DS moving cross country for college. I have estimated day 1 - fly cross country, day 2 pick up stuff at BBB or Target by Uber and take to hotel room. Day 3, move stuff into dorm room.
Does that sound right? DS will not have car at school.
Thank you!
Plenty of people do that in 1 or at most 2 days. Arrive, if very late, sleep, then next day get stuff and continue on to dorm
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Sounds like a good plan!
Your 3 day plan is the minimum Iād go with. We too have a cross country college move-in (coming up in August) and there is one thing that is prompting us to add in a buffer-day, and that is airline cancellations. Your 3 day plan runs into problems with an airline cancellation, and this summer/fall will be prime cancellation times.
Last week, our S was scheduled to fly from the west coast to Philadelphia only to have his outgoing flight cancelled 12 hours before departure time. Only with many calls and a little luck was he able to find an alternative flight.
Because of this we are thinking about a 4 day plan: Day-1 fly, Day-2 relax/shop, Day -3 BBB, day-4 move in. If we have flight cancellations on Day-1 we will have another day to āhopefullyā recover. Fingers still crossed.
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Not cross country, but ours is a 4 hour flight/drive, packed clothing in IKEA bags and checked them, ordered online at BB&B and we picked the order up on the way to the hotel. Move in the next morning, Target run, I think our daughter ditched us after lunch, we explored the campus and went to dinner with friends (instead of parent orientation, oops). Stopped by the Starbucks in DDās dorm to give her a hug goodbye the next morning before heading to the airport.
Many schools assign times to move into dorms. If you have a pm time, you can easily go to BBB and then to the scheduled time. If you have an am time, but you get to the city early on the day before, you could land, go to the store, sleep, then move in.
I think a big variable is are you moving west to east (wonāt get to the college town until very late) or east to west (arrive mid-day).
No matter how well you plan, something will go wrong. Just go with it. If you donāt get every hanger into the closet or hook on the wall, it will be okay.
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For anyone in this thread doing college move in for the first time, note that BBB/Target etc will get more busy, and more cleared out of all college stuff, the closer you get to freshman move in day. We did our BBB pickup in the evening of the day we arrived and, after having to go there the next day for odds and ends, were SUPER glad we had done our big trip the night earlier.
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Thatās what we did. We flew in on Friday afternoon, did shopping and organizing on Friday and Saturday and then we moved her in Sunday morning (her school assigns times and hers was in the morning). We wanted a time to get her stuff organized because we had short window to get her moved in and settled and we wanted some time to walk around campus since weād only been there once before.
Most of our shopping was pick ups. We ordered a fridge and microwave to pick up in store at Home Depot and did the Bed, Bath and Beyond Pack and Hold program for most of her necessities (I high recommend that so your stuff is waiting for you and you donāt need to make any decisions on the spot with a maybe crabby and stressed out student). We then went to Target for snacks, school supplies, laundry stuff, etc.
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I think as a parent, it is really easy to overestimate how much time your child wants you to hang around on move in day. Mine was ready for me to leave after about 15 minutes.
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Thatās what we didā¦and it worked well. We had to move things in early on Day 3 because our kid also had orientation starting that dayā¦but it worked.
Anything else you want to know about this cross country schlep?
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Yesā¦but if you can request a different time if you need it. Thatās what we did.
Moving DS both in and out of his dorm in Maine from Seattle, both trips we booked four day trips ā three nights hotel with Day 1 for travel; Day 2 for shopping and exploring; Day 3 for move in or out; Day 4 for travel. This itinerary worked well for us and if we assist our son again we will repeat it.
The direction you are traveling matters. Since we fly east, we arrive in the evening and canāt accomplish much beyond reaching our hotel on the first day. If you are traveling west and gaining time you might be able to accomplish your shopping on the first day. But, I myself would appreciate having the extra day for flexibility.
Where DS goes to school there isnāt a BBB or Target but there is a Home Depot. I discovered that HD sells all sorts of home goods online that I didnāt expect (mattress toppers, bedding, pillows, etc) so I ordered all our bulky items from HD and had everything shipped to the store for free. I had called beforehand to ensure they were OK storing everything for us. This was such a huge convenience and also alleviated any worries about stock running out once all the students descended upon the town. Definitely take advantage of the Buy & Hold service at any of the stores that offer it, and if not advertised it doesnāt hurt to ask.
