[F30lolz]

Would like to hear if members on here traveled alone when they weren’t even in Kindergarten yet. Back around 1982 when I was four, my parents put me on a plane at La Guardia and flew me to my grandparents in Miami. I still remember holding hands with a ‘stewardess’, being seated and being checked on throughout the flight. Nobody sat next to me, was provided an adequate meal and was put on a cart at the gate after landing which took me to my grandparents waiting not too far off. I thought I was the shit back then with my big boy pants.

Probably the same summer after returning from FL (with my parents this time), my parents took me to Grand Central Station and put me on the Metro North to Beacon, a small town along the Hudson River where my other grandmother met me at the platform. My parents had a lot of faith in the system in the early eighties, or maybe they were hoping I was kidnapped.

[BMWGUYinCO]

I used to fly alone from London to Ottawa from around 10 yrs old through 15 yrs old...and that was back in the day when smoking was allowed on flights, ugh.

[tdott]

My first flight solo was when I was a 23yo, to Germany for work. First time I left NA too.

Been to over 30 countries since.

My parents weren't big travelers.

[3.0L]

I rode a Greyhound Bus to my aunt's home and back by myself. I was 10 years old. I thought it was great!

[UncleWede]

My youngest brother flew LA <-> Omaha on the regular during summers to see grandpa. I think he started around 10, so that would have been mid-80s.

My middle son, we sent him to see his father in Ohio. He was early teens. Seems we "forgot" to pick him up when he returned to LA. It's been 15 years, but he's STILL pissed

[erickonphoenix]

In 1987 I took Amtrak's Sunset Limited solo from New Orleans to Los Angles. It initially started out as a solo trip but made friends with some European back packers in the observation car and extending the trip with them up the California coast to San Francisco.

Not sure I'd say it was a solo trip but it started out that way and had a great time.

[Kowalski2011]

On the flip side, as the full custody parent, I had to send my daughter 'unaccompanied minor' a couple times.

I remember the uneasy, uncomfortable feeling driving home from the airport alone, then to sit and wait for that confirmation phone call that she arrived safely and was picked up.

[Dang3r]

1971 my parents were shopping into a new very large shopping center and needless to remark that they had also a for small kids eyes enormous toy section.
To keep this short, Mom and Dad moved on and I got lost into paradiese. As I noticed to got left alone, I remember so search at the last places where I had seen both and after a time period I fed up to run through the aisles, headed over to the next suburb train station and travelled home.
As I turned into our home street my parents came simultaneously around the corner by car and I got my a$$ whooped for getting lost
So far my first solo travel.

[3.0L]

If we want to narrow this down to first time on an airplane alone (un-escorted), that would be my flight from LAX to Ft. Bliss, TX, right after I got drafted into the US Army. I was 20 years old.

I made quite a few "un-escorted" flights after that, including my flight to Germany in a B-707. I guess my flight to Vietnam in a C-141A doesn't count because I was with my team, including a brand new "wet behind the ears" 2nd Lieutenant.

All of my military flights were stand-by, meaning I was the last one to board if there was a seat available. Warmed many terminal benches, waiting for a flight to my next base. We were 2nd class citizens back then.

[floridaorange]

First solo was when I was 18 from Florida to Los Angeles. I knew I had it made.

Cool thread idea, brings back great memories actually...

[WallySlash]

In the mid 70’s I lived in CA (Treasure Island, Naval Base) and traveled every summer to visit either my “Michigan” Grandparents or “Texas” Grandparents while my Dad was deployed.

My Mom would drop me at the airport gate making sure I was the first one on the plane. I would see her crying as she walked to the payphone ultimately making a collect call from “He’s on the plane” of which collect charges were not accepted.

When I arrived my Grandparents would grab me and head to the pay phone and make a collect call from “Safely Arrived”. Again the collect charges wouldn’t be accepted.

I was 10 when I made my first flight and those flights stopped when I was 15. Glorious summers spent on Lake Michigan or on Galveston Island.

[OkieSnuffBox]

I've only flown by myself a few times, and that was as an adult for work stuff. Vegas a few times to help teach classes when I worked at Tulsa Winch Group, and Boston to learn a new software package.

I have to think nowadays they wouldn't let a 4-year old fly by themselves.

[2000cs]

I don’t recall flying alone as a child, but I might have. It was very common until Sept 10, 2001.

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by F30lolz

Would like to hear if members on here traveled alone when they weren’t even in Kindergarten yet.

Well, I didn't fly anywhere alone until I was maybe 15. BUT we actually traveled to school alone. We walked. I think I was on my own by 2nd grade with my younger sister. Times are different, this was in the late '60s.

[///MPhatic]

No, never.

[F30lolz]

Damn, reading everyone’s replies, my parents probably hoped I would have been taken

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

BUT we actually traveled to school alone. We walked. I think I was on my own by 2nd grade with my younger sister. Times are different, this was in the late '60s.

I did as well around those same years, only I was in kindergarten and walked it alone! The school was about 8 suburban blocks away from our house, and there were no busses. This was before the days of helicopter parents driving their kids to school. My mother walked with me both ways the first two weeks, and after that I was on my own.

A year before that, I was at the yoke in the right seat of a Cessna 150. No way was I flying alone, and I couldn't even reach the rudder pedals or see over the instrument panel.....

[dmatre]

I used to fly LaGuardia -> Buffalo, or take the train from Grand Central to Buffalo each summer from around 1st-6th grade.

Parents would send me up to stay with my grandparents for a couple of weeks, then they would drive up, we'd all vacation together, and I'd ride back home with them.

I remember meeting great people each trip, who engaged a wandering youngster, and made the time pass quicker.

The train was my favorite, because there was more to see over a longer period of time.

In all of those solo travels, I never felt nervous or scared, only enthused and excited to be traveling.

Neither of my folks are still with us, so no opportunity to ask if they felt a twinge if nervousness sending their 5-10 year old off on his own.

[Tommy-G]

During most of our era, kidnapping and such just wasn’t a big thing like now….side note, my first alone flight was probably around 16 yrs old for BMX racing

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

I did as well around those same years, only I was in kindergarten and walked it alone! The school was about 8 suburban blocks away from our house, and there were no busses. This was before the days of helicopter parents driving their kids to school. My mother walked with me both ways the first two weeks, and after that I was on my own.

A year before that, I was at the yoke in the right seat of a Cessna 150. No way was I flying alone, and I couldn't even reach the rudder pedals or see over the instrument panel.....

I walked 7 blocks to kindergarten, alone, rain or shine. It was that way all the way through high school. No car rides. No bus. Sometimes we got wet. Wore out a lot of shoes.

[F30lolz]

Spoke to my father the other day and he mentioned to me that I flew when I was maybe 10 months old with a friend of my moms to Miami.

Let that sink in: my parents allowed a friend of my mother to take me to Miami when I wasn’t even 1 lol. Maybe my parents aren’t my parents and I was indeed sold

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by F30lolz

Spoke to my father the other day and he mentioned to me that I flew when I was maybe 10 months old with a friend of my moms to Miami.

Let that sink in: my parents allowed a friend of my mother to take me to Miami when I wasn’t even 1 lol. Maybe my parents aren’t my parents and I was indeed sold

That does seem very strange. Maybe they were desperate for a couple of nights off? LOL!