<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>My son will be starting NU this fall, and we're discussing getting him and his stuff there from the New York metro area for move-in. Options are packing up the SUV and driving, or flying out with a couple of suitcases each, buying some locally, and shipping the rest.</p>
<p>Would love some feedback from those who've been there and done that, especially recommendations for a decent, reasonably priced shipping service (if there is such a thing!).</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I did the flying and shipping thing, and it worked out, but was expensive, and not having a car on move in made things a little bit annoying. Also, carrying things from the mail room was annoying for me, since my mail room was a cross Sheridan from my dorm. If you have the opportunity to drive out, I recommend you do- I’ve yet to see a downside to it, it allows you to explore the area while your son settles in, and it allows more direct delivery of your belongings. Likely, though, you’ll want to buy some things locally- that, too, is facilitated by your having a car. </p>
<p>Bring stuff in the car, but make sure to leave off certain things to buy here, such as mini-fridges and other bulky items (perhaps a lamp, as the dorm room lamps are somewhat weak.)</p>
<p>Agreed about the wheels, arbiter. I neglected to say that we would definitely rent a car if we fly.</p>
<p>I guess I’m trying to balance the cost of flying/shipping with the extra time and inconvenience of driving. We’d also have the additional mileage on our SUV, which might result in overage on the lease, gas, etc.</p>
<p>There’s no one “right” answer, I think, which is why personal anecdotes like yours are so helpful!</p>
<p>Mmm, with a leased car it’s certainly a trickier proposition.</p>
<p>I don’t honestly think you can go wrong either way, but the determining factor ought to be the quantitiy of stuff your son is bringing. If he’s an aescetic type (my best room-mate this past year), all his stuff could be easy to bring via plane and shipping. But if he’s more like me and is weighed down by material possessions/ desk utensils, driving is likely more convenient. Also, consider getting vacuum suction bags for clothes and bedding, as it saves a ton of storage space.</p>
<p>We have dealt with this kind of scenario before and are now set to deliver our freshman and his belongings to Chicago in September. We’re flying Southwest into Midway - for 3 people, that allows 6 50-pound checked bags at no additional fee. We fly in very early on 9/15, rent a car, spend the day, then take a late flight home from O’hare. Busy, yes, but about as economical as possible other than us parents not making the trip at all. Only one day missed work, no overnight expenses, limited gas and tolls. Move-in day is not a particularly relaxing experience no matter how you look at it, so this works best for us. And our son is a minimalist, so the 300 lb allowance should be more than enough.</p>
<p>If you’re planning on buying a lot of new stuff, and that’s what you’d be shipping, I’d recommend just renting a car, getting here a day early and buying it in the Evanston/Skokie area. Bed Bath & Beyond has a neat option of letting you use a registry gun in one store to zap all the things you want (you can do this in NY), and then when you go to the one here in Wilmette store they have all the items you zapped ready and waiting for you in boxes.</p>
<p>But if you have the stuff mostly already, I’d just drive.</p>
<p>dfleish,
I was hoping we could do the zap and pick up thing. Our D is an incoming freshman from So Cal who is hoping to do PWild the week before. So she will only travel out with her backpack. We are planning on bringing her 4 suitcases of clothing and stuff from home when we fly out to help her move in. We were hoping that we could pick up all bedding, linens, and neccessities in Wilmett store. I really can’t imagine her needing more than 4 suitcases to bring her stuff to school. Will be a wild summer for sure…</p>
<p>I’m from the SoCal area, too, and my parents and I are flying in on the 14th. I have a lot of clothes and other possessions, so I’ll probably have to ship a lot of my belongings over summer. However, we plan to do some last minute shopping for laundry racks and stuff for the desk on the 14th. I think we’re taking a taxi or the subway on the 15th to Northwestern, but is it recommended that we rent a car? A lot of the posts above mine state so, but my family and I plan to stay for only the 14th and 15th, so I’m not sure if renting is necessary…</p>
