Washington DC to Southbury, CT on Dec 23 - Advice Please :)

[Groovy_chicstrel]

Hi All,
My husband, baby and I are coming to the US (from Australia) in Dec to spend Christmas with my brother's in-laws in CT. We plan to spend 4 nights in Washington DC prior to travelling to Southbury, CT on Dec 23 (a Saturday this year). We have a couple of options for travel, but without having any idea of traffic etc. I have no idea what to do:
1) Pick up a car in DC and drive all the way to Southbury, CT. Aim to leave early in the morning on the 23rd.
2) Catch Amtrak to NYC, pick up car in NYC and continue on to Southbury by car.

What do you suggest?

We will be in Southbury for 3 nights and then have to travel back to NYC on Dec 26th to drop the car off before flying to Montreal. We have the option of returning the rental car and flying out of either LGA or EWR airports - any suggestions of which airport is would be easier/less traffic to get to considering we will be travelling from Southbury? How much time should we allow for travel to the airport on Dec 26?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Driving the busiest traffic corridor in North America in the middle of one of the busiest travel weekends of the year - with the chance of winter weather no less? I would avoid that like the plague.

I would take the train in a heartbeat, but I don't know why you'd only take it to NYC. Take it all the way to Connecticut. Get on an Acela Express in DC and take it all the way to New Haven. You could rent a car there - or just have your brother-in-law pick you up at the train station (seems like a pretty minor request to visit family that's coming all the way from Australia!).

You could then take the train back to NYC before your flight. (Actually, you could look at taking the train from NYC all the way to Montreal). Getting to LGA or JFK would probably be easier than Newark, since you have to get across Manhattan and into New Jersey.