<p>We’re driving 7 hours to get D to school. I’m making myself crazy trying to decide whether to:</p>
<li> Drive down one day. Move her in the next. Leave that same day.</li>
</ol>
<p>OR</p>
<li> Drive down a day early. Spend the next day in town, regroup, etc. Move her in the next. Leave that same day.</li>
</ol>
<p>OR</p>
<li> Same as #2, except stay one extra night after moving her in.</li>
</ol>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I would opt for #3. You might need to pick up some supplies, then the last day there's a possibility of a last minute supplies run or goodbye.</p>
<p>Depends---do you have a friend who lives somewhere on the route? Me, I'd plan a visit with a friend for that last evening.</p>
<p>If she's a freshman, I would choose #3. Drive up the day before, get a good night's sleep and move her in early the next day. After she's moved in, you can help to make sure she gets her computer running on the school's network and you can do a Target (or similar store) run for personal items, snacks, water bottles, etc.<br>
If she's a returning student, I would choose #1. You'll get one good night's sleep before driving another 7 hours back home.</p>
<p>1 or 2. Leave the day you move her in. Don't hang around.</p>
<p>See whether your daughter's college requires her to move in at a particular time of day before making any kind of decision.</p>
<p>At the university my daughter attends, the freshmen were split alphabetically into three groups, each of which was required to move in during a specific three-hour period on move-in day. She was assigned to the earliest group. This dictated our travel plans.</p>
<p>If your daughter can move in any time of day, I vote for option 4 (the one you didn't list). Drive down the day before. Move her in the next day. Stay in town that day (in case there are any parent orientation events or your daughter discovers that she needs someone to pick up more surge protectors or duct tape or whatever). Leave the next day. I would urge you not to choose your option #2. All that hanging around in the college community, with little to do except worry about what's to come, is likely to make an entering freshman into a nervous wreck.</p>
<p>I agree with Marian and her option 4. That's what we're doing in a couple of weeks. We also drive my daughter seven hours to school. Last year she was a freshman, so we stayed for a couple of days to do orientation (various events for kids and parents separately). No need for that this year! But having some time to shop and pick up last-minute necessities is a great idea. Option 4 is the best use of your time, and it's only two nights in a hotel. Best of luck, and try to enjoy the ride!</p>
<p>I'm with JHS. We always do #1, but then we're only 4 hours away, not 7. With that much driving, I can understand not wanting to do it two days in a row. But definitely leave the same day you move her in. She'll figure things out from there.</p>
<p>I actually thought I was describing an "Option 4" scenario in my earlier post. If she's a freshman, go up the day before, spend the night, move her in the next morning, stay around for a last minute run to a "Target" type of store, spend a second restful night in a hotel, and then head home.</p>
<p>Leave the day you move her in, but plan on staying another night somewhere on the way back home. We tried #1 but the move in day was so exhausting (more emotionally than physically) that we ended up pulling over and finding a hotel about an hour after we left the campus! Our drive time was about the same as yours.</p>
<p>I recommend option 4, too. We're flying, so we need the extra day to shop (staying in largest nearby city, not in college town). On move-in day, we'll drive two hours to school, get him settled, run errands, attend a parent orientation session, take him to dinner, and drive back to the nearby city. We received a letter gently suggesting that after dinner would be the best time to exit.</p>
<p>So I think your best option is not to hang around the day after move-in. Her college life should begin that day--and if she's like my S, she'll have some scheduled events that day. If you do stay overnight in town, just hit the road the next morning. Believe me, when I run through this scenario for myself I'm wondering how I will be able to handle it. But my "mentors" with older kids in college all say this is the best strategy.</p>
<p>^^^agree. Be ready for the fact that, after a trip to get some room things, and a nice meal, your D may be ready to say goodby, even though you are not. If you stay over, plan on being on your own. Spend a night just to get some rest, and then take off early and let her adjust.</p>
<p>I've moved two kids to college, each a minimum of 7 hour drive away. In both cases, we did Option #4.</p>
<p>Arriving the day/night before allows you to get your bearings, possibly check out where you are to arrive for move-in, etc. One thing you can count on for move-in day is that things will go differently than expected. Forgotten items, high levels of anxiety, unknown orientation events, you name it.
