USA Bus Lines

Should I drive or fly from Dallas Fort Worth to Los Angeles?

So heres the dealio ... I wanna go to L.a this summer round june-august (no set date yet) for this music school thing but then spend like a week as a vacation I guess I could say and I live in Fort Worth.Now..Roudtrip tickets as long as I buy ahead are $99 each way in total with fees and bags and all that .. (cheap) .. now if I drive to L.a in my 2002 Mitubishi Galant V4 gas might be anywhere in average to like $200 ..each way...on top of that im looking to spend $369 on a hotel for 7 nights no matter which one I do...My life situation is I dont have a job anymore but have a good amount of free spending money so I could afford either one and still have cash left over for bills.Of course it seems I need to save all my money but realistically I can afford this trip but wouldn't mind saving money in general.Now if I fly i'll of course get the savings and all that but I would have to reply on the "Metro" bus service which my friends tell me is less than .. well its crap ... plus i wouldnt get to drive round Los Angeles/Hollywood like everyone wants to....but hey saves money..now if I drive i'll spend lots more yes but i'll get the freedom of driving round Where the hell i want without relying on schedules and urine smells on the bus.However its a 1400 mile drive that'll take 22 hours and my car has the tendency of vibrating a bit when on the highway .. air conditioner is good.i'll be set with tunes,..I'll def have to replace my tires.but after that I should be good car wise...also i'll have to worry bout stopping half way in albacookie or somethin..luckily i have a friend in alba so I could stay there for the night...also in general i'll have the whole experience of a road trip!. Which one seems like a more logical and a more realistic option ? ..Thanks for reading my novel btw oh and im 20 so im not old enough to rent a car yet lol forgot to mention that i woulda just done that in a second =[

Public Comments

1. Please dont drive across Texas like that. Just fly into LA and grab a rental. I hear ya buddy but still dont drive that old car cross the desert like that. dont forget you still have to get back in it. I done that once and ended up selling my car in LA after getting some repairs done on the way in. Ouch but luckily I got more than I paid for it. So dont chance it, Metro's alright and sometimes even better than driving. And also think of it this way you'll never get lost taking the trains and buses just plan your trips ahead of time. Heres the site http://www.metro.net
2. If you are going alone, then probably flying and suffering L.A.'s mass transit is the way to go. They drive very differently there compared to what you are used to at home. If there will be anyone going with you, you can greatly economize over flying by driving and sharing a motel room. Another possibility to seek out advertisements for folks wanting their auto relocated to L.A. from your patch of Texas. Look in Craigslist and whatever classified ads have good coverage in your area. Oftentimes, folks wanting their ride moved will pay all vehicle expenses, as well as return airfare in lieu of "paying" you to drive their vehicle. It's all highly negotiable though, but you are free to return at your leisure, though there is usually a tight deadline to deliver the vehicle. Along the same lines would be to ride share to L.A. and back. Expect that to be different people each way. Examine the local university's bulletin boards, though in the midst of summer that's a distinctly lower volume opportunity. If you have a credit card, *some* Rent-a-Wreck locations do business with 18+. Check out http://www.rentawreck.com/
3. Its a nice plan if you proposed your trip to L.A, which is place will give all kind of happiness if you are in vacation trip. I think to reduce your cost of driving through entire trip you can choose public transport as an option, but in order to enjoy the sight seen you must have choose a road trip, especially if you go with your favorite ones. You can take advantage of full sight scenes and weather, wind, music through out your journey. There are so many city guides, travel tour operations they can help you out in your entire travel so that you can fix it with out wasting a single day or with out boredom. Dallas fort Worth to L.A travel guides are lot available if you doing a proper Search. Here I am listing some travel guides which may help you out in planning a good trip.
4. I can speak from experience that driving to Los Angeles from Dallas is one of the most mind-numbing road trips you can take. Half of the trip is just getting through Texas. Dallas to El Paso is not a pretty strip of real estate. Albuquerque isn't on the way, it's a few hours from I-10 which is the interstate you would take to get to LA. Staying in Las Cruces, NM is usually cheaper than El Paso and a good halfway point. Look into Zipcar when you're out here. They have locations all over the LA area. It's not a rental car in the usual sense of the word, but if you need a car for a few hours than its the company to use. The locations around the universities rent to under 21.
5. Drive. The Metro here is slow and inefficient.
6. Fly. If you're going to be in music school for most of the time, then it makes sense to take public transportation around town, it's not too bad in certain areas. Will you be staying very close to the school? You have time to plan in advance. There are plenty of buses and the Metro Red Line in Hollywood. If you're going to be going out at night, you can take a cab. Expensive, but OK for short distances. There is also zipcar, and there may be a Connect by Hertz, they often rent to under 21's, the hourly rate may be slightly higher, and insurance coverage is the minimum. And maybe you'll make friends with cars at music school if you don't already know people out here. Your car will get trashed, it will take you days to recover after the trip, there are safety issues. My "perfect" SIL (she told me she was), won't fly so she drives from Dallas to out here. She always has nice new cars, but she's had car trouble several times on the drive. I think she's insane as a woman to do the drive by herself. (She also drives out to meet us in Vegas, and has to stay on the first floor of the hotel/casino. I didn't even know they had first floor rooms!) Public transportation is not the best in LA, but for your situation, it's probably the best option. Good luck!