Airport and rental car ?

[lorihannahgwen]

I am planning my first trip to DLR (yeah!). (July 2011)
We were originally going to fly into John Wayne and fly back out of San Diego until I saw that it would cost ~$200 more for the rental car.
Should I stick with my original plan or should I do a round trip from John Wayne or a round trip from San Diego? I have no idea how far away the air ports (and traffic) are from DLR (where we are starting our trip) and La Jolla (where we are ending our trip). Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Lori

 

[ter-moo]

Have you looked into Alamo for your car rental? They don't charge extra for a "one-way" rental.

It's about an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half (depending on traffic) from DL to La Jolla. From La Jolla to the San Diego airport, it's about 20 minutes (could be more depending on which part of La Jolla you're in and traffic).

The Orange County airport is only about 15 minutes from DL.

Good luck!!!

 

[lorihannahgwen]

Thanks.
I am looking at AVIS because I can get a corporate rate for a van
I will look into Alamo to see if it makes a difference.
If I read the post correctly, if I use San Diego round trip it would take me about 1.5 hours to get to DLH.
I haven't booked by airfare yet so I don't know the arrival time. When is a good time to drive? I am planning on arriving on a Tuesday.
Thanks
Lori

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I haven't booked by airfare yet so I don't know the arrival time. When is a good time to drive? I am planning on arriving on a Tuesday.
Thanks
Lori

From the San Diego area to DLR ~ late late late or super early or late morning/early afternoon - we drove from LegoLand *Carlsbad area* to DLR July of 09 *we drove up on a Tues. evening and it was pretty smooth ~ we drove back down to San Diego the following Thursday and left late in the morning *again it was an easy drive, everybody was already at work.

 

[FlyingBelle]

We're headed to John Wayne this afternoon for a last minute trip to DL. I wanted a mini-van and everyone was quoting around $350 for a 2-1/2 day rental. I did priceline name your own price and bid $34/day - they accepted it, so with taxes I'm only paying $139.

I always priceline my rental cars - you can get a significantly better rate (especially last minute), and you still get to select the size vehicle you want. The biggest downside is that if your trip cancels, you still get charged.