By allowing yourself that extra night at a hotel before hitting the road again for a 7 hour drive, you maximize the chances you'll have the time and the mental energy to handle whatever happens.</p>
<p>In both cases, once the kids were officially moved-in, we went to dinner on our own, stayed at the hotel, and left first thing the next day for our long drives. In S's case, we came by in the a.m. on our way out of town with something he'd forgotten; but after we'd said our good-byes to D, we didn't see her again even though we were still in a hotel nearby.</p>
<p>The extra night in town made me feel a little better in case our kids thought of anything else they needed where we were able to assist. H could have cared less about that, but I'm the worrier so it was peace of mind for me.</p>
<p>A P.S. to my post above, just in case your mind works like mine does. When I worry about whether we should hang around for an extra day in case he has forgotten something, I have this mantra: OnlineShopping-FedEx-FamilyWeekend. It all works out.</p>
<p>We have a 5 hour drive. We're moving D in the afternoon we arrive, the first day for new freshmen. The following day, we can do any Target runs, etc, and there is a President's welcome for families in the afternoon. We will say our goodbyes after that and skip the family picnic. But H and I will stay in the hotel one more night and drive home early the following morning.</p>
<h1>3 With variations...move her in early, help her set up and then if her roommate shows up, leave them alone to get acquainted, decide on what they are going to do, etc. Set up a time to make a last minute WalMart run(believe me, you'll need it!)and then leave her to meet all her new dormmates.</h1>
<p>I think it depends on if there are parent activities after move in day and if you plan to go to them. We're doing the same as orchestramom. Some of this is dictated by the distance from the school and flight schedules back to our hometown, which aren't as frequent as we would like. We are too far to drive. We're arriving the night before move in, a thursday. Friday is move in. Saturday there are a few parent activities and we will do any last minute purchases at Target or whatever. Sunday morning we will go home. My preferred schedule would be arrive Friday and return Saturday evening, but distance from airport, flight schedules etc don't make that possible. I'm pretty sure we'll be on our own most of the time after Friday afternoon, but that's OK.</p>
<p>Freshman year- 6 hour drive- move in was in the afternoon- Day 1 drove directly to campus. Moved son in. Went to Target and dinner. Gave son the option of motel or dorm. He stayed in the dorm. The next morning we met him on campus and did the campus items. One was pay his tuition, visit with disabilities director. walk around the campus. Get him set in orientation which began at 1. We went to hear the president speak and then we left. Our plan orginally was to stay that night (night 2) in the college town but we really had nothing to do. We made a last minute decision to leave and head towards home and spent the night in another nicer town on the way home. The move in went so easily since he was attending the last session of orientation so not all the freshman were moving in that day.
This year I think they will do something similar. Husband, son and little sister will drive up leaving early. Move him in that afternoon. Husband and Sister will stay overnight and head home the next morning.
For pickup after freshman year my husband did the drive up and back in one day. It was exhausting.</p>
<p>We have an 11 hour drive, not including stops. DH and S are leaving here Wed., stopping along the way to see a good family friend. Will arrive in city Thursday afternoon. Friday DH is planning on taking S around town (he is there frequently for business) and S also plans on making some contacts about a campus job. </p>
<p>I'm flying out Friday afternoon. A good night's sleep seems eminently sensible in order to deal with the chaos and emotion. Move in starts at 8 AM Saturday. Turns out the hotel where we are staying is only a block & 1/2 from the dorm. (Reserved it in May, long before we knew dorm assignments.) Students go through the gate and off to their new lives right after convocation and we will go to the parents' reception. From there, a nice dinner, a good night's sleep, and we head out in the AM. Placement exams start Sunday, so we are making ourselves scarce.</p>
<p>In future years, we'll adjust as needed, driving out Friday and returning Sunday, or sending him out on a plane and then the Express bus which gets him directly to campus. Part of it will depend on what he brings home for the summer, which may vary depending if he's going to be here, teaching somewhere else, or attending an REU.</p>
<p>We did Option 3 when we moved our freshman D to college many moons ago. It was also a 7 hour drive. After the 2nd day, our daughter told us all parents had been gone and that we should leave too.</p>