Dallas

Most people who come to Dallas arrive by air since the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex is home to DFW, the Dallas-Fort Worth International airport.

Coming from the south, I-45 is the major highway for travel between Houston and Dallas, while I-35 connects the city to Austin and San Antonio.If you come in on I-35 you need to keep in mind that, a few dozen miles both north and south of the "metroplex," the interstate splits into I-35W which runs north/south through Fort Worth and I-35E the branch that runs north/south through Dallas. Miss the split and you'll wind up in a different city. Coming from the west, Dallas is reached by either I-20 on the south side or I-30 which comes directly into downtown. Both of these interstate highways approach Dallas from the east. I-20 comes from Shreveport, Louisiana and I-30 comes from Texarkana.

By plane

The Dallas/Fort Worth area IATA: QDF for all airports is served by two major airports, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport IATA: DFW, and Love Field IATA: DAL. Love Field is within the city limits not far northwest of downtown, but has certain restrictions on flights in and out. Love Field is home to Southwest Airlines (http://www.southwest.com), and is much closer to downtown, but if you are flying from far away it will probably require a connection to get there. Love Field is also served by United Express to Houston and Delta Connection to Memphis. The flight restrictions at Love Field were partially lifted when the "Wright Amendment Reform Act" was made law in October 2006 and will be fully lifted in 2014.

You will probably end up flying into DFW airport (http://www.dfwairport.com...). DFW, one of the largest airports in the country by passenger volume. Equally positioned between Dallas and Fort Worth, DFW is a great airport to fly into. Don't forget that as you drive out of the airport, you will have to pay a toll to leave. DFW is the chief terminal of American Airlines, which controls well over 80% of all the flights. WiFi is provided by T-Mobile for a fee.

Addison Airport IATA: ADS, ICAO: KADS, FAA LID: ADS is a public airport located in the town of Addison, an incorporated city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. It is nine miles 14 km north of the central business district of the city of Dallas. Addison Airport ADS was conceived in 1954 by a group of flying enthusiasts, and was developed under the direction of Henry Stuart. Construction of the airport was completed in 1957. Stuart’s group sold the airport to the Town of Addison in 1986. It is now the third largest general aviation airport in the country and boasts a runway of 7,200 feet. Air taxi and air charter companies such as Jetset Charter (http://www.jscharter.com) fly a variety of private charter aircraft and jets, from charter luxury Gulfstream's down to economical piston twins for small groups and individuals.

No matter which airport you are flying into or out of, if it is during rush hour, traffic will be a factor. Make sure you budget at least 2-3 hours to get to/from the airport if you are traveling on I-635, the Bush turnpike SH-190, or 75 Central Expressway. It will probably only take you an hour and traffic has been getting better lately, but it is far better to have that extra hour of cushion than to be stuck on the one road that will get you where you need to go, and to be moving at a crawl.

Once you've arrived at the airport, you will probably do best to take one of the Shared Ride shuttle services. They offer door to door pickup and drop off, probably costing ~$30 for ~20 miles, which will get you to most places.

Another option is to pickup a car rental at DFW. To do so, you will take the shared shuttle from the airport terminal to the consolidated car rental facility. The following companies are located inside the facility:

Advantage Rent A Car

Alamo

Avis

Budget

Dollar

Enterprise (http://www.enterprise.com)

E-Z Rent-A-Car (http://www.e-zrentacar.com)

Hertz (http://www.hertz.com)

National

Thrifty

For DFW, there are courtesy phones that will let you ring them directly for free, and they are usually pretty quick about pickups and drop offs. at most adding an extra 30-40 minutes while you wait for them to pick up more people, or to drop your fellow passengers off on the way to your place or hotel.

A less expensive option, to some places, would be DART (http://www.dart.org), Dallas Area Rapid Transit, which offers regular daytime bus service from DFW Airport to a commuter rail station located South of the airport.

Don't be fooled by the airport transportation information service, who will tell you that there isn't any public transport available to get you out of the airport. As you walk out of the arrivals hall at DFW, turn right and wait under the sign for the 'Remote' South shuttle. This free service takes you to the 'Remote South' station, where you can either take the TRE or DART bus 408 (http://www.dart.org/ridin...).

By car

To get here from Oklahoma, take I-35 or US 75 south. To get here from Houston, it's ~250 miles north on I-45 which turns into US 75. To get here from Austin, take I-35 North. To get here from Louisiana, take I-20 west. Dallas is the junction-point for most cities within a 200-300 mile radius, with good road service to and from. Any map of the United States should have enough information to get you into Dallas with no problems.

However, once you are here, watch out for traffic. Traffic tends to go towards the city centers in the morning, and away from the city centers in the evening. Major choke points are 75 South in the morning what takes 20 minutes with no traffic, ends up taking 1-2 hours with traffic. I-635 near US-75 is also usually a mess since I-635 being the beltway that runs all around Dallas is an often-traveled road. Also watch out for I-35E southbound in the mornings. Roadway construction is also a common occurrence in Dallas and should be budgeted for. The farthest eastern end of the George Bush Turnpike SH-190, many portions of SH-121, and the central portion of IH-635 are, as of July 2011, either beginning or are currently under major construction.

US-75 is also called "Central" or "Central Expressway", and turns into I-45 just south of Downtown

I-635 is sometimes called LBJ, which stands for Lyndon B Johnson.

There are two branches of I-35. I-35 splits into I-35W at Denton 30 miles north of Dallas through Fort Worth to Hillsboro 50 miles south of Dallas, and I-35E that runs from Denton through Dallas to Hillsboro. After I-35W and I-35E reach Hillsboro, they simply rejoin as I-35.