<p>Yummy- I’d suggest renting a car. It’s a $40 cab from O’hare to Evanston, so you basically make up the money there anyways. Its just nice to be able to go to Wal-Mart, Target, Etc. and not have to worry about anything.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input. Yesterday, we booked flights from Long Island to Midway on Southwest, which was conveniently having a very nice sale. At $60 each way, the decision became more of a no brainer. I’ve already got a hotel for Monday and Tuesday nights, and we’ll rent a car to help shuttle the luggage we bring, as well as give us the ability to do some local shopping. We’ll fly back home Wednesday evening, by which point I’m sure my son will be ready to begin his own grand adventure sans parents. :-)</p>
<p>We also booked the Southwest Flight - but from Phili to Midway for $60 each way. Jersey Shore here. With three of us, that is 6 pieces of luggage for free. We plan on getting some stuff out there - probably not shipping anything, but I haven’t completely ruled it out.</p>
<p>Of course I almost by habit did the unthinkable -I almost booked the round trip for my son. OOPS!! forgot he is STAYING and needed only a one-way. DUH!!</p>
<p>Flying in with 3 of us to carry suitcases
Staying for 2 nights renting a car</p>
<p>Thanks, suppasonic. I actually have one more question… (actually I have a few questionS…)
My friend, who visited Chicago for SAIC, told me there’s a subway near the airport. Can it transport us to Northwestern? So, if I want to go to any of the local stores like Bed Bath & Beyond, I definitely need to take either a taxi or a rental car?</p>
<p>Honestly, rent a car or take a cab going to campus. You can take the train back to the airport, but with all your bags, avoid public transit.</p>
<p>I have done the moving in both ways- schlepping and shipping. Shipping is much easier. Southwest Airlines is a blessing! Cheap airfares, free luggage. Getting to NU from Midway isn’t too bad. Do not take the subway - it can take up to 2 hours and a change in trains is necessary. It is fine for your child to get back and forth from the airport during breaks, but don’t try lugging all that stuff on the subway. </p>
<p>I shipped about 5 boxes via UPS the first year. Loaded up several suitcases and took them with me. Left one behind for DS to use when traveling home. Rented a car from Dollar (more SWA frequent flier points) and drove to NU. Pre-ordered stuff at BB&B and picked it up there. Pre-ordered fridge at Lowe’s and picked that up too. Went to Target and loaded up the cart. Jewels’ (grocery store) right next door to Target and went there too and got tons of snacks, etc… </p>
<p>For the summer, rented a storage space nearby campus and I keep just about everything there. DS just comes home with a suitcase of clothes and his backpack. This year he did ship home his PS and some books. Subsequent years I have not had to ship anything to school. </p>
<p>When DS moved into an apartment, we did drive to Chicago with a UHaul. I would not do that again. It took nearly 10 hours from Western New York to get there. When DS moves out of apartment, he is selling everything so that we don’t have to rent a truck to move him back home. </p>
<p>Target, Jewels and Lowe’s are about 15 minutes south of campus. BB& B is about 20 minutes but northwest of campus. The mall and Best Buy are about 10 minutes west of campus. Mapquest all those places before you get there so that you can get around easier. Don’t try taking a cab to run around to all those different places. It would be far cheaper to rent a car than pay all those cab fares.</p>
<p>Hi Perischack-My DD is now a Junior-and you are getting some good advice. I encourage the car rental-with a caveat-I actually booked a mini-van rather than a car and was glad I did. Some items at BBB were odd shaped, but easily fit the mini-van. I am not so sure they would have fit a car…and some advice my sister-in-law gave me that first year–plan a special something before returning home to the empty home-we are empty nesters when our DD went off to NU–(we elected to spend some time in Chicago before coming home-you might decide to run off to the Cape?). We had a blast-albeit a few tears the first night-but somehow that week in Chicago really helped me and my husband to get our feelings and dreams shared in a very special way. APOL/a mom</p>
<p>mom2boys, Thanks for your detailed advice. I’d love to hear the name of the rental storage space. Our son (sophomore) is renting off-campus with 3 other boys this coming year and we are trying to figure out what to do. I think we are driving out (one parent plus son), doing most of purchasing there, then other parent flies out and both drive back (we are in NY metro area). What if he doesn’t rent same apt next year? He doesn’t realize how much STUFF it takes to fit up an apt!</p>
