If you're on time, you're late, part 4

Your estimates will improve with experience. For me, if I am traveling locally and I am generally familiar with the area, I plan to be 15 minutes early (so not much buffer). If it's local and super high stakes, I might plan to be 30 minutes early. If I'm traveling a longer distance, say to Philadelphia which is a 90 minute drive for me, I might give myself a full hour buffer time. If I'm traveling to NYC which is also about a 90 minute drive, I might give myself an even larger buffer because traffic is more unpredictable.

Years ago, I lived in NH and had a job interview in NJ. I drove down the day before the interview! Yes, that's a lot of buffer. After I checked into the hotel, I drove to the interview location to familiarize myself with the route. This was in the days before GPS, and I used a paper map. I also knew that it would be rush hour traffic in the morning, so getting familiar with the drive from hotel to job site was my way of being early.

And, I got the job.