Los Médicos Voladores

You'll want to start by booking commercial airflights from your home city to San Diego. You can search with Kayak (to the right) or at Southwest.com (prices not included in Kayak searches).

If you are taking public transit all the way, take city bus #992 from the San Diego airport (departs every 5 minutes or so). Just go to the curb and look for the bus stop. The airport information people can direct you. It costs a few dollars and they do not give change. Take the bus just a few miles to the nearest terminal for the San Diego Trolley, which is the equivalent of San Jose's light rail and runs on city streets. The bus route takes you south along the shore and then it turns 90 degrees left and you go about two blocks to the trolley station. The station has the word "America" in the title and it is across the street from the Union Pacific train station. You can see the Union Pacific sign before and after the bus makes the turn. The trolley goes through a large hole in a big building. It and Union Pacific are on the left side of the bus.

Make sure you take the train that heads south (it’s the Blue Line and they have red cars -- with departures every 5-to-10 minutes). It will say San Ysidro or "border". Buy a ticket from the machine at the station before boarding. I think it gives change. You won't have to worry about getting off at the right station because you will go to the end of the line. I think it takes 45 minutes to an hour.

Taking one of the ABC (Autotransportes Baja California) buses to Ensenada is easy and inexpensive (currently about $13 one way). They leave the bus terminal every half hour from early morning to 9:30pm at night. The ABC bus from the border to Ensenada is very nice. It leaves on time, it’s air-conditioned, it’s clean and they have a TV or video going during the trip – nice for practicing Spanish.

After walking across the border you will pass through the first border turnstiles, take a right at the intersection and walk through a second set of turnstiles. Cross the street, turn left, and walk past all the yellow taxis and the McDonald's towards the Plaza Viva sign. The station is easy to find, it's on the street to the right just past the Taxi Libre pickup behind the large building with mirrored windows.

TIP 1: Don´t let anyone direct you to other buses, which may not be as nice and may take longer with frequent stops. ABC is the bus line you want. These buses are nice and comfortable with plenty of room and they usually show a movie on the way. If the bus is full you should take your assigned seat.

TIP 2: You can request to sit on the right side of the bus, which will give you a better view of the coastline.

The bus does not go to Casa Hogar, which is a good 20 – 25 minutes drive from the bus depot. The hotel that we have stayed in when traveling there (Hotel Del Valle, Riveroll 367) is no more than a 1/2 mile from the bus depot and on the same street (Riveroll) so it is not difficult to walk to that hotel from the depot.