Moving across the country for vet school... tips?

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equitate

Oklahoma State C/O 2016!
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According to my BFF GoogleMaps, Oklahoma State is 1200+ miles/21+ hrs from my current residence and 1600+ miles/28+ hours from my hometown in the northeast... :eek::laugh:.

My biggest move to date was ~500 miles/8 hours and was pretty manageable, but this next move feels like a whole other ball game. I'm not as worried about adjusting to a new town right now (I'm sure that will kick in later!) as I am about how to get my life to OK. For those of you who have been in a similar situation, how did you move? Did you use a moving company or U-Haul? Or maybe only pack what you could fit in your car and bought all new furniture? Is there anything you didn't bring but wish you had or vice versa? Any tips or warnings would be great!

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According to my BFF GoogleMaps, Oklahoma State is 1200+ miles/21+ hrs from my current residence and 1600+ miles/28+ hours from my hometown in the northeast... :eek::laugh:.

My biggest move to date was ~500 miles/8 hours and was pretty manageable, but this next move feels like a whole other ball game. I'm not as worried about adjusting to a new town right now (I'm sure that will kick in later!) as I am about how to get my life to OK. For those of you who have been in a similar situation, how did you move? Did you use a moving company or U-Haul? Or maybe only pack what you could fit in your car and bought all new furniture? Is there anything you didn't bring but wish you had or vice versa? Any tips or warnings would be great!
I moved truly x-country (Los Angeles to Philly).
I am older so used a moving company, but that is obviously an expensive way to go.

Most companies move by volume these days (not weight), so if you use a moving company think about what you move. That $10 lamp that takes up a lot of space can be more than it is worth. If you have crap furniture then junk it and start over.

I have always used moving as an opportunity to get rid of unneeded stuff. And in vet school, you won't need a lot of junk.

If you have decent furniture then it is worth moving it. If you can rent a u-haul, then go for it.

The hardest part of the move was 3 pets cross country in the middle of a freakin heat wave. Just stopping to get gas was an experience as the truck quickly got too hot for the poor buggers. And food is also a bit of a pain. bring what you can.

If you have any other questions, plenty of us here have done it.
 
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I moved from Florida to NY and am about to move back in a few months. I have a big pick up truck, so I bought a used $150 truck topper and packed everything I could, sold the rest. It was much cheaper than paying $600 for a uhaul, plus I can sell it and break even if I want.
Obviously you don't have a truck, so that's rather irrelevant. My suggestion is to think about where you're moving to (apartment or house) and don't drag more with you than you can use. On the other hand, sometimes uhauls are much cheaper than having to buy new stuff.
When I move back (since I've gathered many more things), I am going to decide if not renting a uhaul will be worth the amount of things I'll have to buy once I get there that I wasn't able to fit.
You'll be surprised how little room you really have when you start taking a bunch of crap. My space was filled very quickly! :thumbdown:

And yes, food is a pain! Especially when you have 3 more furry mouths to feed. And um... bring your patience along for the ride... you'll need it!:rolleyes:
 
I have used www.upack.com three times in the past 5 years in moving essentials and small amounts of furniture from east coast to west coast. They will deliver a roughly 8 by 8 by 8 foot high packing crate like a trailer to your door where you load it then they pick it up, transport it on an 18 wheeler and then deliver it to your final destination. The costs for moving about 2600 miles has been between $1800-$2000 depending on the fuel costs at the time.
 
I have used www.upack.com three times in the past 5 years in moving essentials and small amounts of furniture from east coast to west coast. They will deliver a roughly 8 by 8 by 8 foot high packing crate like a trailer to your door where you load it then they pick it up, transport it on an 18 wheeler and then deliver it to your final destination. The costs for moving about 2600 miles has been between $1800-$2000 depending on the fuel costs at the time.

:eek:
 
But I'll have to figure this out as well. I was originally going to be in a similar boat as you (or even DVM) but now I'm going a little closer to home and like 6 hours from the rest of my family in Michigan so it's actually pretty convenient. Kind of have to figure out where I'm living first before figuring out the whole packing/moving situation.
 
