Fly or Drive from PA?

07DAD
Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:42:35 +0000

I drove my S to CC for his freshman year move-in. It was a 750 mile one way trip. We did spend one night in a motel on the way. It was just me and my S. It was very enjoyable, but I made a real effort to not go on and on with “advice” during the trip. I think that my S appreciated my willingness to make the trip because of the amount of gear he wanted to get to CC (hiking, camping, skiing and his bicycle).

Having the vehicle also is a plus when it comes to getting the dorm room stuff that seems to not have been considered. More electric fans and more lighting immediately come to mind. I guess if you fly and rent a car you can do it that way, but being non-mobile is not my idea of the way to do it.

It also worked very well when it came time to part. That is tricky for some. At least for me and my S (and from my observation of others at CC), there comes a point when the student wants the parent gone and the parent risks hurt feeling (the parent’s) if they stay too long. The vehicle allowed me to just get a long hug and leave micro-seconds before we reached that point.

I have friends who drove their D to CC from my same area, but they included an older brother and grandmother in the trip. The friend reports that in retrospect it was NOT a great idea having all those other people along. He said it really fractured his college D’s move-in experience and did not allow the daughter the gradual coming to grips with the fact of college and “leaving” that she otherwise might have had with fewer people adding to the mix of wishes and feelings.

Your trip is well over 1200 miles each way. I don’t know if that amount of togetherness is OK or too much. I guess that is your call.