I was reading one of those coffee table bucket list books wondering about all the wonderful things where in Mexico and pondering whether we would ever get there. To be fair I was really not really reading just looking at the all the pictures of beautiful beaches, ancient pyramids, culture, history and food when it dawned on me that I had actual technically speaking visited this country. It was a long time ago 1996, I was on my way back to Australia from Europe after a bit of back packing after visiting family and friends. It was the long way home but it was something different and I could say I had been around the world.
I was reading one of those coffee table bucket list books wondering about all the wonderful things where in Mexico and pondering whether we would ever get there. To be fair I was really not really reading just looking at the all the pictures of beautiful beaches, ancient pyramids, culture, history and food when it dawned on me that I had actual technically speaking visited this country. It was a long time ago 1996, I was on my way back to Australia from Europe after a bit of back packing after visiting family and friends. It was the long way home but it was something different and I could say I had been around the world.

I did not know anyone on the West coast of America so I booked a short Contiki tour. I had done a longer Contiki  European tour in 1991 and enjoyed having somebody organized all the nitty gritty details. It was interesting to compare the two bus trips, The European one was pretty wild compared to the American one. The most noticeable was no alcoholic drinks on the coach for insurance reasons. The Tijuana Mexico section of the tour was only short, a few hours for a lunch break and a walk up the main tourist shopping street. No passports or immigration checks from memory. I found my old hard rock t-shirt in the shed seems such a waste to be just using it as a cleaning rag but I am lucky to still have it.


Not in Mexico but this group photo proves. I was on the tour
Not in Mexico but this group photo proves. I was on the tour
This was somebody else’s itenary from Facebook, my was similar but I think we headed straight back to Los Angles after Los Vegas.
This was somebody else's itenary from Facebook, my was similar but I think we headed straight back to Los Angles after Los Vegas.
Photo by DAVID NIETO on Unsplash
  Photo by DAVID NIETO on Unsplash
Photo by Gautam Krishnan on Unsplash
  Photo by Gautam Krishnan on Unsplash
Inside the Hard Rock Cafe were a few of us had lunch, just a small taste of Mexico that leaves me with wanting more. <a href=”https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g150776-Tijuana_Baja_California.html#20455466”><img alt=”” src=”https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/38/20/2a/hard-rock-cafe-tijuana.jpg”/></a><br/>This photo of Tijuana is courtesy of Tripadvisor
Inside the Hard Rock Cafe were a few of us had lunch, just a small taste of Mexico that leaves me with wanting more. <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g150776-Tijuana_Baja_California.html#20455466"><img alt="" src=""/></a><br/>This photo of Tijuana is courtesy of Tripadvisor