Thank god for GPS

17th & 18th April Friday & Saturday

We left San Francisco for Los Angeles. Even though the flight (Southwest 2470) was scheduled for 1 hour and 30 minutes, we got to LA 20 minutes ahead of time. There we no seating numbers so check-in early to get on first for the seat that you want. Some people actually rushed in but I couldn’t see the point as the plane was only 3/4 full.  We were one of the first to be seated since we had the kids.

When we got off the plane the differences between the two cities started to show. We had to pick up our rental car from LAX airport. The office was in Inglewood which is about 10-15 minutes drive from the airport. There was a bus that ferried us to the depot. The only problem was that it took about 40-50 minutes to get out of LAX. There were so many cars bumper to bumper and it was only 12:30 pm.

I was getting a bit nervous at this stage as I didn’t have any driving experience on the right-hand side of the road, and on top of that to be driving in the freeways of LA. My memory from last trip to LA told me that the freeways were fast and furious and with 6-8 lanes. With signs that just say 5 North or 5 South is and was very daunting. One assuring thing was the aid of a GPS. I have never used one extensively so was not sure what to expect. I just wanted the GPS to guide me AND to fore warn me about any turns that I needed to make well beforehand so that I could position myself to be in the right lane. The TomTom XL has a speed sensitive volume that warned me 3km ahead of time to be in the right or left and the warnings got more frequent as the turn was approaching. Without it I really don’t think I could drive on the freeways of LA and navigate around the streets of LA.

We made a brief stop to Disneyland on Saturday to pickup the Southern California City Passes for Disneyland, Disney’s California Adventure, Universal Studio, San Diego Seaworld, San Diego Zoo. N 33 51.292, W 118 01.990

~ by chungs on April 23, 2009.