We are flying into La Gaurdia on a Sunday morning in June around 8:00 a.m. We will rent a car and drive up to the Catskills. We thought we would put our luggage in the trunk of the rental, park in an Icon lot and see some of the city for a few hours. Due to traffic, what time do you think we should be in our car leaving?

When leaving the next Sunday, we will be flying out of La Gaurdia at 9:20 p.m. and thought to arrive early into the city and see some of the sites before we head for the airport. What time should be be heading for the airport for a 9:20 p.m. flight on a Sunday night?

Lanie, I go up to the Berkshires, just east of the Catskills, so maybe I can help you. It depends where in the Catskills you are going - it's a big area and a drive up can take anywhere from 2 1/2 to maybe 3 1/2 hours. You might go to www.mapquest.com to figure out distances and average driving times. But assuming a 3 hour drive, I suggest that on your first Sunday, you leave NYC at around 3 pm. This way, you'll be driving in daylight and you won't have to look for your location in the dark (most of the Catskill roads are secondary roads and some wind a lot, so if you are unfamiliar with the terrain you'll want to arrive in daylight or at least dusk).

As for coming back, this could be a little trickier becuase a lot of New Yorkers have weekend homes in this area so you'll be coming into the city with a lot of arriving traffic Assuming you want to arrive at the airport by 8:00 p.m. (since you'll want a bit of time to return your rental car), then you need to leave the Catskills as early as 4 pm, again, depending on where in the Catskills you are and its proximity to highways. If your locale is not in a more isolated part of the Catskills, you could leave at 5, but much better to build in some extra time to your schedule.

My Berkshire house is 150 miles from the city and when I return home on Sunday afternoons, it sometimes takes me 3 1/2 hours because of the traffic I hit entering the city.

Hope this is helpful.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my question. Actually we are thinking of coming into the city early that Sunday morning and spending the day sight seeing and then get to the airport for our flight home. What time would you think we should leave NYC to get to LGA for our return flight?