Things can change at the last minute. If you have to fly out, be prepared to not be able to see your son b/c his date of leaving might change last minute. I guess it all depends from where you fly or drive and the financial situation you are in. I don't mean to be a downer, but that can be a possibility. Our son was supposed to leave the next day after exams, but his shipmate's papers hadn't come in yet, so they were assigned a ship for a week later. That arrangement changed too w/in a course of 3 days. They finally were told to go home and they'd be contacted when to report. Home for 14 days, went back to KP, the shipping time/ship changed again, but they got hours on the Kings Pointer, which applied to their sea hours. It was quite the summer "Christmas break" for us.