You should PM Cowgirla. She made almost the same trek that you're getting ready to make. NY to OK. She could probably give you some good tips.
 
I moved 1200+ miles to school. But I didn't have much stuff since home base was still the parent's house. I got an on-campus apartment where there was a "furnished option" (aka typical dorm furniture with a full size bed). The only problem with that option is no dogs/cats allowed (fine for me - I have pocket pets).

My family wanted to come out for the white coat ceremony and chose to drive out with me. We did a caravan thing. I got to stash a ton of stuff in their van, and stuffed everything else in my car. So that ended up working out well. I didn't have to rent a U-Haul. Moving AFTER vet school is going to be a different matter!

Anyways, that's just my experience. But I didn't have to bring out a bed, TV, or couch/futon...
 
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According to my BFF GoogleMaps, Oklahoma State is 1200+ miles/21+ hrs from my current residence and 1600+ miles/28+ hours from my hometown in the northeast... :eek::laugh:.

My biggest move to date was ~500 miles/8 hours and was pretty manageable, but this next move feels like a whole other ball game. I'm not as worried about adjusting to a new town right now (I'm sure that will kick in later!) as I am about how to get my life to OK. For those of you who have been in a similar situation, how did you move? Did you use a moving company or U-Haul? Or maybe only pack what you could fit in your car and bought all new furniture? Is there anything you didn't bring but wish you had or vice versa? Any tips or warnings would be great!


I did NH --> OK (about 1800 miles) with an ABF frieght "mini pod" thingie. Was able to fit most of the contents of my studio apartment in there, with minimal furniture (tiny dresser, twin sized bed, 2 chairs/small kitchen table, kitchen cart and a futon). a Uhaul might have been cheaper, but with a car, and a dog, the slight cost savings just isnt worth the hassle to me.. Plus, with the pod, I had as much time as I wanted to pack / unpack. I ended up packing it, going to visit family and friends all around new england, and then meeting it out in OK over a month later. All I had in my car was suitcase, dog, kennel, and a bunch of houseplants. (If you go this route- remember to bring sleeping bag/pillow/towel/air mattress, etc for that night when you get to the new place and your stuff isnt getting there until the next day!)

It was a pretty easy drive. Long, boring, but pretty straight forward. We took 3 days driving out, but I'm heading back home this summer and planning on doing it in 2 days. Heading to NY, so about 12 hours each day. The hardest part is getting through the NYC metro area and all that traffic, after that, it's mostly rural until you hit St. Louis (if you take that route). Couple toll areas, couple surprisingly hilly areas, lots of "Come to Jesus" billboards once you get to this part of the country.
 
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:laugh: You need help moving across the country.

I need help moving across the ocean to a completely different country. ;)

Actually, it's way easier to move across the ocean, in my opinion, because you're so limited in what you can bring. I lived in Brazil for a year. I left with a duffel bag full of clothes and a backpack full of odds 'n ends. Did just fine.
 
Actually, it's way easier to move across the ocean, in my opinion, because you're so limited in what you can bring. I lived in Brazil for a year. I left with a duffel bag full of clothes and a backpack full of odds 'n ends. Did just fine.

Plus flats in the UK are normally completely furnished. You'll just have to buy like sheets and towels and maybe cutlery (as they like to call it) and plates/pots.
 
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I'm about to do the same thing as you - MA to OK! And 3 cats and a horse. And a partridge in a pear tree.

I am also debating how to do this. In the past (NJ-IN, IN-NJ, NJ-OH, and OH-MA), I have been able to use a Uhaul. Usually me driving a car with the cats, and either a family member or the boyfriend driving the Uhaul. I think it'll end up being me in a car with the cats, and potentially a Uhaul, or a Pod or something.

