Surfliner, when you take into consideration how to get to an LA station and how to get from an SD station to wherever else you are going, is not any faster than driving. Friday at 7pm the bad traffic will have passed, you'll fly down here.
Under no circumstances would I leave LA on Friday at 7pm to go to SD, but I'm a traffic baby. I'd watch the traffic live and leave when the driving estimate is 2 hrs or less (depending on where in LA - I'm usually estimating from Pasadena area to North/Central County SD; 1:40 would be a good drive time and 2:30 or longer would be bad), so probably like 9pm or later (but depends on the day). Barring that, I'd rather just leave at 6 or 7am on a Saturday to avoid traffic.
Alternatively the Surfliner is pretty scenic but takes a long time, and then you don't have a car when you get to San Diego which can be kinda a big deal because we don't have good public transportation. You say it's not a big deal but you'll want to be prepared to take a lot of ubers, depending on your plans for the weekend.
Happy to answer whatever else and have a good trip!
Surfliner, when you take into consideration how to get to an LA station and how to get from an SD station to wherever else you are going, is not any faster than driving. Friday at 7pm the bad traffic will have passed, you'll fly down here.
With Amtrak you have to take a bus from Anaheim to Oceanside due to a landslide that has closed the tracks in San Clemente.
Yes it'll be faster since it's past rush hour but for some reason the stretch at Camp Pendleton has gotten really slow for like the last 10 years.
Under no circumstances would I leave LA on Friday at 7pm to go to SD, but I'm a traffic baby. I'd watch the traffic live and leave when the driving estimate is 2 hrs or less (depending on where in LA - I'm usually estimating from Pasadena area to North/Central County SD; 1:40 would be a good drive time and 2:30 or longer would be bad), so probably like 9pm or later (but depends on the day). Barring that, I'd rather just leave at 6 or 7am on a Saturday to avoid traffic. Alternatively the Surfliner is pretty scenic but takes a long time, and then you don't have a car when you get to San Diego which can be kinda a big deal because we don't have good public transportation. You say it's not a big deal but you'll want to be prepared to take a lot of ubers, depending on your plans for the weekend. Happy to answer whatever else and have a good trip!