So, in my experience, to get to and from Santa Monica & San Jose, you are looking at burning 3 hours when you can't really sleep, with maybe half of that having

So, in my experience, to get to and from Santa Monica & San Jose, you are looking at burning 3 hours when you can't really sleep, with maybe half of that having a shot at being somewhat productive time. The costs are much higher than airfare too, particularly if you have three bags worth of cargo and pay for more leg room. Not saying we've got a great solution here (ironically it would be more appealing if the trip were a bit longer... like 8.5 hours). There is an argument to be made for it.