Day in Rosarito

This morning, we went for a horse ride on the beach. I guess this is viewed as romantic by some people, obviously not for the three of us given our circumstances but definitely not for me, EVER. Note to future suitors: this is a horrible idea and will not, in any way, endear you to me. Horses on the beach might not seem humane to some and it definitely wasn’t… for me! How the horses felt about all of this is debatable but I might actually hate horse riding as much as I hate airplanes.

Whitney, however, is all about the horses. She decided that hers was named Theodore. I decided that mine was named a string of unbloggable swear words… Chuck knows all about horses after spending summers on his uncle’s farm growing up, so he was ok too. The only person who thought that a gentle trot along the beach would kill them was me. 

Happy

Happier

Happi... No.

Once I had returned to the ground, I was a happy clam – and I found more clam shells! (These clams weren't happy, because they were dead…). We also found more sand pesos – I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with all of these sand dollar/pesos yet, but I have a lot of them.

Then it was pool time! Pool time was further improved today by combining it with wine time. After pool time, it was lunch time… and then more pool time. (Tan game is going so strong at this point).

We returned to the beach for one last swim – or in my case, one more time where I tried not to drown. The good news is that I obviously did not drown or else I wouldn't be blogging right now. The other good news is that it was a fantastic time!

After that, we de-sanded and then returned for one final west coast sunset over the ocean. Final authentic Mexican food was required for dinner and now it's time to pack up and say goodbye -- we're leaving here at 8:30 tomorrow to take Chuck back to the airport, Whit and I will have the whole day in San Diego and then it's back to the east coast on Saturday.

Sunset selfie! Peace and love from Mexico!

Another Day, Another (Sand) Dollar

Today started off pretty gray. Whitney and I hung out in the pool while our dad did work (because apparently there are still a few responsibilities that don't evaporate when you go on vacation).

The clouds broke around noon and we ventured down to the beach. Whitney, apparently, has a gift for finding sand dollars (otherwise known as sand pesos, since we're still in Mexico) and we found more today -- including whole ones -- than we had during the rest of our trip combined. If Whitney could find real money the way she found sand pesos, we would be rich by now. I found more shells -- I think I'm getting close to my quota, but it's hard to tell.

Whitney took this to get insta-famous. So artsy.

After the beach, we went out for more tacos. Whitney and I not only accidentally matched each other, but the restaurant as well...

This is what all of the cool cats in punk town are wearing.

More shopping followed -- I'm happy to say that the vendors in Rosarito aren't nearly as aggressive as the vendors in Ensenada -- and then we were back in the pool for a few hours.

Dinner was in Puerto Nuevo, which is famous for it's lobster. I went with the standard and had lobster for dinner and the rest of the family had different variations of sea food for dinner. We also had an awesome view, but we couldn't eat that.

Post dinner, we watched the sunset before heading out to Mexican Dairy Queen, where we could not go through the drive-thru because Whitney "doesn't know the Spanish word for sprinkles."

Taco Tuesday!

Also known as Freedom Friday... but still on a Tuesday!

Yes, today was Taco Tuesday, which meant a lot of tacos, but there was also a lot of wine, shopping and just food in general. 

We started our day nice and early -- with a wine tasting. Yes, 10:15 am is a totally acceptable time to start drinking! The cool thing about our first stop of the day at Vinos Fuentes (also known as glasses 1-6) was finding out that I'm already famous here in Mexico! I have wine named after me!! Vinos Fuentes makes a wine called Ruby Red Thom(p)son and although there was some discrepancy between the spelling on the bottle and the sign, it is clear that the wine was made in my honor -- the wine is 14% alcohol just like I am! We didn't actually get to try my wine during the tasting but we did buy a bottle to bring home.

See? I'm famous!

Stop #2 was Sol de Media Noche (glasses 7-10). Unlike Vinos Fuentes, this place had cheese to go with the wine, so it was basically just like what happens when I go out to dinner and ask the waiter for "the cheesiest dish and strongest drink." We bought another bottle here, this time it was a white that we actually did try but due to poor labeling/poor translation, all we know about it is that mango is involved in some way.

Our final stop was La Cetto and we finished out the day at 12:15 pm with a final tally of 14 glasses.

Next, we arrive in Ensenada, the birthplace of the margarita! Having been wined out for the day, we didn't actually get any margaritas while we were there, but we did have tacos! Whitney and I both ended up having one fish taco (it was a fish stick in a tortilla) and one shrimp taco (shrimp and cheese and a whole lot of other stuff). Our dad had a different type of shrimp taco. After that, it was time to shop! I put an exclamation point there, but I'm not sure this was the greatest shopping experience; there was a lot of stuff to buy and a lot of people who really wanted to sell it to us. While I know being hassled is a part of the experience, it isn't necessarily a part that I like. I ended up only going into the rare stores that left me alone (or had really, really shiny stuff in the windows). All of the harassment aside, I did make a few purchases, although I didn't find new friends for my South African elephant figurine, Nelson, which is something I'm looking to do here. We also got another taco before our time in Ensenada was over.

After that, we drove back to the hotel and although the roads here are not as narrow as the ones in Capri, they're still pretty terrifying. Whitney wasn't worried though, she slept in the back seat, cradling her bottle of wine in her arms like a newborn baby. Typical.

Finally, we returned to the beach for another sunset and some more shell collecting. I promise that my obsessive shell collecting does serve a greater purpose, but that purpose is a secret, so just trust me. I found a barnacle today too! Whitney found a knife that had washed up on the beach.

But look! Sunset stuff...

Aww, we're so cute!

I don't even know...

We then ate wayyy too much at dinner and are going to sit in the hot tub for the rest of the evening. 

Whitney wants everyone to know that her butt got sunburned

She really does. She even tweeted about it.