Sassafrass

Do not create a tight schedule for yourself. Arrive a day or two early in PA. Plan an extra day for getting to Ithaca and then Albany. When you have a deadline, like catching a flight or a cruise or an interview, why increase the stress and risk not making it in time?

Weather could be great - or not. It almost does not matter. One major traffic accident could delay you by a day. We were stranded overnight on the highway near Scranton due to an accident, with roads too icy for equipment to get through.

As others say, the same could happen with flights. When we are taking a cruise, I like to arrive at the departure port the day before. The only time I arrived the day of, we were delayed and made the departure with only a 1/2 hour to spare. Nerve racking, but it has been long enough ago, that I was about to disregard the risk and book a flight to San Juan the morning of our next cruise. Then came the big power outage a week or so ago, grounding flights into/out of Atlanta for 11 hours and leading to cancellation of 1500 flights.

Just reaffirms the idea to give yourself some Leeway!

Ithaca is a mess of hills and slippery in snow.
If you do not have experience driving in snow and ice, do not do it! Try to figure out a better plan.

Macross

The main roads are always well taken care of in NY. When I fly into Albany I don't have any problems till I hit the secondary roads. My family are in the Adirondacks and they even get their roads plowed fairly quick but brake slowly, give yourself plenty of room when stopping and don't follow closely. Freinds hit a whiteout on Christmas day and ended in a snowbank for two hours, no cell service or anyone to pull them out. Ice is what scares me.

amberturtle

A big thank you to everyone who's responded! It is pretty clear at this point that I should NOT be driving on my trip. I'm thinking of skipping Ithaca and just going to Albany from Pittsburgh. Does anyone have a route that they'd like to suggest? Aside from taking the bus? I'd never been to the East Coast so I'd like to take this opportunity to experience the area as well.


Thanks!

SusieQQ

Take the train from Pittsburgh to NYC and then from there a train to Albany. Very easy.

tomfuller

The #42 Pennsylvanian leaves Pittsburgh at 7:30AM every morning (unless the Capitol Limited is running very late). Plan on being to the PGH station by 6:45AM at the latest.
You'll get to Albany about 8:30PM if all goes well which is better than not getting there at all.

1IntrepidTraveler

Fly from Pittsburgh to Albany???