Any other ideas welcome - and moral support from a fellow mover! :D
 
I turned my move into a big 10-day road trip (CA --> WI) with a friend with camping and fun stuff. Because I had a passenger and her stuff though, that cut down on the passenger's seat and some of the back seat for my stuff. I just crammed as much as I could into the trunk and back seat of my car (Civic - not very big). My furniture I sold before leaving town without thinking twice, but I didn't have very nice furniture, so it wasn't hard to say goodbye. Some larger/bulkier things like my guitar, I had my parents mail me after I got there.
 
I moved from NH to CO with only what would fit in my hatchback after me, my cat and my bf were seated. It was two and a half 16 hr driving days I think.

I ordered a lot of stuff on amazon/target beforehand to get to my new room before I left and had my new roomie sign for them. I went target/grocery/furniture shopping the day after I got there, and then that was that.
 
I moved 2000 miles at the start of vet school, from parents house to university accom. Therefore I didn't bring any furniture, and I flew across (I was buying a car there) and had all the stuff I wanted trucked over to me that couldn't fit in my luggage by a freight company. I brought a TON of crap with me and it ended up being around $200 (This is in Australia though). As I dropped my stuff off around a week before hand, my stuff got there the day after i did :)

I second what others say though. Carefully assess whether its going to cost you more to move it or buy it again. Edit: And in those costs, you need to include the cost of your time, patience and effort ;)
 
I will be moving cross country as well and I will just be filling my car up. Renting a u-hual would cost more than the value of the furniture I have so I do not see the point in brining any of that with me.
 
Has anyone shipped their car before? With the price of gas set to go to about $5/gal this summer I'm thinking for me it might be cheaper than driving from CA to AL. Anyone have advice?
 
Has anyone shipped their car before? With the price of gas set to go to about $5/gal this summer I'm thinking for me it might be cheaper than driving from CA to AL. Anyone have advice?
2500miles/ approx 20mi/gallon = 125 gallons * 5 = $625.

That is around the price to ship, and you would still have to get transport for yourself .... So better off driving.
 
3 suitcases and a carry on is all I started with. Over holidays if I go home, I bring one, and do a switch-out of clothes if I have to. Scotland goes through 5 seasons (I swear they have their own) in one day though, so dressing properly is tricky. An acquired talent that has taken 3 years to develop.

If possible, to those moving abroad, leave whatever you can at home. Shipping just isn't worth it.


I really miss Target though....
 
3 suitcases and a carry on is all I started with. Over holidays if I go home, I bring one, and do a switch-out of clothes if I have to. Scotland goes through 5 seasons (I swear they have their own) in one day though, so dressing properly is tricky. An acquired talent that has taken 3 years to develop.

If possible, to those moving abroad, leave whatever you can at home. Shipping just isn't worth it.


I really miss Target though....

True that! Oh Target...how I miss thee. And Ireland can have 5 seasons in one day as well.

I moved cross country from Michigan to California I think 6 or so years ago and for that move I sold all of my furniture packed up my jeep with whatever I could fit. I had a car top carrier. Then my 3 dogs and 1 cat and we hit the road. Since I was driving alone I think I took 4-5 days to do it and we hit crappy weather, so I have some interesting stories from that move (but we made it in one piece).

And then in August I moved from California to Ireland and that move was much more stressful for me, but that was mostly because I was moving 2 dogs with me. The health requirements, logistics, $$$, paperwork, etc can be super stressful and I didn't have a place to live here, so was staying in a hotel when I arrived. It was a lot of unknowns. For that move I pretty much had to sell off everything I did not need and put anything I wanted to keep, but could not bring with me into storage. I packed 2 suitcases of essentials, one carry on of electronics, and my dogs - and the rest is history! I have had to accumulate clothes since moving here since the weather is so much different from SoCal. :laugh:

I feel like a seasoned long distance mover at this point. It is not too hard, but it sure can be stressful.
 
Actually, it's way easier to move across the ocean, in my opinion, because you're so limited in what you can bring. I lived in Brazil for a year. I left with a duffel bag full of clothes and a backpack full of odds 'n ends. Did just fine.

