<p>Hey all you dropoff veterans I need some advice. We will be taking our D to her lac in a town of approx 50,000 people. Campus is about four blocks from the nice downtown hotel. Although the town is nice it still exists in the real world with real world realities. </p>
<p>What do you or will you parents do about safeguarding your van full of clothes, microwaves etc that nite before the morning dropoff? Do you just say a prayer,unload it into hotel, standguard overnight(only kidding)? What say you all?</p>
<p>We took the laptop out of the car. Then we covered the rest of the stuff with a blanket and parked in the garage. I was worried at first since it wouldn't take a genius to know when move-in days are and that every car would be loaded. It's worked out for us for 3 years now.
Check your insurance coverage, lock the doors, set the alarm and get a good night's sleep. You'll need alot of energy to get thru move-in!!
Congrats and good luck.</p>
<p>Since it would be such a pain if you had a break-in, why not just unload it, put it in the hotel room, and move it back to the vehicle in the morning. More work but much peace of mind IMHO.</p>
<p>We've done this drop off a number of times with 2 children. I usually worry about things such as this but I think I'd rather have a root canal than pack/unpack/pack/unpack. We pack so tightly that I challenge anyone to dig through those posters/toiletries/clothes to find maybe a T-84 calculator? Using a garage if available is a good idea as is covering or removing high priced tech items. I'm sure it has happened at some college somewhere but I don't ever remember being warned about it.</p>
<p>if that downtown hotel with parking garage is anything like the one we stayed in last year at S's big town/state U movein,every car in the garage was packed to the gills with move in stuff.We also took out only the computer and suitcase.People even had stuff packed on roofracks that they left. Is the garage manned/gated?</p>
<p>We've been through this multiple times....somehow you resign yourself to the fact that you do your best to be smart about it...take the valuables into the hotel as others have mentioned, etc.</p>
<p>But honestly, we were also so fully packed, by the time we got there, it felt great to get out of the SUV. We did make sure to park in a semi-secured parking lot and basically hoped for the best. So far, so good.</p>
<p>PS We worried about this very thing alot the 1st time. Trust me, it gets easier and you'll find yourself less stressed about it next time around :)
Congrats on getting one of your own launched!</p>
<p>for us its losing a suitcase, one of six, on the plane, so D is packing a little of everything in each case, so if one does go astray, she won't be missing all her jeans, or sweaters</p>
<p>now just to get a vehicle big enough to take us from the airport to the hotel and then to the college, with all the extra stuff we are picking up when we land...egad</p>
<p>I took two suitcases of clothes and bathroom stuff to college the first year. One son going this year is taking about the same along with his laptop.</p>
<p>TV will be found at local pawn shop as well as a used bike. Small fridge will be purchased on site as well. I never could figure how to fit more than that in a dorm room anyway.</p>
<p>I think we will do the parking garage route and I liked that idea of backing to the wall to protect the rear door. We just can not fathom re-loading at 7am and then trucking to campus 30 minutes later and unloding into the dorm. I'll report back and assume all will go well 0n what will certainly be a wild and crazy and exciting day. Thank you all.</p>
<p>When we moved in, we decided on a whim to stay in Portland (ME) instead of driving all the way up to Lewiston. Unfortunately, we ended up staying at a pretty sketch Days Inn, so we unloaded EVERYTHING, and took it up two flights of stairs (no elevator) -- that was the only time I was wishing my dad had come to drop me off instead of my mom. It was a trek, but it was worth it - I don't know if I could have slept otherwise.</p>