Has anyone done a cross country move?

[BrerGnat]

We'll be moving from California to Virginia in just two months! EEK! :eek:

We were just given a rough estimate that our moving truck would take 18 DAYS to make this trip! Wow. Does that sound accurate? I was thinking more like a week or so.

We are military, so we're going through them to do the move, although it is contracted out to private moving companies.

Last time I moved cross country, I was 14, so I really don't recall how long our stuff took to arrive.

Now we're trying to figure out what to do with all that time. Our kids have never been away from home for so long, so this is going to be tough for them. :( We talked about maybe heading down to WDW for a week or so, just to kill some time. But, I don't know. Not sure if a vacation is in the budget. On the other hand, we didn't expect we'd have so much time to wait, and I think we'd all go a bit nuts in the same hotel room for 18 days. :crazy:

[disneymom15]

18 days does seem a bit lengthy to me. I've never moved more than 15 miles from one home to another. Was able to do that in 1 or 2 days.
I vote for taking a trip to WDW to pass the time.

[exvagirl]

We went about 5 hours away, and the truck got there over night! 18 days does seem long.

[magicofdisney]

I've never moved more than 15 miles. However, my BIL & SIL moved from VA to CA about 2yrs ago. I don't recall how long it took for them.

I had some friends that moved from FL to OR. They moved themselves, took their time with sight seeing and still did the trip in 10 days. That was with 3 small kids in tow and her being 8mos pregnant. I don't understand how your company can justify such a long time frame.

I think a Disney vacation is warranted. :mickey: A few years ago we sold our home and the closing from that sale was about a week before the closing on the new house. Since we were going to need a hotel anyway, we decided on a Disney vacation to help pass the time. It worked out great!

[magicofdisney]

Now that I think about it, I believe there are regulations that limit the number of hours a driver can drive. If they're not switching out drivers throughout the trip, this could definitely factor into the trip time.

[BrerGnat]

Now that I think about it, I believe there are regulations that limit the number of hours a driver can drive. If they're not switching out drivers throughout the trip, this could definitely factor into the trip time.

I understand this as well. However, this trip is only about a 24-25 hour drive (in terms of mileage). 18 days is less than 2 hours of driving per day! That can't be right.

After looking over the paperwork, I see that this is a ROUGH estimate, provided by our base transportation office. We will have a more definitive timetable once the actual moving company contacts us and we can schedule directly with them. I hope they will tell us they can do it faster!

[Melanie]

That's probably the most days they can take to get your stuff to you. Geez, they could get our 'express' shipment to and from Oki faster than that. Doesn't sound right.

[gerald72]

Maybe it's because it's not just your stuff that is being moved, and there are other stops along the way.

[BrerGnat]

Maybe it's because it's not just your stuff that is being moved, and there are other stops along the way.

No, we requested direct private service.

Mel, if they can get your stuff from Oki to CONUS in less time than 18 days, I have hope that this is a gross exaggeration of how long it will take to get our stuff across the country!

[MNNHFLTX]

If you are getting private service, there's no way it should take 18 days. We've moved cross-country 3 times. Our last move 7 years ago (Florida to Texas) the truck took 5 days, but that was because we were sharing it with one other customer and their stop was first. Obviously the distance is more than twice as long for you, but if they don't have anyone else to load/unload, I can't imagine it would be even remotely close to 18 days.

[wdwfansince75]

Usually, the Military movers estimate 500 miles per day...so coast to coast is usually scheduled for a 6 day transit..(not sure how you estimated 24 hours...it's over 2500 miles from LA to DC area) and they add one or two pack days and a day or so to onload....So 10 days would be typical for a point to point, direct move...not sure why they added extra days. It may be that the local pick up is by one company, who unloads at their transfer point, adding days, then, a coast to coast mover, adding handling days, than, local delivery from a third company...
We were never transferred coast to coast....Went from NAS Glynco, (Brunswick) GA to Atsugi, Japan, then to Monterey, CA, then to Mountainview, CA, then to Barbers Pt, HI, to Ft. Meade, MD, to VA, to MD, to PA, to SC, to PA, to SC..threw away the boxes...next move is to Arlington...hope it isn't anytime soon!

[catkrazy]

We moved from Maine to Georgia which is about 1600 miles. It only took them 3 days total, they actually got here before we did! It was a private company that work paid for to relocate us. Even Cali to Virginia being a longer trip, 18 days sounds crazy to me!!

[murphy1]

I think it took us 10 days to move from Germany to FLorida when my dad was in army. My cousin moved his family from Colorado to VA with the svc and it didn't take that long. I am shocked they are taking that much time with you guys.

Shari

[giroux28]

Of course a WDW trip would definitely pass the time and give a little semblance of home before making the life change. But if that elaborate of a trip isn't in the budget, would you consider a Busch Gardens, Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown/Jamestown trip? It is an affordable, fun AND educational week of fun IMO. Worth researching maybe.

[magicalmom]

Second the Williamsburg suggestion - or you could come up and see Washington!

[clausjo]

We just moved in November from FL to CO. Our estimate was about the same - 15 days, I think. I had the same thoughts as you - how will we survive in a hotel room for that long? Once the driver packed the truck, he told us it would be more like 7-10 days. It was about 8, I think. I think the moving companies give you a large window to prevent any complaints if the trip is delayed for any reason. I think that once your driver is there, he can give you a much more accurate time line. Good luck!

[BrerGnat]

We just had our pre move walk through today. I was told that we wouldn't really have a good estimated date of arrival until moving day! It will depend on how many stops the truck needs to make. We are NOT getting guaranteed direct service. We don't have enough stuff to take up an entire trailer.

Makes planning difficult, although I think we have figured out what we are going to do while we are waiting.

[wdwfansince75]

The services used to provide "Temporary Housing Allowance", to cover rentals of furnished accomodations for a period of up to 60 days. That is what we did when PCS'ed from California to Barbers Point, HI...they put us (DW and DS 6, DD4, and DD1) into a two bedroom rental, with views of Pearl Harbor and Hickam...we didn't get our household goods until we moved into Base Housing at Ewa Beach, just about 2 months after we were sent to HI...made us start DS in one school, and then transfer him to another. Actually, DS # 1 never started and finished the year in the same school until 4th grade...2nd grade for DD#1.

We also got about 2 weeks of TLA when packing up to leave HI, and DW and DK's stayed with DiL's while I house hunted at new assignment at Ft. Meade, MD, while DS and DD attended school in Bangor, PA...Household Goods showed up about 30 days after we arrived on east coast.