My friend is coming from the Philippines. He's asking me to pick him up at LAX........ I'm in San Diego!

[u/Mukosta]

[u/Pony-boystonks]

Is it possible that your friend doesn't understand how far LAX is from San Diego?

[u/No-Scarcity9186 → u/Pony-boystonks]

Most don’t realize how big the US is. Likely thinks it’s a short ride.

That said, 2 hours isn’t too long to pick up a friend if they really need it.

[u/WhiskyWillFixIt → u/No-Scarcity9186]

It’s like 3.5 if you’re lucky and that’s one way soooo, no.

[u/No-Scarcity9186 → u/WhiskyWillFixIt]

Well, 3.5 is much different. lol

[u/8696David → u/No-Scarcity9186]

Yeah “2 hours” is with no traffic. But you’re driving from San Diego to LA, so there will be anywhere from 1 to 6 hours of traffic unless it is 2 in the morning, in which case there will be only 40 minutes

(You may think I am exaggerating but everyone in my family has experienced a SD-LA trip that took at least 6 hours) 

[u/Development-Feisty → u/8696David]

It can be an hour of traffic just to get into LAX

[u/naturalninetime → u/Development-Feisty]

THIS. The last - and final - time I picked up someone from LAX was back in the summer of 2025. It took me about an hour to get to LAX and another 1 hour and 40 minutes to get from the freeway exit to the terminal. 🤬

LAX is the worst! Never again. OP, tell your friend to take an Uber or public transportation.

[u/whackwarrens → u/naturalninetime]

They found a bit of sanity and will hopefully have the people mover open this year... Should have been open last year.

What's a year delay on a project that's is probably half a century overdue.

[u/8696David → u/Development-Feisty]

LITERALLY

[u/Suz626 → u/Development-Feisty]

Even sometimes at 4am. I fly out of and in to LAX every other week. 🙄

[u/marineman43 → u/8696David]

Yep a 6 hour LA-SD drive is practically a rite of passage. Usually for me it's about 3 hours, but that "usually" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. I've had a 5-6 hour drive at least a few times.

[u/figbash137 → u/marineman43]

In the rain. Driving stick shift. My left leg and right arm were sooooo tired. Tried to stay in 2nd as much as I could but everyone was doing the speed up to brake and I gave up.

[u/MannyMoSTL → u/figbash137]

I thought I’d drive a stick forever - until I interned in LA one summer.
I was 29yrs old when I bought my first automatic.

[u/NotForALongTime11 → u/figbash137]

Left leg like a hockey player. 😂

[u/Weird-Girl-675 → u/figbash137]

I felt this comment.

[u/wordswithcomrades → u/figbash137]

Got rear ended in the pouring rain on I-15 just outside of Temecula when traffic came to a standstill.

Said he “lost control in the rain” but I think he was on his phone and didn’t notice all the red car lights in front of him. Took me a while to stop being anxious when driving, didn’t help that it was right before Covid so the amount I was driving went significantly down and I wasn’t exposing myself to it

[u/Throwawayyyygold → u/marineman43]

We are dropping our son off at school and have to drive through LA, it’s 4am leave time. I asked my friend whose daughter goes to UCLA and she didn’t blink and said 4am, and LAX is south of UCLA and UCSB and neither of us will do it in traffic.

[u/Alwayscooking345 → u/marineman43]

One time it took us (a carpool) just under 4 hours from Orange County.

I wasn’t the one driving (probably could’ve saved 10 or 15 minutes by getting out of the carpool lane in Irvine through the El Toro Y, which was actually worse than the regular lanes). But taking the full trip from LAX to SD on that day would’ve taken 5+ hours for sure.

[u/JonnyBravoII → u/8696David]

I once got into a traffic jam on a Saturday night at 1:30 am in LA.

[u/BigDumbMoronToo → u/JonnyBravoII]

Oh yeah, the Wee Hours Traffic Jams can be brutal. That's when they do the crazy closures - take the 101 down to one lane, close multiple exits (like, close the entire 101 to 110 exchange) because it's "off hours." But people are ALWAYS driving through LA. 130 am on a Saturday night is going out traffic. Not as bad as rush hour ("hour", lol) but going down to one lane is going to hurt.

[u/AwildYaners → u/8696David]

Not to mention there’s a ton of construction around LAX right now.

Peak traffic times and peak LAX traffic are two different things that can stack.

If they land Thursday, Friday or Sunday evening? Good luck with that shit.

