Originally Posted by paulmasterton

Will be exhausted, and don't want to be renting a car and trying to drive in LAX (we are in mid-20s, neither of us driven in states, or even driven automatics and I don't think LAX is really the place to start!).

Originally Posted by silverthief2

I was surprised to find on my last trip that driving is really not that bad there.

Originally Posted by jackal

This is the sentiment I see expressed all the time. Everyone who has never driven in L.A. and finally does comes back surprised how natural and easy it is.

I'm actually always surprised that people even have the idea that driving is bad in Los Angeles. Maybe it's because L.A. has a bad reputation for traffic, but that's really only on certain freeways at rush hour, and even then, it's not hard--just slow.

It makes sense that driving in L.A. is smooth. EVERYONE drives there and drives all the time, so they're actually pretty good with the rules of the road (at least compared to the rest of the U.S./Canada). Yes, it's true, L.A. drivers are a little on the aggressive side, but not in the jerky, annoying, road-rage-causing way: rather, it's in the way that most efficiently utilizes space and keeps traffic flowing smoothly. You'll see people change lanes and squeeze into a spot in traffic if there's not so much as one car length plus six inches, but they do it smoothly, and everyone expects it, so it's actually MUCH easier than it sounds. (It's kind of like driving in New York: the thought of people constantly weaving around with inches to spare to get around parked cars, garbage trucks, buses, disappearing lanes, etc. sounds horrific, but when you actually try it, it's not that difficult, since everyone's moving so slowly and gives way to people merging.)

As for surface street driving, well--L.A.'s freeway culture has made it so everyone traveling even a moderate distance (which most people are) is likely to get on the freeway (even if it's heavily trafficked!), which means that surface streets are actually usually pretty clear of traffic, since only the locals use them! And as silverthief2 said, disappearing lanes and one-way streets are exceedingly rare.

I'll take driving in L.A. over any other major or even mid-sized city in the U.S.

Originally Posted by jackal

I had absolutely no problems switching to right-hand drive in Thailand and Australia. It's much, much easier than you would think.

I might concur with your friends if you were attempting to drive in New York City, but Los Angeles's huge, wide lanes and wide streets, streets on a consistent grid (mostly), lack of one-way streets and random disappearing lanes, no issues with having your lane turn into parking and having to dodge cars, etc., make driving in Los Angeles very, very easy.

I would very strongly suggest renting a car (add a GPS if you're worried about getting lost). Driving in the U.S. (and California in particular) is not difficult.

Originally Posted by paulmasterton

I thought about trying to book a hotel to grab a sleep for a few hours but then they probably wouldn't let us check in at 6am.