Making Moving Across the Country with Kids and Animals an Adventure!

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    As we get ready to do another cross country move with our children and animals I thought I would share with you some tips and resources that have helped in previous moves. Moving is hard work, but it doesn’t have to be an unpleasant experience! I have always looked at our moves as adventures and trying to find the good and fun out of it. 

     This summer our family will doing our last official move with the military. It has been an amazing eighteen years but all good things must come to an end. We will be moving 2,625 miles east! And although that seems so far away from here in Oceanside CA, I am looking forward to the road trip with our kids and being able to make it to our forever home in Jacksonville, NC. Being a military spouse, I have moved six times so I have picked up some tricks, advice and resources along the way I would love to share with you to help make your move a better experience!


MOM TIPS (from my experience)

• Make a binder that has all of your move information! Printed directions, rest stops, exits with food, exits with hospitals (just in case), hotels, gas stations and attractions that you can stop at if time allows.

 • Make sure you have your Sirius subscription up to date (if applicable). My last trip I drove through Texas for four hours listening to the kid’s movie in the back seat. There were zero radio stations, I had let my subscription lapse and I didn’t have cell service either to turn on Pandora or Spotify.

 • Take pictures! Its great looking back on those memories 

• Take some “me” time at night! Once my children would go to bed in the hotels I would take at least an hour to just un-wind. Reading a book, taking a bath or a workout in the hotel exercise room! This really helped me clear my head each night!


MOVING WITH CHILDREN 

    Driving long distances with children, especially younger ones can be an adventure in its own. Here are some tips that helped me on our last cross country move. 

 1) In our moving binder I had a list of all of the open rest stops on our route. Some close down for repairs and maintenance, so I checked to make sure they were all open. This helped to plan our bathroom breaks so we didn’t have to keep getting off the interstate into different towns. That is just a time killer when road tripping. Here is a website you can search the state you will be going through to check. https://www.interstaterestareas.com/department-of-transportation-information/ 

 2) I also looked up hotels along the way that had pools. This was great for all of us to be able to get out and swim around after long days of driving! After day three, our boys were excited to see what the next pool looked like. 

 3) Snacks- pack all the snacks! We brought a cooler with us to keep waters, juice boxes, lunch meat/cheese and fresh fruit and veggies. Stopping for snacks in truck stops are ok, but the costs add up! I also liked the idea of having more fresh food with us vs packaged. We found this helpful to be able to just grab a snack while on our rest area stops. Some rest areas have picnic areas as well, we would try to do this for lunch vs exiting the interstate as well.

 4) Entertainment- I am not one to put my kids on a tablet or device for long periods of time. I think looking out the window and seeing the beautiful scenery is important, but having zero electronics just wouldn’t work for our family. I set up a potable DVD system on the back of the front seats and we stopped at Redboxs along the way! Many truck stops have these since truckers need movies too! It was nice to mix up the movies so we weren’t watching the same thing over and over. You can look up your route to check, but we had no issue finding a Redbox each day either at a truck stop or the town we stopped in for the night. Here is a link for locations you can research before your move just in case: https://www.redbox.com/ . We were also able to find some free codes which helped along the way.

MOVING WITH ANIMALS

1) Make a list of all pet friendly hotels and check reviews! This is something I learned from one of our first moves. We ended up paying a $100/night animal fee when after our stay I found a hotel that didn't charge pet fees that was right down the road. We found the most pet friendly hotel is the La Quinta chain. Click here to see where their hotel locations are: https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/laquinta/locations 

2) Don’t forget moving can be hard for animals! You know your pet; do they get anxiety when you go for a drive or leave the home? Make sure to see your veterinarian to see if a prescription medicine would benefit your fur baby or something over the counter. We used an anti-anxiety medicine for our lab. She loves rides but she wanted to jump all over the car so this helped her nap a little more than usual. 

3) Bring extra food and water just in case. When we moved we planned for five days in the car but I brought a 14-day supply just in case. You never know if the car will break down and you are stuck in an area with no resources. (Yes, these towns exist, we have driven through some of them) 

    I hope these tips and advice help you on your upcoming move! I have added some links to some great blogs I have used in this upcoming move to help us plan a little better! Although I like to think I am some what of an expert since we have moved so much, its always nice to read about others experiences and learn new tips to make a move a little smoother. In the end, try to look at your move as an adventure vs a "chore or work".
    
OTHER RESOURCES

    Here is a list of blogs that I have just recently used for information for our upcoming move. They all have great insights and more links to helpful moving checklists and advice.



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