<p>Your stories of how many days you took to fly your kid out to college. Days spent? What you did? (shopping etc) What you wish you would have planned for?..Hindsights, coulda, woulda, shoulda:) As always, thank you all:)</p>
<p>Our D’s move-in day was actually a 5-day orientation, so we had to squeeze our moving and shopping in between orientation activities over several days. But it was cross-country, so there are some similarities.</p>
<p>Do as much as you possibly can beforehand. Our college allowed us to ship belongings ahead of time; take advantage of that if you can. We shipped clothing by Post Office lowest rate. We bought school supplies here at home and then shipped them by Post Office Flat Rate boxes (we figured the local stores might be picked over for school supplies by the time we got there). </p>
<p>Bed Bath & Beyond has a wonderful service for college kids. You go into your local store and select your items (go to the Bridal Registry to start). They’ll find the store nearest to the college. When you arrive, you go to that store and they have everything ready for you; you pay and go. Big time-saver.</p>
<p>Lists! You’ll inevitably have to do some shopping for toiletries etc. Make that list before you go, when everyone is calm.</p>
<p>Build in extra time for last-minute or unanticipated errands. </p>
<p>Things will go wrong, emotions will be running high. Bring your patience and sense of humor. </p>
<p>Plan on a family lunch or dinner away from campus, so you can have a chance to say a proper goodbye instead of a hurried “see ya” in front of the dorm.</p>
<p>Move in Saturday morning. Walmart/Target run in the afternoon. Breakfast Sunday morning. Get the heck out of Dodge. The kids want to move on with their lives and parents hanging around looking all misty-eyed aren’t helping.</p>
<p>We subscribe to the “get in, get done, get out” theory of college move in. Nobody is in a good mood by the time we are done and I always desperately needed a nap the moment they left.</p>
<p>Arrive the night before move-in day. Do everything that needs to be done on move-in day (run to Bed Bath & Beyond, etc.). Parents are supposed to be gone by 5:00 PM or so. Depending on flight schedule either fly home that night or the next morning. So 36 - 48 hours total max.</p>
<p>This last one in college is across the country, so we flew there. He didn’t really need much. Initial check in and move in took less than a half hour since we flew out there the day before and stayed at a hotel. PIcked up a few things at local thrift shops and Walmart type stores and dollar shops the evening before, plus cruised the scene. Got there early and set up his meager possessions. He had a laptop so there really wasn’t much to do there. Roamed around campus for some ongoing events, maybe did a little more shopping and then went back to meet the roommate. DS had given him his cell number and asked him to give a ring when he got there. </p>
<p>Met the roommate and his parent, did an inventory on what the room could use after ALL of their stuff was in there so there were no unneccessary duplicates. They really had too much though they were both from afar. Ended up buying a stash of snack stuff for them before leaving. There were all sorts of events on campus, but really the parents things ended pretty quickly. </p>
<p>I could have left before dinner, but have a friend in the area I visited that evening, so stayed an extra day. If necessary, I was nearby for an extra day. It was pretty clear that he was set, and didn’t really want me around.</p>
<p>I wish this rising college kid’s school scheduled his orientation at the same time as move in. I guess it’s too big of a school to do this. It’s mandatory for parents and kids and all of the days listed, (you do have a choice of days) are during the week, M-F and take up two full days. So added to the cost of college is another trip there and it’s not close (another possible disadvantage, inconvenience, expense of kid picking college that’s not an easy several hour drive), and a hotel stay. Fortunately, I have friends in the area, so the hotel is not a cost, but I may have to fly at least one way. I’m thinking of driving out there one way with kid sharing the driving, and I’d have the one way rental right up to taking me to the airport and then flying back on day 2. Since things start early on day one of the orientation, I probably have to drive there the day before making it a two night stay and a 3 day trip. That’s a lot of time for an orientation and a lot of money too.</p>
<p>But move in will be just that since everything is supposed to be done during that 2 full days orientation. I’ll probably drive out there(one way rental again) and fly back the same, since move in allows pretty much the whole day. I can leave very early in the morning and get there before noon and fly back that night.</p>
