Originally Posted by mersk862

Not the best example, but yesterday I flew JAX-DCA-LGA to get to my parents' place in New Jersey. Looking at it, it would have made far more sense to fly JAX-DCA and then Amtrak to MetroPark (about 20 minutes from my parents' house):

I landed in DCA at 455p (scheduled 425p) - ran and made my connection to LGA (500p Shuttle delayed until 530p) - landed at LGA at 1840. By the time the Q70 bus came at 1910, I got to Woodside to take the 1944 train to Penn, where I ended up on the 2005 Dover train (separate story since NJ Transit held an illegal strike last night and that was the last train for the night). Got to Summit at 2105, got home at 2125.

Had I just flown to DCA and then took Metro to WAS and hopped on the 1755 Corridor train, I'd have gotten into MetroPark around 2030 and home by 2050 - over 30 minutes earlier, with a lot less stress, and I wouldn't have gotten my monthly allotment of cardio running in DCA between gates during the connection.