2015 TCMFF Travel Plans – You Guys Are Gonna Hate Me

This morning I turned on my computer over breakfast and before going to facebook/twitter like I normally do, I went to amtrak.com to look at the train schedule for going to the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival (TCMFF). Turns out they have trains running from San Diego to Los Angeles Union Station about every 90 minutes all day. I want to get to Hollywood by about noon, so the 8:24 should be about right.

Coming from San Diego, I have three decent options for getting up there:

• Flying – Really short flight, 50 minutes, but you need to add getting to the airport an hour early, another 20 minutes to get off the plane and an hour or so cab ride in LA Traffic to get to Hollywood from LAX.

• Driving – San Diego to Hollywood should be about a 2 hour drive, but with LA traffic it's always 3 hours (provided you don't hit San Diego or Orange County traffic on the way). Plus, if you drive, you get to pay however much a day to park a car you won't be using.

• Train/LA Metro – The train takes at least the one I want to take is just under three hours, but Union Station connects to the LA Metro which can get me to Hollywood and Highland ( a couple blocks from the Roosevelt) in about 20 minutes.

No matter how you slice it, it's a three hour trip. The difference is that the train is cheaper, less hassle, and there's a section of the trip where you're looking out the window at people surfing 80 yards away from the train tracks. Train, it is. While everybody else is looking for flights, I'll probably buy my train tickets up about a week out. I told you, you were going to hate me. On the way home, I'll buy tickets at the Union Station since I have no idea what time I'll want to get up and out of the hotel on the Monday after TCMFF.

Back to this morning, I finished breakfast, stopped for coffee, and then drove to work. I normally take I-5 to work, the same freeway I would take most of the way driving to L.A./Hollywood. On my way to work, I get off I-5 and take surface streets for a few exits, which avoids a lot of the worst the freeway traffic on my way to work. This morning as I was waiting at the ramp signal to get back on the freeway, the Pacific Surfliner went by, the same 8:24 train I'll be taking 12 weeks from today. Can hardly wait.