<p>But for freshmen, here’s what we did: We flew from LaGuardia (2 parents, one boy) and we spread the bags among us to reduce fees (American airlines, not a bad price for round trips but they did have baggage fees). We didn’t want to ship because of concern that stuff wouldn’t get there, and, I admit, because we didn’t prepare for shipping. Used the vacuum bags from Costco, which certainly squashes clothes but also makes bags heavier because you can fit more in!</p>
<p>Got bed lifters so son could fit luggage under his bed for the year.</p>
<p>We did not rent a car and we didn’t need one. Overall, that was cheaper than a taxi both ways. We stayed at the Best Western and walked stuff to the dorm (Allison, close-ish to Best Western). There were just a few items that son needed and we found them in a hardware store in Evanston. (DH prefers to launder sheets before using, just to get the factory sizing out, so buying linens there wasn’t an option.) We really didn’t need a car at all. Although, son’s roommate’s parents (from NYC) drove (because they had relatives in the area) and they were able to pick up a fridge for the room, for which son paid half. (What a fantastic roommate–and parents–too! The boys are best of friends and rooming together next year. And they LOVED Allison and their floor.)</p>
<p>We (plus younger son) flew to Evanston in Feb to see son in a show (got really cheap tickets via Airfare Watchdog) and brought home some clothes that son found he didn’t need. When he came home for break end of March, he brought a big suitcase with stuff he wouldn’t need, such as his parka and other winter clothes. (still had formal winter coat in case it snowed in April, which it did!) On our return, we hauled our luggage into Chicago on public transport, lugged it around on our whirlwind tour, then took the subway to the airport ($2?), which was a little awkward, but a lot cheaper than a taxi. If you were doing this from O’hare, it would take about 2 hours, as you would have to go INTO Chicago, then out to Evanston.</p>
<p>Return home for summer: stored some stuff in Evanston–some with a friend who was staying over the summer, and took tuxedo (music major), topcoat, and some formal shirts to a dry cleaner to clean/store for the summer. We figured that would be about the same cost as taking in a suitcase on an airplane back and forth, although since we are driving back, perhaps that wasn’t a good idea. But now his stuff will be clean and ready for the fall. something to consider.</p>
<p>Mailed home two huge boxes: one all media mail–and this is the way to go, if possible! So much cheaper. USPS, not UPS, which would have cost more. ($18 for the huge media mail box, $29 for the non-media mail).</p>
<p>And here’s what to watch out for: he found a great price to JFK on Jet Blue, but their baggage fees are higher than other airlines, plus they charged him $50 overweight fee for one bag. (And he paid EXTRA for an aisle seat! But that was his choice. Silly waste of money but I’m not 6 ft. 2.)</p>
<p>One thing to consider: son took just about every bit of clothing he owns to NU and wore it all, but that’s only because he was trying to put off doing laundry. He had an embarrassing–and expensive, considering baggage fees–amount of clothing. Just have your kid do laundry more often.</p>
<p>For all the people considering the public transportation route:</p>
<p>Take the Pace Bus 250 from the Davis Street El stop. Its 2 bucks and takes an hour less than the El itself and the last stop is at O’Hare. This is my method of choice when returning from breaks when it isn’t as easy to jam a cab filled with five students.</p>
<p>Neumes- DS has been using the facility “Public Storage” to store his stuff over the summers. It is very close to campus and he can walk there and fill out his rental application. There are many, many storage units there. Price is about average - I have found cheaper ones but they are much farther away. The best thing is to get a couple people together to share the rental facility and the cost. Even the small ones have plenty of room to store the belongings of 2 people.</p>
<p>Hi Perischack… We shipped a few boxes (from CA) and were happy to find them right in my S room when we got there. (Allison) At the end of the year shipping tables were set up right at the arch, making for easy shipments home. He is a rising junior so our procedure is now a year out.</p>
<p>My son also took most of his clothes and managed to do very little laundry his freshman year. :(</p>