Travel Tips for Out-of-State Students

Hey everyone,

Happy Spring Break! This week I’m traveling home to Portland, Oregon in order to have my wisdom teeth removed. Instead of giving you the gory details on my oral surgery I decided instead to share some travel tips for out of state students!

I’ve always loved traveling, but I hadn’t done a lot of traveling on my own before I started at USC. Throughout my time here I’ve flown from LAX to PDX and back more times than I can count. Now I actually really enjoy traveling on my own. Plus, along the way I’ve picked up some tips on traveling as a USC student.

Booking Flights

I definitely recommend signing up for rewards programs on multiple airlines. If you’re like me, you’ll probably end up booking flights on whatever airline is cheapest most of the time. The frequent flyer miles add up surprisingly quickly, even across multiple airlines.

Bonus tip: Southwest lets you check two bags for free. This is awesome at the beginning and end of the school year when you’re trying to lug a bunch of extra clothing.

Getting to the Airport

There are numerous different ways to get from USC to LAX. Here are a few of the most popular methods:

Get a Ride – Of course, the very fastest and cheapest way is to get a ride from a friend. But if your friends are busy or do you don’t feel like asking for a ride again, there are a bunch of other options.
USC Shuttle – Sometimes around major university holidays (Winter Break, Spring Break, etc.) USC offers a shuttle from campus to LAX for students. These are awesome! Usually the price is pretty minimal – like $10 or so. The times and dates vary, but I always keep an eye out.
Prime Time Shuttle– The red van. Prime Time is a shared ride service – basically you make an online reservation, and the van comes to your dorm or apartment and picks you up. The van also picks up seven or eight other people and takes everyone to LAX together. Prime Time costs about $15 each way (this includes a USC discount).
Super Shuttle – The blue van. Super Shuttle is the method of transportation that I use most often. It’s really a lot like Prime Time – it pretty much works the same way. In my personal experience I’ve found Super Shuttle to be slightly more efficient than Prime Time, but it’s really a matter of personal preference – I have friends who use both. I like Super Shuttle because it is more mobile friendly and I can track where my van is on my iPhone, which is very convenient. Super Shuttle also costs about $15.
Taxi Cab – There are a number of different cab companies in LA. Yellow Cab Company is probably the most visible, but Independent Cab Company, and several others are also prominent. Taxis are nice because they’re really fast and you only have to call a few minutes ahead of when you’re ready to go. It costs about $50-$55 to take cab from USC to LAX. However, if you split a cab with someone else, the price is more comparable to a shared ride van. Uber and Lyft are similar to taxis, but you pay on a mobile smartphone app.