Totally agree. Lived out of a small backpack in hostels & cabins for 8 months and it was way easier than trying to furnish a new apartment.

I lucked out and moved to vet school next to my grandparents who have filled my kitchen and given me furniture:thumbup:. I threw out my undergrad furniture. Literally. Bought cheaply and it barely lasted me 3 years.

After living in a tiny shared dorm room during undergrad and sharing hostel rooms during my gap year, I'm still lost on how people actually furnish an apartment. There's so much space for "stuff"! :laugh:
 
http://www.costtodrive.com/

This website's pretty helpful at estimating the cost to drive your own vehicle. It takes into account your car model, gas prices across the country, etc.

The only downside is that it's probably only accurate if you use it the day you go since gas prices change so often.
 
I will be moving cross country as well and I will just be filling my car up. Renting a u-hual would cost more than the value of the furniture I have so I do not see the point in brining any of that with me.

haha, yep. same thing for me. My ikea bed and dresser and bookcase were not worth getting a uhaul for (plus I needed to bring my car).

I made sure to find an already occupied place that was only looking for someone to fill a bedroom (their old roommate moving out), so that I'd only have to furnish my bedroom. My bro had just bought a house in NH so I gave him all my apt's furniture.
 
3 suitcases and a carry on is all I started with. Over holidays if I go home, I bring one, and do a switch-out of clothes if I have to. Scotland goes through 5 seasons (I swear they have their own) in one day though, so dressing properly is tricky. An acquired talent that has taken 3 years to develop.

If possible, to those moving abroad, leave whatever you can at home. Shipping just isn't worth it.


I really miss Target though....

But you have Primark, which while not exactly like Target was still pretty awesome for it's low prices.
 
I'm moving AZ to NC. Not looking forward to 5 days of about 11+ hours each. I'm moving with the soon-to-be hubby and his parents. They've kindly agreed to help and they'll fly back. We've both got SUV crossovers that we're taking and one will be pulling a U-Haul trailer. It's much cheaper than a POD or any kind of moving box. From what I've found those cost in the thousands to move all the way across country. ;(. I was really hoping to be able to use one. We will just be stopping for gas during the day. Bathroom breaks will leave cars running and meals (at least lunch) will be drive thru. I've got two guinea pigs that we need to keep cool, even more so than my heat loving Chi.
 
I think a lot of it comes down to what and how much you have to move. I moved a 1000 miles and hired movers. It cost me about $3200 :eek:
That said, it was worth every penny. I drove out with the essentials, the movers arrived 3 days later. I had everything I needed and nothing was damaged. I have a lot of nice furniture, a large harp, and a 125 gallon aquarium for my uromastyx that had to be crated to be safely moved. My friends and I had nearly killed ourselves moving it into my last place. What really made the movers worth it was that I had to drive back to pick up my 2 horses and my dog the following week and make the trip all over again. We ended up driving through 2 tornadoes on the way. Then, as soon as I arrived at the horse barn in CO i let my dog out in a fenced area to do his thing where he promptly ran headlong into the fence and needed emergency medical care. I hadn't even unloaded the horses. **facepalm** I think that if I had anything else to worry about, I would have just given up and dropped dead.

My story is kind of the move from hell, but the point was that you can't plan for everything. Decide what your time and stress are worth as well as how much it would cost to simply replace certain things and go from there.
 
I have a lot of nice furniture, a large harp, and a 125 gallon aquarium for my uromastyx that had to be crated to be safely moved.

I play the harp too :)

For moving I am going to be driving my harp in my suv with my two small dogs (and then carrying in the harp to the hotel room each night so it doesn't get hot or cold). My dad is going to driving the u-haul and then flying back to california and I am using one of those horse transportation services for my horse.
 
Harp players huh? That's freakin cool! :)
 
I've got two guinea pigs that we need to keep cool, even more so than my heat loving Chi.