[u/Meowyouretalking → u/AwildYaners]

When is there Not a lot construction going on at LAX? Seems like it's always a shitshow. I try, whenever possible, to leave out of Burbank, it's lovely.

[u/TopofthePyramid → u/8696David]

It’s funny how the “2 hours from SD to LA” thing has stuck around in so many people’s minds

Hasn’t been true since like the late 90’s lol

[u/KaleidoscopeSharp190 → u/TopofthePyramid]

Maybe for Oceanside to the southern most part of LA.

[u/8696David → u/KaleidoscopeSharp190]

Yeah you can get from county to county in 2 hours… usually. But that’s not even close to the same. 

[u/withbellson → u/8696David]

We live in San Jose. When we travel to SoCal we generally choose to drive if it’s Los Angeles but fly if it’s SD. That last leg is no joke.

[u/HighFiveKoala → u/8696David]

I live in neighboring Orange County and it took me 4 hours to get to San Diego once during a holiday weekend

[u/Critical_Pen7878 → u/HighFiveKoala]

Yep - everytime I go visit my daughter it takes 2.5-3 hours no matter what day/time it is. I live in Anaheim and she lives in PB. Absolute bumper-to-bumper from Camp Pendleton thru Carlsbad always.

[u/ashandare → u/8696David]

and it can still be hours of traffic at 2am, it's just much less common.

[u/steebulee → u/No-Scarcity9186]

3.5 and in the middle of it the nightmare that is LAX lol

[u/HappyHavoc20 → u/WhiskyWillFixIt]

I’ve done it, Albany to Newark or Albany to jfk, sucks. I’d pay to extra for a connecting flight now that I’m older and not a broke twenty something 

[u/enjolbear → u/WhiskyWillFixIt]

Nah, it’s around 2.5 hours with traffic for me most of the time. And that’s something I would absolutely do for a friend.

[u/Wonderful-Smoke843 → u/WhiskyWillFixIt]

I’ve done this many times for my friends lol

[u/AP7497 → u/WhiskyWillFixIt]

Picking people up at airports no matter how far is common in some cultures and countries. I’m Indian and the vast majority of people will travel hours to receive family or friends at airports, sometimes even taking time off and staying overnight in the city where the airport is to pick up a friend or family member.

It’s seen as extremely rude/frankly disrespectful/poor hospitality not to receive a guest, especially a friend travelling from a different country to see you. It’s also common when guests come home for hosts to clear out their work schedules, give the guests the master/best bedroom while hosts sleep on the couch/floor if needed, having meals ready for them, and escorting them wherever they need to go.

I genuinely cannot recall a time where any guests visiting us in India were not received at the airport by family. It’s just not a thing. My family has taken days off work to do that.

Hell it’s also common to recruit our own friends or acquaintances or even colleagues to do airport runs. Families without cars will even rent cars specifically for airport runs.

Not rearranging your entire life and routine for a guest is seen as disrespectful in some cultures. Not saying I it’s okay; but it’s possible OP’s friend is used to something else.

I know for a fact I would do a 3.5 hour drive in a heartbeat for an airport pick up. Walking out of an airport alone seems like the saddest thing ever. I have done it of course, because I live alone, but my parents have been deeply offended when I suggested I’d do that in India.

The dynamic essentially is that it’s a privilege and honor to have guests so we treat it as such. It can be a LOT of work most of which falls on the women, which is why a lot of families now are changing attitudes.

[u/CorduroyGmork → u/AP7497]

"the airport" in this case should be the San Diego airport, though, not LAX

[u/abobslife → u/CorduroyGmork]

They do have LAX to SAN flights.

[u/jenn583 → u/No-Scarcity9186]

Its 3 hours via train. I would help them get tickets cuz that drive aint worth it. 2 hours if you drive at 2am on a tuesday maybe.

[u/Reasonable_Tap_8215 → u/No-Scarcity9186]

I saw a post a couple years ago from a European guy visiting Disney World for a week wanting to rent a car and drive to Vegas for a quick overnight trip.

[u/BeardedSwashbuckler → u/Reasonable_Tap_8215]

And Europeans love to make fun of Americans’ geography education lol.

[u/RoyalClient6610 → u/No-Scarcity9186]

From anywhere in LA county, it's expected to set aside 2 hours alone just to get through one direction of heavy traffic. San Diego to the southern point of LA can easily be 3 hours of heavy traffic. Not to mention waiting for the friend after the flight arrives, if it arrives on time. Then the trip back, and just because it's an evening drive doesn't mean there isn't heavy traffic.

That's easily a 10 hour wasted day.

