I just got back from a trip to California for Thanksgiving. I live in Florida. In case you're not familiar with geography, that's a long way. Let me outline what we went through to get there:

To California:

• 2AM - Melbourne to Orlando Airport, arrive by 3:45AM


• 3:45AM - Park in the satellite parking and take a bus to the terminal


• 5:00AM - Flight to Atlanta


• 7:30AM - Two hour layover in Atlanta


• 9:30AM - Atlanta to Orange County Airport (5 hours!)


• 11:15AM - Arrive at Orange County Airport, pick up luggage and take a taxi to the train station


• 11:30AM - Arrive at train station, eat something and wait until 1:45PM for the train


• 1:45PM - Train is late, wait until 2:15PM


• 2:15PM - Train to Guadalupe station (5 hours again!)


• 8:00PM - Arrival at sister's house, very tired

On the way back we got luckier:

• 2:30PM - Board train


• 2:45PM - Buy new tickets on the train because the ticket machine at the station doesn't work and we're in a cellular dead zone so they can't call HQ to verify our ticket (at least they cheerily refunded the old tickets)


• 7:30PM - Arrival at station, take bus to LAX airport (nice service)


• 8:15PM - Arrival at LAX, security, etc


• 9:00PM - $11 margarita, $11 entree at an airport restaurant (the margarita was good)


• 10:15PM - Flight to Orlando (direct!)


• 6:00AM - arrive at Orlando, pick up luggage, take bus to car


• 7:30AM - arrive at home in Melbourne, tired, take a sick day because California is too dry for my sinuses and they're angry

For those of you keeping score, it's 19 hours out there, 14 hours back. Moral of the story: when at all possible get direct flights.

Added bonus: trains are pretty nice. They have electrical outlets in every seat. I learned how to play RA3 with a trackpad. I highly recommend the train if you're headed in that direction and its' cheaper than a flight. Again, HIGHLY recommend the train, even if it is filled with highschoolers.