IIRC, Superman canon [not L/C] has Martha from Boston. Wouldn't be TOO far from Metropolis in either Delaware or NYC. She could have been visiting a friend in that area with no plans to see her nephew for some reason.
IIRC, both from my research and friends, it's not too hard to get a direct flight from KC to NYC. Much easier than from Wichita and given the distance between Smallville and KC given in TF [3 days rides], it's probably about 3-3.5 hour drive so not too unreasonable. [I live in moderately rural Missouri and it's not uncommon at all for people to drive to KC, STL or Tulsa [2.5-3.5 hours] to catch flights though we FINALLY have some reasonably priced options from our fairly small airport to a few locations.]
Carol