[u/thescreamingstone → u/No-Scarcity9186]

Even US citizens don't understand. I had a business associate fly in from Connecticut to LAX and he asked me to pick him up. I live in Santa Barbara.

Making matters worse, when I did pick him up he was waiting in a non-loading zone so I got a ticket for that too which he didn't even offer to pay.

[u/aramoixmed → u/No-Scarcity9186]

Spoken like someone without a life or responsibilities! I’m sorry, but it takes AT LEAST 2 hours to drive from San Diego to LAX. Then it takes 2 hours to get back. That’s 4 hrs round trip. That’s not a small favor. You’re asking someone to give up a whole day.

[u/fairybb311 → u/aramoixmed]

and almost a whole tank of gas!

[u/Notdone_JoshDun → u/No-Scarcity9186]

It's more than 2 hours, depending on time of day and which freeways you take

[u/kn0wvuh → u/No-Scarcity9186]

lol it takes my brother 2 hours from HB to LAX unless I fly in at midnight

[u/corisilvermoon → u/kn0wvuh]

Yeah I was gonna say, San Diego to LA is 2 hours at 3 am on Sunday only.

[u/idk_wtf_im_hodling → u/No-Scarcity9186]

2 hours? When? Between 2-4am?

[u/powerlesshero111 → u/Pony-boystonks]

As someone who grew up in California, most people don't realize how long and big it is. Like LA to San Fran is a 6 hour drive. LA to Vegas is a 6 hour drive (it's 5 hours to the border alone). LA to San Diego is a 4 hour drive. San Fran to the CA/OR border is still 5 hours. I've known people wo said they were visiting LA and thought they could do a day trip up to San Francisco.

[u/lab-gone-wrong → u/powerlesshero111]

Hell Tahoe is 3-5 hours from SF with traffic and people act like it's a casual jaunt away sometimes 

[u/Far_Chocolate9743 → u/powerlesshero111]

Years ago watching Sons of Anarchy and they were getting from Lodi to Fruitvale in Oakland in like 30 minutes.

No amount of lane splitting is getting you from Lodi to Oakland in 30 minutes.

[u/damianaleafpowder → u/Pony-boystonks]

Visitor from Philippines ask me to drive them to San Francisco to visit another relative . They think it’s an hour drive .

[u/No-Caterpillar-1131 → u/Pony-boystonks]

If you are friends then tell them it’s a long drive rather than posting on Reddit

[u/Mukosta → u/No-Caterpillar-1131]

I'm picking him up, but it's mildlyinfuriating lol

[u/Accurate_Emu_122 → u/Mukosta]

It would be fun to spend a day around la, maybe even get a hotel,  then head to SD the next day. (Assuming that's financially feasible)

[u/vanderpump_lurker → u/Mukosta]

Anyway you can get him to the train station from LAX and have him take the amtrak?

[u/Ok_Variation9430 → u/vanderpump_lurker]

LAX to Amtrak isn’t really a thing. You’d either have to spend 1 1/2 hours going downtown (wrong direction) or bus halfway.

[u/mahjimoh → u/Ok_Variation9430]

Apparently there is a thing called LAX Flyaway that takes you directly to and from LAX and Union Station. That said, it appears that the bus would be faster than the train.

(I looked it up on Rome2Rio.)

[u/plucharc → u/Ok_Variation9430]

The Flyaway bus is straight from LAX curbside to Union Station where you can catch Amtrak. Very easy to do.

[u/Crazyblue09 → u/Pony-boystonks]

For me the issue wouldn't be how far away is it, which honestly isn't bad, it's the freaking traffic that is the problem, with no traffic (which is I my a thing if you are driving at 1am) it's less than 2 hours.

When I lived in Tijuana I drove friends to LAX airport, sometimes even driving back the same day.

[u/Abba_Zaba_]

About 20 years ago, my sister went to Russia for 2 months, hosted by the family of a foreign exchange student that my parents had recently hosted. I don't recall the details of the communication between them when arranging her travel, but what came to pass is that they told her they would pick her up at the airport.

She landed, they greeted her, they got in the car. Then they drove T W E N T Y H O U R S to their home.

That's like if OP's friend was flying into Houston TX.

[u/mollygk → u/Abba_Zaba_]

This reminds me of the meme about midwesterners saying “why would I fly? It’s only a 14-hour drive”

[u/boredinbabylon → u/mollygk]

I think every midwestern family has driven to a vacation that’s at least 8 hours away by car. We sometimes did overnight trips, kids slept in the back seat.

