Travel Tip #1 - Navigating California Freeways

     If you visit California, you have to be prepared to travel the convoluted freeway system. Not only is there a maze of freeways that merge and separate with others every couple of miles, it seems that every time you merge onto another one the traffic is jammed up even worse than the previous one had been. Occasionally you get lucky and find a freeway on which you can actually travel close to the posted speed limit; but often, it looks more like a parking lot. So, how do you avoid spending most of your vacation idling away your time and gas? Through careful planning, you might be able to find the path less trodden.
     One suggestion is to find one place you want to visit, and stay there. That way you only have to drive in and out once. There are plenty of time shares that you can rent for the week and plenty of hotels. Unfortunately, the ones near the major tourist attractions are quite pricey.
     Another suggestion is to take public transportation. Granted, LA's subway system isn't quite as advanced as most of the eastern cities, but depending on where you are, and where you want to go, the Metro Link might be an option.
     Of course, a third option is to ask a local. The freeway system is a maze of interconnecting freeways that allow you more than one route to your destination. GPS devices will find the shortest route, but that doesn't often translate into the quickest route. On the other hand, most Californians know the best times to travel each freeway, and what times to avoid - despite the fact that most work schedules don't allow them to take advantage of that knowledge. For example, you want to avoid driving towards LA or Orange County during the morning hours (particularly between 5-10 am); and avoid driving away from the cities in the afternoon hours (particularly between 2-7 pm). If you have flexibility in your itinerary to do that, great. Unfortunately, visiting most tourist attractions will force you to drive with the traffic rather than against it. If that is the case, you might want to consider listening to 1070 AM - with traffic reports every ten minutes.
Good luck!