<p>I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I am having trouble finding the thread. Anyone from MA care to share their move-in plans? It seems like it would be a 14 hour drive to Elon from MA. Are you planning to drive or fly? And if you fly, do you ship your student's supplies, (other than what can be flown). For example, my S has a mini-fridge. If you ship, where do you ship to (I assume it has to "wait" somewhere until move-in day)?</p>
<p>Any other tips?
Thanks!</p>
<p>My son will be a senior in the fall and we are from MA also. When he was a freshman he brought his car to school. I drove down with him and his father flew and met us. We packed his car every square inch and bought the rest of the stuff at Bed Bath Beyond (ordered it ahead of time and it was ready for us when we arrived). The drive is actually not bad about 12 hours with a few quick stops. We stayed at the Courtyard and the hotel was filled with anxious freshman and their families. The kids all got together that night in the lobby. Many kids flew down and brought mainly clothes on the flight and ordered the rest from BBB and supplemented with Target etc… when they arrived the day before. Every store you would need is in the town of Burlington, (home depot, Lowes, TJ Maxx, Walmart Target, Office Depot etc…) We ended up back at BBB to return much of the stuff we bought because it would not fit in room, roommate had duplicates etc…Plenty of time for parents to shop after moving kids in the dorm. I can’t believe 3 years have passed and he will be graduating in less then a year! I hope your son enjoys Elon as much as my son has, GREAT school!</p>
<p>My son’s roommate was from MA. He flew with 3 duffle bags and purchased other items in Burlington. He flew home with just the duffle bags too. I believe you can ship a few boxes that will be held for you, but there are restrictions on size.</p>
<p>We drove my son down in Aug of freshman year and then went to pick him up in the Spring. The drive isn’t too bad really, and doable in a day as long as you get an early start. The whole 95 corridor can be avoided too, depending on the day of travel. Saturday was a breeze, Friday was not! My son now drives his own car. </p>
<p>Your son has a fridge or he’s planning to get one? Because a lot of stores will let you order things online, and pick up in NC(Walmart for example). Not sure about shipping. </p>
<p>If you do intend to fly, it may make more sense to ask around to see if someone can’t take the fridge down for him. There are a fair amount of MA kids at Elon!</p>
<p>We are from Jersey and usually drive down for move in and move out. One day to drive down a night in a hotel and move in the next day and drive home. The very first move in we stayed and extra night to allow for extra shopping .
We always take route 81 south to avoid the Rt 95 traffic (Baltimore, Dc, Richmond)
Its always straight easy driving.</p>
<p>As a Burlington resident who regularly drives to southeastern MA, I highly recommend taking 81 and bypassing 95. It’s more miles, but so much less traffic. No matter what time you leave, you’re going to hit traffic somewhere on 95…</p>
<p>We are flying on Wed evening and buying everything there on Thursday - you can shop before hand at BB&B and just pick up it up in Burlington. You can also ship three boxes to Elon and they will hold it until move in…I guess that info comes with the housing info package. My D is renting a fridge with her room mate…flights were fairly inexpensive…4 of us we are flying JetBlue so we get 4 big bags free…three of us will only bring a carry on. We are planning on storing stuff in a rental unit next summer if necessary. Next year we may let her bring her car but not for next semester.</p>
<p>Just an FYI - for those freshman bringing cars, NC is tough on DUI - check out this thread on a kid that got a DUI on prom night - he got mandatory jail time - MANDATORY
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1506779-sons-prom-night-dui.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1506779-sons-prom-night-dui.html</a></p>
<p>My D is a rising senior (ack! how did this happen so quickly?) Our usual plan has been to drive in August and May, and D flies for breaks and any other trips home. We’re in MA, and have driven both I-81 and I-95. 81 is much prettier but significantly longer, especially from eastern MA. 95 can be ok depending when you drive. We usually drive to my MIL’s in NJ and spend the night, then go the rest of the way the next day, although we have done the whole trip in one long day as well. D has had a car at Elon since soph year, and we really like her to break up the drive in NJ if we’re not with her. Thank heavens she is staying in the same off-campus apartment next year, she didn’t have to move anything this summer!</p>
<p>Freshman year we bought most of her stuff in MA and drove it down in our SUV with the roof box. I don’t regret it, we were bringing the SUV anyway and it was easier not having to go to the store except to pick up a few odds and ends. But if we’d done it the other way (bought stuff in NC) I’m sure it would have been fine. Burlington does not lack for places to shop.</p>
<p>If you live near Boston, Jetblue and Delta are your new best friends - reasonable daily non-stops to RDU. Southwest requires a change of planes at BWI, which to me is just another chance for things to go wrong (aka missed connection).</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing your thoughts!</p>
<p>For what it’s worth: I have done the drive with D a few times. Found that if you leave NC @5 a.m. you can pass the major cities at non-busy times (DC @ 10:00, NYC @3:00, Boston @8:00). Early wake-up, but definitely better than sitting in hours of I-95 traffic.</p>
<p>momofboston or anyone who knows about shipping… Where do we ship to? Where do I find information regarding size restrictions? I looked on the Elon website, but I could not find it. I know it must be there?? Thank you.</p>
<p>It was in the “it’s what’s happening @ ELON” folded up flyer of information that came to the kids in the last few days. “Due to space limitations, students are only allowed three packages that are no more than 18’x18’x18’ in size. Elon does not provide storage for trunks.” It also said “If you don’t know your campus box, write “new student” on the package. You can pick them up once you get here.”</p>