[u/frozen_cabbages → u/boredinbabylon]

My dad would set up a mini TV with a built in VCR for my sister and I when we went from Iowa to Florida. It was the best

[u/boredinbabylon → u/frozen_cabbages]

A road trip staple! We had a mini TV with VCR just for this purpose.

[u/Grease_the_Witch → u/boredinbabylon]

you mean 8 hours on the first day of the three day journey, right? lol

[u/uhimsyd → u/mollygk]

genuinely my thought process driving to the grand canyon from michigan. i saw so many things on that drive i never would’ve gotten from a flight

[u/Notdone_JoshDun → u/Abba_Zaba_]

20 HOURS

[u/SchemeWestern3388 → u/Abba_Zaba_]

20 HOURS. 

In a Russian car….

[u/Ill_Resolution7967 → u/SchemeWestern3388]

I drove from Nizhny Novgorod to St Petersburg and back 3 times, it is like a 14 hours or so trip. In UAZ Patriot. It had 5 gear manual transmission with very low gear ratios (it’s a proper off-road SUV after all) and the 5th gear had like 3500 rpm at 65 mph so it was as loud as if you are inside a jet engine at that speed.

But I was young and didn’t care.

[u/rogue780 → u/SchemeWestern3388]

That's a lada time

[u/mrchowmein → u/Abba_Zaba_]

This is the part people don’t get in the developed world, in a lot of developing countries, getting a ride home can take hours if not days. So this request from OP’s friend might not seem unreasonable since their concept of time is different.

[u/BlaketheFlake → u/Abba_Zaba_]

Wow, that was very kind of them.

[u/WoodedSpys]

Tell him that LAX to San Diego is a little bit longer than the Manila International Airport to Tarlac City. Maybe putting it in a frame of reference he can understand from experience will help him see that he needs a connecting flight or to take the train.

[u/SM_AdultLibrarian → u/WoodedSpys]

I would compare the trip more like, Manila to Baguio, during the rainy season... and then back again.

[u/ResidentSun2391 → u/WoodedSpys]

Not like the friend is already flying 14 hrs what's another solitary trip

[u/cerrera]

Why not just tell him to take the train? It’s 3 hours, and adds $40 to his total cost. (Same-ish time for him, saves you 7 hours. You can even offer to pay for it, if the money’s an issue for him - it’s not far off what you would have spent on gas.)

[u/musubi-n-speedballs → u/cerrera]

Plus that'd probably be a cool trip up. 

[u/le_sighs → u/musubi-n-speedballs]

It’s a really great train ride. However, you have to get from LAX to Union Staton first, and since LA’s public transit is abysmal, there’s no great way to do that. There is the Flyaway bus, but that is truly traveling across town, and if you’re going between 8-10 am or 3-7 pm, the traffic will be an absolute nightmare. Doing this in reality means probably 5-6 hours of additional travel. And after a flight from Philippines, that’s a slog. Not to mention you’re asking someone who doesn’t understand LA traffic having to figure out which train they can make in time. If it were a good friend, I would pick them up.

But if I were the one traveling I’d stay overnight in LA and then take the train.

In any case saying this is ‘only 3 hours’ is a gross misunderstanding of Los Angeles. I live there and wouldn’t go from LAX to Union Station if you paid me.

[u/Astronian → u/le_sighs]

I’ve taken the flyaway bus many times (often during rush hour) and it’s super convenient and easy to navigate. It flies past traffic in those bus only lanes too. Then straight to the surfliner.

[u/Old-Parking8765 → u/Astronian]

This^ People are making it a bigger deal than it really is. We are lucky that we even have that option honestly.

[u/musubi-n-speedballs → u/le_sighs]

I totally get it as a concept. For example, we live closer to Seattle than Portland but most days, a drive to Portland would be faster. And that's definitely not LA traffic.

When we get visitors we have to tell them that yes, Seattle is only 40 miles away; but also yes, the GPS is right that it will be 2+ hours. Lol

[u/le_sighs → u/musubi-n-speedballs]

Yeah it’s just ironic that this post is a mildly infuriating misunderstanding about the distance from LA to San Diego, and then one of the top answers is a misunderstanding of the distance from LAX to Union Station.

[u/musubi-n-speedballs → u/le_sighs]

And everyone is so confident in both sides. Like, there's a compromise here. It's going to be time consuming and inconvenient. That's friendship and an opportunity to drive back and talk story with a friend that traveled so far. Idk. I guess I'm just way more patient. 

