- Sophia Celentano went viral on TikTok after she shared how she commutes by plane to her internship.
- She said the unusual commute allows her to save money on expensive east coast rent.
- Celentano said super-commuting also gives her more work-life balance.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sophia Celentano. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
My initial instinct when I got the internship offer from Ogilvy was to commute because it was only one day in the office that I needed to be in person. And from my perspective, I didn’t really see it worth getting a really expensive place by the office if I was only needing to be there for eight hours of the week. I guess I never really saw super-commuting as a daunting thing.
Every week, all the interns come in on the same day for a lunch-and-learn event. My first week I had to come in twice during the same week for orientation.
When I first started, I’d get up at like 3 a.m. to get ready for the plane ride, but now I wake up around 3:30 a.m. or 3:45 a.m. I do my makeup and hair first, put on my business casual outfit, and then I get my bag ready. I usually pack a lunch, some comfortable clothes, and then bring a coffee to go.
I’m splitting my time between Charleston (where my parents live) and Richmond, Virginia (where my boyfriend lives) this summer. When I’m at home in Charleston, I’ll either drive myself to the airport or one of my parents will offer to drive me. I usually end up leaving around 4:30 a.m. to get to the airport around 5 a.m., and I have TSA PreCheck so the airport security line really only takes five to 10 minutes. I’m usually at my gate by around 5:15 a.m., which is exactly when boarding starts.
So I board the flight and it’s a two-hour flight from Charleston to Newark. I spend most of my time on the flights editing videos for my TikTok or YouTube channel. Sometimes on the way home I take a power nap. In the morning, I often get the entire row to myself, but it can be busier on the flights home.
My morning flight often lands about 15 minutes early. Then I either call an Uber right away or just wait for the traffic to die out and call another one within 20 minutes. I get to the office usually around 8:30 or 8:45 a.m., and that’s when I start my full 9-to-5 workday. It can be a tiresome commute, but I think it’s worth it.
At the end of the day, my coworkers and I will carpool to the Newark Penn Station and I take the train to the airport terminal and go through security. When I get to my gate, I’ll usually change into some sweatpants or something more comfortable. My flight leaves around nine and I land at home around 11 p.m..
The next day — because I work remote — I’m able to sleep in a bit so that helps a lot. I don’t have to wake up until around 8 a.m. to start work.
Super-commuting is all about work-life balance
A lot of people are interested in how much money I’m saving. I book my flights about three to four weeks out so they’re pretty cheap. My flights are around $100 there and back and then I pay about $100 for Ubers between the office and airport. If I lived in the New York City or New Jersey area, I’d be spending thousands of dollars a month on rent alone.
At the same time, it’s also provided me with a lot of work-life balance. I’m able to live where I want to live this summer, be at home with my parents, see my boyfriend and friends, and I’ve really enjoyed it so far.
But, I wouldn’t say it would work for everyone. I know some people despise sitting at their gate and going through security and everything, but I really enjoy it. I have a lot of experience with traveling. I’ve grown up in a family that loves to travel — both my parents super-commute to work at least once a month — and I did a study abroad program where I went to like 11 countries in the span of four months. I feel like I’ve gotten used to the whole hustle of traveling every week and it really doesn’t bother me. If anything, I really look forward to it. I love being at the airport. I love the adventure of it. I think it’s really nice to be able to wake up in one city and then start my workday in another.
That’s not to say it isn’t challenging at times. I obviously get worried about delays. It’s very rare that an early morning flight would be delayed, but I did have a couple of issues with my flights home when the Canadian wildfires happened a couple weeks ago. My flight was delayed an hour because of that, but I was just going home. I wasn’t having to rush to get to a meeting or anything so I had that flexibility. And then I did have an issue more recently when my flight back to Virginia got canceled for weather reasons. I had to Uber to another airport and book another flight last minute and ask for a refund for the original one. That was a little bit frustrating, but I don’t get super flustered with things like that.
I will say that one of the major reasons I decided to do this was because it was a temporary thing. My internship is only 10 weeks. I don’t know if I would necessarily do this for a full-time position. I don’t anticipate super-commuting after this summer.
I feel like the major angle people have taken from my story has been the financial side, which was definitely a huge part of this decision, but I think my story also just says a lot about how people are prioritizing work-life balance more in the wake of the pandemic. The hybrid world really allows you to have so much more flexibility. It’s not necessary to live 20 minutes down the road from your office anymore. You can still have a really successful career — even if you’re living far away from where you work.
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