Our son graduated from high school early by finishing online and isn’t planning to attend college right now.
He’s been working since he was 14, and we’ve always focused on helping him build practical life skills early: cooking his own meals, managing his work schedule, doing his own laundry.
We struggled to find a suitable graduation gift, but months later, we landed on something that seemed ideal: an unlimited flight pass.
Since he wasn’t moving away for school, we wanted to give him an opportunity to expand his perspective and build more independence in a way that fit his life. Plus, it felt like he had the opportunity to both build skills and have the most fun through the process.
It’s the gift of opportunity
Years ago, my husband and I came across an unlimited flight pass from Frontier Airlines, where you pay an annual fee and then fly any route they serve for just taxes and fees. Domestic flights can run as little as $16 each way. We tucked the idea away in the back of our minds.
We caught a Black Friday deal where the pass was available for only $349 with an extended timeline offer. Our son would have use of the pass for 18 months, so we decided it was the perfect belated graduation gift.
When we gave it to him, he was ecstatic. It was like an unlimited amount of opportunities all became available to him at the same time, and he immediately had to figure out how to navigate it. That was exactly the point.
The pass has restrictions. Domestically, you can only book up to two days in advance. Internationally, up to 10 days. You have to search for available tickets specific to the pass, plan around limited routes, and stay flexible. We told Nate that a great goal would be to take at least one trip a month to start getting comfortable with traveling on his own.
More on child independence
He’s learning to navigate obstacles
It took him a few months to get going, but in February, he decided to take a trip to Orlando to visit a friend, and the flight was only $25. Once he was there for a few days, he decided to fly to Puerto Rico — because he could. In March, he went to the Dominican Republic. Because it’s international, the flight to get there was about $80, and then he found an Airbnb for four nights for a bit more.
He was doing exactly what we hoped he would.
Each trip has come with its own lessons. In Puerto Rico, he discovered that not every destination has daily flights. He called me after a few days and said he couldn’t find a flight back. I looked and confirmed there was nothing available. He told me not to worry, that he’d hang out a few more days and wait for one to open up. He was right. A couple of days later, he found a flight back to Miami and connected through one of our Southern California airports to get home.
How he handled the situation was everything we could hope for. He figured it out on his own and thoroughly enjoyed his time there.
The gift keeps giving
Our son is learning how to book lodging, navigate unexpected delays, use public transportation to explore new cities, and move through places that look and feel nothing like the Southern California beach town he grew up in. He’s meeting new people and experiencing different cultures. He’s becoming more comfortable in the world and enjoying it every step of the way, even the unexpected ones.
His passion over the last year and a half has been calisthenics training, and wherever he goes, he connects with people through it and does handstands on any flat surface, even on airport chairs.
Courtesy of Chris Rosenberg.
He’s 19 now and still has more than 10 months left on the pass, and the skills he’s learned through travel have definitely benefited him at home, like taking more advantage of local public transportation in our own community.
We’ve always raised our kids to incorporate as many real-world experiences and lessons to put them in new situations to help them explore who they are and what they’re capable of. This gift keeps delivering that, one trip at a time.
We gave our son an opportunity, and we are so ecstatic that he’s not only taking advantage of it but also that he’s just getting started.