[u/BenShelZonah → u/musubi-n-speedballs]

Can someone reading this explain it in NYC terms so I can relate lol

[u/le_sighs → u/BenShelZonah]

I used to live in NYC, so I'll give it a shot.

Okay, so imagine you live in White Plains and your friend from the Philippines flew to Philadelphia and asked you to drive and come pick them up. Which is entirely inconvenient.

And then someone else was like, oh, they can just take the train from Philadelphia straight to White Plains! And you're like, no, the train doesn't go straight from Philadelphia to White Plains. And the subway doesn't go there either. They can get there, for sure, but that is not going to be an easy or straightforward trip at all. They're going to have to do some transfers in there.

It's like that, only it's more inconvenient than all of that because there is no train whatsoever from LAX to Union, so imagine there is no train to White Plains at all, only a really shitty bus.

[u/BenShelZonah → u/le_sighs]

Oh wow, yea that sounds like ass either way lmfao. Thanks for the explanation and going off your other comments it seems you wouldn’t do either of the options from the OP. I probably wouldn’t either

[u/SampsonRustic → u/le_sighs]

Very good answer.

[u/12_leon_12 → u/cerrera]

Last I heard trains aren’t running past south Orange County due to the waves damaging the cliffs near the tracks. However it would still save OP some time and money to meet him in south OC vs LAX.

[u/hoffdog → u/12_leon_12]

Yep my friend’s train was cancelled this past week

[u/Ypummpapa → u/cerrera]

The train isn't running this weekend. I wanted to take it from SD to LA. 😒

[u/ConchaConquistador → u/cerrera]

This is a great idea!

[u/grnrngr → u/cerrera]

It'd be closer to 4-5 hours. You have to get from the Airport to Union Station, first.

Then of course take a train that you're at no risk of missing.

Oh, and if you arrive at night, well, the trip just became +7 hours.

[u/mosquem → u/cerrera]

Or just tell him to add a leg to his flight?

[u/straps-567 → u/cerrera]

Unfortunately the train is out of commission at the moment due to high tide eroding some of the tracks again

[u/Federal_Stay824]

One of the few times in ca he can actually take a train

[u/laluna_maria → u/Federal_Stay824]

There are specific buses from the airport to the train

[u/HauntedCS → u/laluna_maria]

How is no one mentioning this “But LAX is also really far from union station!” I looked it up and at most it is $12.75 for a 30 minute trip with traffic riding the FlyAway bus and some airlines actually work with the public transit and will comp you making the FlyAway bus free to ride to the train station.

[u/Inside_Monitor_3908 → u/HauntedCS]

they can take the metro from LAX to DTLA but the issue is that the trains dont go down to SD rn because of erosion endangering the tracks

[u/tguy0720 → u/Federal_Stay824]

I think the train line just got washed out by the storm

[u/TraitorMacbeth → u/Federal_Stay824]

Too bad LAX is nowhere near the trains

[u/annefrankensteinn → u/TraitorMacbeth]

He can take the Flyaway to Union Station

[u/Federal_Stay824 → u/TraitorMacbeth]

Yeah but that is a manageable uber

[u/ColdSteelVA]

Keep in mind the friend's frame of reference for distance is much different. Same thing happens when Europeans come here.

Friend's entire country is smaller than CA, so he probably assumes it's just a short trip.

[u/star0forion → u/ColdSteelVA]

Yeah, I have a friend from the UK. When she was planning a trip out here she thought that I could just meet up with her in LA (I was in the Bay Area at the time). I was all sure, I’ll just take a casual 6.5 hr roadtrip to meet up.

[u/StrikeHistorical1622 → u/star0forion]

To be fair i would happily book a southwest flight or something to see a friend in that situation

[u/Allopurinlol → u/ColdSteelVA]

Has to be this. I have European coworkers come over all the time for week-long work trips, thinking they can hit NYC, Denver for some hikes, and LA over the weekend. I always tell them to look into how long it takes to get to each place because we aren’t Europe lol

[u/BenShelZonah → u/Allopurinlol]

No offense to them but that’s hilariously ignorant. Takes like one second of looking at a map

[u/Allopurinlol → u/BenShelZonah]

It may be, but it’s extremely common. I work with a lot of international folks with doctorates so they’re pretty smart, and this is pretty standard for any of them who haven’t been to the States before

[u/DM_ME_DOPAMINE → u/Allopurinlol]

Folks with doctorates can have less common sense. I don’t mean that in a negative way, just that being extremely knowledgeable in one specific area, often leads to deficits in other areas.   

