Getting to La Ventana for cheap?

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TomAUSTRIA
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Getting to La Ventana for cheap?

Post by TomAUSTRIA » Thu Nov 15, 2007 12:37 pm

Hi,

I'm planning to do a trip from the Bay Area to La Ventana with a friend. We initially planned to take one of our cars but it seems that this is not as easy as it sounds because one car is not allowed to travel to Mexico (insurance reasons) and the other one has transmission issues.
If we drive to San Diego, is there an easy way to get down to La Ventana from there? It does not seem to be possible to take a rental car in San Diego and return it in La Paz or something like that. Renting a car for the whole time doesn't make sense either because we probably won't need a car in La Ventana.

Any creative ideas how to solve that problem? It seems that there are no cheap flights left.

tom

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fearlu
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Post by fearlu » Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:25 pm

You will want a car there for downwinders. Miss that and you miss the best there is on the East Cape. Kite only at Joe's or the campground and expect the ordinary. Kite outside in the swell offshore of the Hot Springs and you will be grinning ear-to-ear. It's big out there and well worth the little bit of extra effort. The cab from LaPaz (times two people times two legs) is nearly as much as the car will be.
Go bigga'

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Post by Endlestorm » Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:26 pm

Fly to La Paz, rent a car and save yourself days of driving. You'll appreciate the car in La Ventana for things like grocery shopping (head to La Paz) and heading to the Pacific coast for wind/waves if it is dead at La Ventana. No way I would drive all the way down there from the US for just 10 days.

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gnukid
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Post by gnukid » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:23 am

You can fly to SD and take the shuttle to TJ and fly from TJ to LAP or you can fly to phoneix and transfer there to LAP. If you fly cabo thats fine too but a 3 hour commute to ventana-worth a stop in barriles. Make car rental reservations in advance with a secure low rate with national or budget when you buy your tickets and if you have cc car rental insurance decline ins to save a bundle, but do not crash.

Its easy to loose time traveling and travel days are most expensive.

You can camp and eat restaurants for much less than to rent a room.

Most importantly don't leach off others because we'll beat you up.

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Post by Greg » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:48 am

CAUTION!!:
Do NOT drive in Mex without insurance coverage, even a minor accident will land you in jail- PERIOD!
Dont be stupid and even IF you do have insurance Dont crash.! Remember, the legal system in Mex is NOT like the U.S. and their jails are more like dungenons then detention centers.. No Shit!, be cool..
G3

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gnukid
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Post by gnukid » Wed Nov 21, 2007 7:18 am

There has been an increase in crime from the border to Rosarito, and especially in the areas close to TJ and along the toll roads. Police are involved in highjacking about 10 cars at least a day and they target loaded nice vehicles. Do not drive this area at night, no mater what. And best to convoy and keep moving. there is no good reason to stop in this region at all. Do not stop on the toll road for any police, they are robbers.

Good luck this really sucks and its just not worth losing so much.

Do not drive at night.

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Fassn8
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Post by Fassn8 » Wed Nov 21, 2007 7:46 am

Rent a car for sure. If you go online to dollar or similar you can get a MUCH better deal that in the La Paz airport. We rented a nissan sentra for $98 for the week last March.

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Post by kitecrazy » Wed Nov 21, 2007 2:14 pm

I just checked with www.dollar.com and their prices have gone way up it seems. For compact car with a/c it looks like about $255/week, with a ten day rental total of $458...
How many people did you have to (kill, blow, pay off, etc.) to get the $98/week rate?

I have tickets to be there Jan 14th-24th, so if that is a non-US holiday period time in La Paz, clue me in please.

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Post by Fassn8 » Wed Nov 21, 2007 2:34 pm

Ha ha! We were there in March so I think that makes a big difference. Actually we didn't rent it online in advance. When we went to the rental car stand they quoted us $400 for the week. Then I went to one of the booths in the airport asked the guy to borrow his computer ($5). Made the res on dollar.com (or maybe it was budget.com). Printed out the confirmation on his dot matrix printer. Walked back to the rental stand and Whamo! $98 bucks. Again, I think its a seasonal thing.

I would try to share a car with people here in the Bay Area or Oregon area (nwkite.com). There are always a bunch of people going down there at that time. Post on both forums. Also, try calling Baja Joes and ask if they have anyone coming in that needs a ride.

If I can convince my wife to let me go, I'll share a car with ya. ;-)

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Post by OliverG » Wed Nov 21, 2007 4:33 pm

One thing you always want to do is round up all the rental car company coupons online and use those to compare final costs. I've found National tends to result in the best deals after factoring in coupons with online reservations.

For example: http://www.neotravel.com/deals/coupons_national.php

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