Sophia Celentano flew to work weekly

Most summer interns are trying to figure out cheap housing, bad roommates, or which friend has a couch. Sophia Celentano looked at New Jersey rent, opened an airline website, and somehow decided that flying in from South Carolina once a week was the more rational option.

The commute that sounds made up

Celentano was 21 and working a hybrid internship in Parsippany, New Jersey. Because she only needed to be in the office one day each week, she stayed based in Charleston, South Carolina instead of subletting close to work. Her Wednesday routine started at 3 a.m., then a drive to the airport, a 6 a.m. flight, a landing in Newark around 8, and an Uber to the office with enough time left to arrive early.

Why the weird option won

According to her explanation to FOX 5 New York, the choice came down to the full 10-week cost. Celentano said renting in New Jersey or New York for the summer would have cost around $4,250. Weekly flights plus ground transport still came in roughly $2,000 cheaper. The plan only worked because the internship was mostly remote, which turned a ridiculous-looking commute into a spreadsheet problem.

The internet understood immediately

The reason the story spread is obvious: it hits a universal pain point. Nobody needs a lecture on rent being too high. They just need one real person whose workaround sounds half genius and half completely unhinged. Celentano herself said she would not have tried it for a full-time office job, but for one summer and one office day a week, the numbers were enough to make a plane ticket feel practical. That is a pretty strong indictment of housing costs - and a very funny use of frequent-flyer logic.