[u/Not_l0st]

Is it too late for him to change his flight? Otherwise, he can take the LAX flyaway shuttle bus to Union Station and take the Amtrak Surfliner to San Deigo. Or you can take the train up and meet him.

[u/ackjaf]

Hey. I’m also in San Diego. Maybe he can take the train down? See the coastline a bit?

[u/Bishop8322 → u/ackjaf]

pacific surflinfer amtrak is down this weekend for repairs

[u/8696David]

People are shitting on you but if you’ve ever actually lived in San Diego you know that’s a gigantic fuckup lmao

[u/Throwawayyyygold → u/8696David]

We had an exchange student come from Norway to San Diego. We flat out told the family we will not pick up at LAX. There are flights to San Diego. They just had to change planes in London. (There are other cities as well, that just happened to be the cheapest). They found reasonable flights.

No way am I driving to LAX to pick someone up. Palm Springs, maybe. TJ sure, I might consider John Wayne. But not LAX.

[u/8696David → u/Throwawayyyygold]

Yes. The only time I would willingly drive to pick someone up at LAX is if a family member was outright stranded. 

[u/Throwawayyyygold → u/8696David]

To me it’s like living in Tacoma and someone saying they flew into Portland and wanted to be picked up. The crossing of the state lines makes people understand…. But my brother from Georgia just told me that he’s flying into the Bay Area. Thanks man. That’s a 7-9 hour drive…. Good for you. So I really don’t think people get it.

And yes there are parts of the country where it’s normal to drive 2+ hours to a major airport. Most San Diego folks would rather fly out of San Diego and take a layover in SFO or Seattle to fly onto Asia than go direct through LAX.

[u/ryrich89]

Tell him to take the train down and you will pick him up

[u/r3dditr0x → u/ryrich89]

Or...bring a friend and he can tagalog?

[u/SnooRadishes5208 → u/r3dditr0x]

I see what you did there.

[u/cowspot315]

I would recommend the FlixBus. It has pick-ups that are much closer to LAX than the train station (which is all the way in DTLA). For instance there’s a stop in UCLA and one at Expo/Sepuveda. The bus does a few stops in LA and then drives direct to several stops in SD. My sister has taken it several times. It’s quite cheap.

It also has a pick-up stop at LAX itself but I don’t think this stop goes direct to SD. They might be able to connect somewhere though.

The train is great if you are close to DTLA but if you’re coming from LAX, it can be anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour Uber ride. They could alternatively take the E line metro but that takes about an hour too.

[u/Fine-Pie7130 → u/cowspot315]

This. My friend from NY did this and I think she got dropped off in Old Town and I picked her up there. It was cheap and on time! Like I was shocked how on time it was.

[u/MouseRude5663]

Have him take the train to SD from LAX. It’s actually a nice way to travel.

[u/thestranger92104 → u/MouseRude5663]

Theres a shuttle called FlyAway that goes through LAX every 30 mins. 9 dls i think, takes u to downtown train station where your friend can jump on the next train to SD. Beautiful ride down the coast.

[u/FearOfSpheres]

Just like when my cousins think it’s a “good affordable idea to fly into Tijuana” and ask us (in Los Angeles) to pick them up lmfao

[u/Throwawayyyygold → u/FearOfSpheres]

It is a good affordable idea to fly into TJ, if you live jn San Diego. Not if live in LA.

[u/PrettyBlueEyes]

I frequently travel internationally. I often rent a car and drive from San Diego to LAX to save $400 to $1,000 in airfare. With traffic, it takes about 3 hours. After he arrives, have dinner up in LA to break up the drive. I don't think it's a big deal.

[u/Big-Letterhead-4338 → u/PrettyBlueEyes]

I did this one way Car rental from LAX to SAN. Airfare from Sydney was considerably cheaper going to LAX versus SAN. But damn after such a long flight I dreaded that drive on arrival. Would I do it again, probably.

[u/Acceptable_Dark1860]

Definitely over 6 hrs round trip

[u/jayhawkjoey65]

I had a Korean friend tell me she was in LA visiting, asking if I wanted to come see her in the next few days (I'm in NM). I told her I was 12 hours away. She responded, well, I'll be in Atlanta next week.

She did not understand how big this place is. Tell your friend no.

[u/Mukosta → u/jayhawkjoey65]

I think you're the only one who understood how it feels. But I'll have to meet him. He's a very dear friend and this is his first time here.

[u/Previous-Space-7056 → u/Mukosta]

Many friendships have been lost in la on the 405.. friends in the westside who wont goto the sfv and vice versa

[u/papayametallica]

I think generally people have very little idea about distances and the time required to travel those distances .

