First outside Canada/US trip - a short visit to Baja initial ideas

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Good afternoon! I have done a fair bit of road tripping in Canada and the US including a couple of longer trips, but I have yet to venture south of the US border. I have vague ideas of someday wanting to at least consider driving down to Costa Rica or beyond, which will need to involve me getting over my fear of driving outside of Canada and the US.

I realize that much of this fear may be unfounded, and since I am looking at driving from my home in Southwestern Ontario for a few days of warmth at the end of January I am toying with the idea of crossing into Baja for a couple of nights. I travel in a Subaru Crosstrek with a James Baroud rooftop tent so I am eager to get down south to where I can get at least a few nights of winter use out of it.

I have just two weeks off so depending on how hard I push on the way down, it might just end up being a couple of nights in Baja but I think for me it would still be a worthwhile trip to prove to myself that Mexico isn't scary. It looks like the La Palapa RV Camp might be a nice place to stay in San Felipe for my first trip.

Other than sorting out exactly where I am heading, the other things I am looking at is car insurance (looks like Baja Bound is the go to for this?) and reading up more on how to deal with possible bribery requests from the police (it seems like the key is bringing copies of important vehicle documents and your driver's licence and only handing those over is the key?).

I still have lots more reading and planning to do, but if anyone has any basic thoughts or advice for a first time Baja visit I would be happy to hear them.
 

Jroettele

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Anaheim, CA
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Hi Cantooz

You will love Baja. It is a lot easer then you think. Getting insurance is a must. I used Baja Bound. I can't say if they are any good because I didn't have any claim with them. My advice is when you cross over the boarder stop at immigration and get a visitors visa. It is required by the insurance. Overall, we felt safe. We camped along the beach the whole time and never had to pay for any camp sites. San Felipe is great. There are a lot a restaurant along the malecon. You can find a lot of really good fish tacos. If you can make it down to Bay of LA (Bahia de Los Angeles) you won't regret it.

https://www.overlandbound.com/forums/threads/baja-christmas-escape.12277/#post-189392