In addition to the other points made, coming from CMA I assume you'll fly down the coast. If so, expect:
A clearance through the Class B when just south of oceanside, whether you request it or not. The controllers in San Diego are total santa clauses.
With the above, a clearance "direct mt. soledad, direct myf". If you have a GPS, Id put VPSMS on your flight plan enroute MYF and not think about it again. You'll fly to a stubby little mountain covered in antennae.
A pile of "rut roh, hornet's nest" grade traffic south of La Jolla, which is about 3mi north of VPSMS. Both inbound and outbound traffic is compressed by the goofy Miramar Class B, and it's often a mix of turboprops, pistons, and no-speaky students.
Right when you start getting antsy about all of the traffic, SoCal will drop you like french class with a "Radar Service Terminated", usually while still in the class B and descending to 1800. I've been booted at 2500 with F-18s flying right under me. I've never been coordinated all the way to MYF, which is funny, since SoCal Approach is in their backyard, and could coordinate with tower using a note tied to a brick.
Sometimes MYF asks me to squawk 0400 inbound, some sort of local code.
Whether true in actuality or not, MYF seems like a training tower to me. Certain of the controllers get flustered easily. Some are amazing and pro. Out-yeager them on comms, and be vigilant for screwups or frequency-destroying confusion and clarification. It sucks to be on short final, sans landing clearance, while Haji tries to explain which of the freeways he's actually over (come to find out he's trying to land at Gillespie.... schmuck.). Somehow they make it all work out.
Also, Casa Machado makes a badass Arnold Palmer. Just saying.
$0.02,
- Mike