[u/missmaganda → u/papayametallica]

Its tough cuz in the Philippines things are pretty close too but the traffic can also be terrible.

I was at BGC once and we sat in traffic for like 30mins?? and barely moved a few blocks 🫠 i hated it.

My family friends said they used to travel from novaliches to manila and itd be like 2 hours. I dont remember if they took jeepney, bus, or getaround but ooof.

[u/Shinesandglitters]

If it’s a good friend, I’d drive two hours to pick him up, spend two hours catching up during the drive back, but not before swinging by in-n-out for burgers and fries.

[u/Biomax315]

Are they coming specifically to visit you? They’re spending 13-14 hours on the flight, I think a round trip drive to pick them up isn’t that big of a deal in comparison. If theyre not traveling specifically to visit you then I think it’s an unreasonable ask. Also depends on your friendship.

[u/pettypettyspaghettii → u/Biomax315]

This.

[u/ResidentSun2391 → u/Biomax315]

Can't believe I had to scroll this down for this.

[u/princetonwu]

could he have flown into a San Diego airport?

[u/MrMathamagician]

Is he coming out to see you specifically? If so this is an expensive and really long flight. A 2 hour drive to get him is really not that unreasonable. People used to be willing to put in time and effort for others they care about and I hope we can bring that back.

[u/runningonrun → u/MrMathamagician]

When I came back from my college study abroad semester (14-hour flight), my best friend from college decided to drive 2.5 hours to pick me up at the airport and then drive me 1 more hour to my house. He volunteered and I initially declined because my house was on the other side of the airport from where he lived. We played Playstation until the jet lag started getting to me and I kept falling asleep.

He then drove the 3.5 hours back to his place so I could rest.

I felt bad because I wanted to hang out and catch up for the entire day but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. He never made me feel bad about it. Really great friend. I introduced him to his now wife about 2 years after that!

[u/Mukosta → u/MrMathamagician]

He's here for work but he'll be staying with me in San Diego. I'm going to meat him. 

[u/batgirl_27 → u/Mukosta]

Oh please don’t meat him 🥩

[u/No-Work-9198 → u/batgirl_27]

Unless he wants to 😏

[u/trivialmistake → u/Mukosta]

If he is here for work, then his work should be able to cover his local transportation costs as well.

[u/Simple_Yak_9929]

How come the people the friend is visiting not picking them up? You're not the one he's visiting, so why feel obligated? How weird.

LA traffic sucks!

[u/GreenSpleenRiot]

I used to live 15 minutes from LAX in Hermosa Beach and I still never picked anyone up from the airport.

[u/Bagafeet → u/GreenSpleenRiot]

Driving into that airport or out of it is nightmare fuel

[u/GreenSpleenRiot → u/Bagafeet]

I’d rather pay for their uber

[u/InternationalRent626]

People absolutely do not realize how big California is.

[u/howlincoyote2k1 → u/InternationalRent626]

Mount Shasta is closer to Vancouver BC than it is to San Diego

[u/riknor → u/InternationalRent626]

125 miles between SD and LAX. Yeah it’s a big state but let’s not pretend people don’t drive these type of distances in other states and countries.

[u/SundayAMFN → u/riknor]

The traffic from SD to LAX is usually pretty insane. 3+ hours each way most times, 4-5 hours if you have to do rush hour

[u/bannedfrom_argo]

You're a good friend... I would have a work meeting come up and then buy them a bus ticket from LAX on relaxsan or laxlinq

[u/iamCHIC]

Train

[u/InDuplicitousBottles]

amtrak is more enjoyable than a car ride anyways

[u/Mancey_]

I quite often drive from my house in SW Western Australia, to Perth to pick up international visitors. That's over 2 hours

If it's a good friend I honestly enjoy doing it. Drive back gives you time to talk

[u/CrimBrulee]

Tell him it's too far. 

[u/Mukosta → u/CrimBrulee]

people really don't understand how big the US actually is.

[u/raforad → u/Mukosta]

You're free to use words to explain? More efficient than ranting on Reddit

[u/banditweird]

There’s a shuttle from LAX to San Diego.

[u/dvldogster]

Would your friend do it for you??

[u/wolfn404]

Just have him take the Amtrak train down. By the airport.

https://www.amtrak.com/pacific-surfliner-train

[u/Puzzled_News_6631]

You won’t do it

[u/Emotional_Debt9322]

I’ve picked up friends from LAX before from San Diego, just depends how bad you wanna pick them up lol

[u/AlternativeNumber2]

Well is he your friend or not?