Happy planning!
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Thanks everyone. We are flying west to east, so first day is all travel. I think we will do 3 days to get things done leisurely. Husband and son arenāt good when rushed. Omg time is moving quickly.
We moved her from California to upstate NY. Moved the middle one from SoCal to NorCal (900 miles). Moved the youngest 1 Ā½ hours away.
This is very similar to what we did but we did 5 days because my husband wanted to scope out the local grocery stores, opened up a local bank account, went to health services to check in about her meds.
We couldnāt find snow wear (boots, winter coat, etc.) because they werenāt to be found at that time.
One thing that her school did, at the time, for those of us from the Pacific time zones: storage lockers in the tunnels. They allowed us to ship to the school if we absolutely HAD to do this, of course for a small fee. You may want to check that out.
Good luck! Make sure you buy the ākitā from Ikea or Home Depot: tape, scissors, box cutter, sharpies, blue painters tape, Allen wrenches, .
Also, find out if your university gives you the discount for the LoJack for computers.
FYI: We also purchased the NSSI (National Student Services Insurance) to cover everything in our kidsā rooms and apartments (iPhone, computer, headphones, microwave, etc.) because they covered everything and it was reasonably priced.
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We are going East to West and doing 5 days. We arrive Saturday and move-in is on Tuesday. Son is going to Denver and H has never been so we decided to make a bit of a a vacation out of it. Saturday we arrive by noon. Weāll do some shopping and go see the campus. Sunday weāll go do some hiking. Monday weāll do some more shopping and explore downtown. Monday will be move in and the n weāll leave our son alone. We āll go do any last minuteshopping he needs and the have 24 hours to spend by ourselves with no kids.
Some things weāre doing to help with the move:
Weāre staying at an all suites hotel so weāll have plenty of room for his stuff. Going to see if we can ship anything directly to the hotel.
Weāre flying out on Southwest so each of us can bring 2 bags for free. Husband and I will just pack in carry-ons so all the bags can be for his stuff. Iāll get his bedding at home so I can wash it beforehand.
Weāre renting a car. Itās expensive but will make shopping and sight-seeing so much easier.
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Dh and I are going to fly from the college location somewhere else for a few days after, so not just go home a little sad. DS is our only
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He doesnāt need that much stuff. Even if one of the bags is full of hockey equipment itās too much stuff.
My daughter took about 6 bags of stuff to college (and one WAS full of hockey equipment), and she had way too much stuff. Each year she took less and less, until she finally had one bag of stuff and one bag of hockey equipment.
Within a week, heāll have an entire wardrobe of DU tshirts and little need for all the things heās brought with him.
Yes, and many colleges specify that parents need to leave at a certain time. Most kids want us parents to get out of their hair. I think itās too easy to get wrapped up in how big a deal this is for us, the parents. Really, itās about them. With my daughter, we left when the college said we had to leave. With our son, there was no set time, but it was pretty clear he wanted to hang out with the five other guys in his suite.
As far as getting stuff, buy in advance and have delivered or pick up if possible. A lot of colleges will provide a shuttle service for a few days to a local Target or similar. Kids donāt need every single thing the day they get to campus. Fly in on day 1, unpack and set up on day 2, with a trip to a store as needed. Unless they start classes the day after they arrive on campus, they will be fine with two days. If someone has a lot of connecting flights, perhaps consider adding an extra day for just in case.
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All good advice. I told my sons whatever you pack and buy has to come home or be put in storage. Are you also planning to go move him out of the dorm? It simplified what got packed.
Given todayās environment I would plan for airline delays and supplies shortages if you plan to buy when you get there. Mini fridges, small vacuum cleaners, microwaves disappear quickly around campuses.
Our sons appreciated our help but didnāt want us to linger longer than necessary. Good luck.
We have a family member dong a cross country college move in and they are planning on 5 days, inclusive of travel.