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October 5, 2023

How to Prepare for the Trip for Your Long-Distance Move

Planning a move involves many moving pieces; if you’re moving a long distance, you’ll have additional details to consider. When scheduling your long-distance move, it’s essential to note down key details and double-check your itinerary to ensure you don’t overlook any critical details.

Moving By Road Trip

Many people opt to drive their vehicle to their new home, whether across state lines or the country.

Plan Accordingly for Your Road Trip

When juggling your moving plans, it can be challenging to plan your road trip. Be sure to map out your route, vet out potential places to stay (better yet, make reservations to ensure availability and get the best prices), and identify places to fill up on gas or stop for meals.

Pro tip: Schedule an appointment to have your car serviced before your trip to increase safety, avoid delays, and keep repair expenses down when traveling to your new home.

Pack Enough for Your Trip

How you approach the packing aspect of your planning depends on whether you’re driving or flying. If you’re driving, pack enough clothing for each household member to cover the number of days you travel. You’ll also want to include snacks, drinks, meals (if you don’t plan to stop often), travel pillows, and blankets (if needed).

Leave Room for Boxes

There are some items reputable moving companies won’t move. Read up on non-allowable items you should plan to dispose of or plan to take yourself before you go on the road.

You’ll likely want to keep irreplaceable or valuable belongings with you. Leave enough room in your vehicle to fit these belongings in your cargo space.

Flying to Your New Home

In cases of longer-distance moves, many people often choose to fly to their new location.

Make a Game Plan

Plan ahead and purchase your airfare to get the best prices and availability. When looking for flights, try to fly nonstop (if possible) to simplify your travel and reduce the chances of delays or cancellations mid-trip.

Know Luggage Sizes

Know how much luggage and suitcase size your ticket allows to avoid extra fees. Some airlines don’t allow baggage unless you purchase the more expensive ticket; others allow a carry-on bag, while others include a checked bag or two. If you need to bring more, purchase checked bags ahead of time to get the best prices. If you do so at the airport, it’ll cost more.

Confirm Your Air Travel

If you’re flying, confirm your plane tickets and download the app affiliated with your airline. Many airlines are promoting electronic boarding passes, and if not using paper, it makes for one less item to keep track of when traveling through busy airports.

Pro tip #1: To avoid frustrations, note your airline account’s password in a safe place in case your app logs you out at any point during your trip.

Pro tip #2: Take a screenshot of everyone’s boarding pass once the airline issues them in case service is bad, Wi-Fi isn’t reliable, or the airline’s app crashes.