Hahaha, this statement definitely defines you as a vet student. You are organizing your trip around two little pets that most people define as disposable. :laugh::thumbup:

(Don't worry, I was the only kid whose hamster had vet visits every six weeks! His teeth were misaligned and never wore down)
 
Hahaha, this statement definitely defines you as a vet student. You are organizing your trip around two little pets that most people define as disposable. :laugh::thumbup:

(Don't worry, I was the only kid whose hamster had vet visits every six weeks! His teeth were misaligned and never wore down)

Yup. I rescued them from the Humane Society and I love them so much I can't imagine getting rid of them. I totally hear you about the hamster. Mine didn't go in quite that often because the vet showed us how to clip their teeth, but in the end that's what got her. I could hear her gnawing every night, she even chewed through a water bottle, but her teeth just grew too long. :(
 
From Florida to northern California, we sold all of the furniture down there, put the heavy stuff (books, television, electronics) and valuable stuff (of which we had very little, haha) in the Corolla and packed the clothes and random things into boxes which we shipped via DHL (iirc). Had a co-worker from the vet clinic I worked in down there hold on to my cat until we got here, then arranged for the cat to fly out here and for my co-worker to drop her off at the airport. It ended up still cheaper than if we had gotten a uhaul or pod thing. But it only worked because we had very little of value and the only pet we drove with was our corn snake. :laugh:
 
From Florida to northern California, we sold all of the furniture down there, put the heavy stuff (books, television, electronics) and valuable stuff (of which we had very little, haha) in the Corolla and packed the clothes and random things into boxes which we shipped via DHL (iirc). Had a co-worker from the vet clinic I worked in down there hold on to my cat until we got here, then arranged for the cat to fly out here and for my co-worker to drop her off at the airport. It ended up still cheaper than if we had gotten a uhaul or pod thing. But it only worked because we had very little of value and the only pet we drove with was our corn snake. :laugh:

Just curious, what did you use to get the cat to fly unaccompanied across the country?
 
Just curious, what did you use to get the cat to fly unaccompanied across the country?
I would recommend Pet Airways if they fly between your cities. Mainly because this is what they do (and they essentially beat me to market with my own idea).

And they are generally cheaper. And they haven't lost any pets.

http://www.petairways.com/
 
(crawls out from a cave... I've been a work zombie!) Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions and links! I definitely have a lot to think about. I looked at the Pod-type options and those were all $2000k+. Then again, the cost of a U-Haul rental and plane tickets might easily top that, so I still have lots of numbers to crunch! I don't have a ton of furniture I need to move - my biggest ticket item is my fantastic queen mattress set that I just bought <1 year ago so I'd hate to not bring it and have to buy another. Aside from that, I have a dresser, a small nightstand, a small coffee table plus a little vanity and stool... no other big items like a couch or desk, etc.. The rest of my belongings can fit in my car again (tip: those space-saver vacuum bags are AWESOME for clothes and bedding!).

I'm about to do the same thing as you - MA to OK! And 3 cats and a horse. And a partridge in a pear tree.

I am also debating how to do this. In the past (NJ-IN, IN-NJ, NJ-OH, and OH-MA), I have been able to use a Uhaul. Usually me driving a car with the cats, and either a family member or the boyfriend driving the Uhaul. I think it'll end up being me in a car with the cats, and potentially a Uhaul, or a Pod or something.

Any other ideas welcome - and moral support from a fellow mover! :D

Whyevernot, what part of MA are you from (feel free to PM if you'd rather). I wonder if we're really close?! Have you decided how you're getting your horse to OK and where you're keeping him/her? My mare was supposed to be sold but ended up with an injury in February. I'm rehabbing her now and she's not going to be back in normal work until I'm ready to leave for school (fantastic timing lol), so much to my parent's shock and horror, she might be coming with me!
 
I'm having the same dilemma! Moving MA- MN in July or August. And my beagle gets car sick (of course!) Should be an interesting drive... I think I'll take my car with the sedated dog and then someone (mom or boyfriend) will have to drive a moving truck. It's just so expensive! What have you found to be the best options?
 
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