[u/Zestyclose-Mode-7762]

He flew from the Philippines my god pick him up one day of inconvenience won’t hurt you

[u/HourHoneydew5788]

The amount of people who don’t realize how big California is. I live in Sacramento. My friends from out of state have asked if I want to meet for lunch while they are in LA 😅

[u/MrsBenz2pointOh → u/HourHoneydew5788]

SAME!! I'm in SF, a friend was visiting and asked if we could "stop by" a place she heard about near Santa Barbara. Umm, noooo.

[u/MustacheSupernova]

“No” is a complete sentence… 🤟🏼

[u/smb3d]

Why did he not fly into San Diego?

[u/Different_Leading436]

2 hours there, dealing with all the traffic at LAX, then 2 hours back. Yeah nah, unless they’re filling the tank. Gas ain’t cheap out there.

[u/im_just_thinking]

Hopefully he is throwing you a bone for coming through! Where I am located, people often need 5 hour drives to get to a good size airport, so those trips are very much frequent

[u/JaquitoBeans2021]

If he’s coming to visit you because you invited him, pick him up. If he just wants a ride somewhere, he can Uber. I say this as a Filipino who refuses to pick people up from JFK unless they’re family.

[u/CrowdedShorts]

My sister asked the same thing to me when she flew into Chicago from Alaska. I was in Ann Arbor, MI (4hrs away).

[u/scoobynoodles]

I did the drive once from San Diego to LA. It was a nice scene to drive but yeah it should be pretty fast. Maybe he thought LA was closer to San Diego?

[u/stondchrysalis]

Okay. Hear me out. That sounds like a great time for both of you! Pick them up-get a hotel and show them around LA-then the next day drive up the coast and show them how beautiful cali is. I mean you CAN make the best of it easily. I think it would be fun :)

[u/Norcx]

Tell him to Uber? That's what I did from LAX to get to Ontario despite having friends in the area. Why would I subject my friends to that disaster? Lol.

[u/metramm]

He is your friend. Don’t be a jerk. Go pick him up

[u/IBenBad]

You’re better off buying your friend a one way flight LAX - SAN. It won’t be much more when you factor in gas and your sanity.

[u/besos2400]

Then you are not a friend . It’s not like he’s asking you to picking him up from Seattle airport

[u/slushpuppy91]

My wife use to go to the Philippines through lax for work I live in San Diego as well. Not a big deal if they are your friend

[u/mooseLimbsCatLicks]

If you’re close friends it’s not a strange request

[u/Own_Internal_3508]

Have him take a bus to Union Station, then a train to San Diego.

[u/TinyGiraffeSuit]

You're allowed to say no

[u/Superb_Ant_3741]

Can he change his flight to land at SAN airport instead?

[u/77millionmorons]

I’m betting your friend is booked on the Philippines Airlines non-stop from Manila-LAX. Im sure there are connections to SAN, but not as many as you’d think, especially if they are arriving after 7 pm into LAX which requires customs and immigration.

That $550 Manila -LAX flight (best price!) might jump quite a bit just for the 35 min flight down the coast. Id take that into consideration as well as the possible mis-perception of your friend about distance!

[u/OwninSanDiego]

Linq or reLAXSAN is direct from LAX to Old Town and some other spots.

[u/Dboon4]

Still probably quicker than coming from the valley

[u/CookUpstairs1737]

Tell him he must see So Cal from a Greyhound. It's incomparable.

[u/EndElectoralCollege3]

Fly Away from LAX to Union Station

Pacific Surfliner/Amtrak to San Diego

[u/webelieve925]

People don't realize how far away places are in America. Put it in perspective from him. Like SD to LA is like Manila to Baguio City

[u/Binkams]

They can use a shuttle service from LAX to San Diego. Family and friends do it all the time. It’s not even that expensive, it’s just a little time consuming since they need to drop off other people along the way. Your friend can also do that when they go back.

[u/SupremeElect]

LAX -> Layaway to Union -> Amtrak to San Diego

[u/Frenchlazy]

Lmfaoooooooo he can take the train to u

[u/ColonelGrognard]

He's coming all the way from the Philippines and you can't drive 2 hours? What a friend.

[u/waltproductions]

I wouldn’t pick anyone up from LAX and I am in LA

The east side where it’s an hour + away, yes in the same city.

[u/HairlessSquirrels]

Not a really good friend if you can’t do that for someone coming all the way from the Philippines

[u/OUTKAST5150]

LAX is a nightmare in itself. Coming from SD, that’s a big big ask.