<p>One of mine went to college an hour away. Move-in took less than five hours, door to door, and I brought some additional stuff to his campus about a week later.</p>
<p>The other one went to college a seven-hour drive from home. We drove up the day before. The next day was move-in; I think I was on campus for about eight hours. I helped her unpack her stuff and assemble some things, like the fan, and I attended one or two parent orientation events. I left in the late afternoon, before the formal orientation activities started. Since I wasn’t driving home until the following day, she asked me to shop for a few odds and ends for her, which I dropped off at her dorm the next morning before the day’s organized events began. Then I drove home. So this move-in involved two travel days and one move-in day.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse…d’s college has the same deal – pick 2 days earlier in the summer for orientation, then move in is in August…so we’ll be there in June, and back again. Hopefully we can get a glimpse at a room in the honors dorm so she can see what’s reasonable (and not!) to bring. The kids have a “welcome week” at the beginning of things, including a school-organized Target run…so I think we’ll be in and out fairly quickly.</p>
<p>Moving freshman D in last summer was a quick process…you are given a time to arrive by school,they had many volunteers help unload cars and take your stuff to the dorm room…you are given approximately 1 hour,then you need to move your car away from dorms into nearby lots…D and her roomate were extremely prepared,and there was no need to go to BBBY,or any other stores…we also live 30 minutes from campus,so we left after settting up,quick tour,a bite to eat…came back next AM for day of orientation…very seamless</p>
<p>We arrived in town about 6pm the night before. This allowed us to do a “drive through” of the campus and of the surrounding area. We had pre booked reservations for a nice dinner and we were all content to sit and linger after the meal. That evening I got to take about a 1/2 hour walk alone with S1 (I will always cherish that walk). H took a walk with S1 in the morning. We went to church, had breakfast as a family and went to the local Target to get “stuff”.</p>
<p>We struggled like heck to find a parking spot and after hauling S1’s belongings up 4 flights of stairs, I made the bed and then we had to rush over to the Convocation and then a picnic. They scheduled a 1/2 hour time slot for parents and kids to say their goodbyes after which we reluctantly departed. Every mother I passed had red eyes and a quivering mouth/chin. Every father I passed has a very “tight” look on their face.</p>
<p>I was not prepared for the underlying tension within the dorm room. Emotionally charged is the perfect way to describe the environment. I think at that point it quickly became a reality for all of us that our lives were about to dramatically change. S1 wanted nothing to do with listening to my instructions of “here is your first aid kit, this container has your laundry soap, etc”</p>
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<p>Thank you! This is a reminder to give any instructions as we are packing at home. I can forsee the dorm drop-off as not a time to be imparting any wisdom.</p>
<p>At DDs school, you can’t start moving in until 8 am and at 2 pm orientation starts and that is the end of move-in. You pretty won’t see your child if you stick around for anything other than parent orientation activities.</p>
<p>Same as ellemenope (and same school in one case). Sort of like pulling off a bandaid.</p>
<p>It really depends a lot on the school. Back in the day, my move in to Large State U was park the car, parents help unload, parents leave. At my Son’s LAC they had a whole weekend of activites for parents, starting with Friday afternoon move in, activites all day Saturday, chapel and convocation on Sunday, parents leaving at about 2 pm.</p>
<p>One mistake: the school offered meal tickets for purchase for the weekend. We bought those and that was stupid. By Sunday lunch, we took Son out for Mexican off campus. Jeez, what were we thinking? Son was going to be eating that dining hall food all year…he didn’t need to start early!</p>
<p>Gosh, our experience was quite different from most of these. We made it into a mini vacation. </p>
<p>Ds’s LAC is far away, so we did the BB&B thing at home. We flew SW so while dh and I each took three bags, only one each had our stuff in it. The rest was ds’s. Anyway, we flew in Saturday to the large city near the school. Rented an SUV, went to the hotel, dumped our stuff and then went to BB&B and other stores to pick up other odds and ends (school supplies, toiletries, detergent) while still in the city. We were really tired by the end of that day and bought fast food to eat in the room, but later we all agreed that we were glad we did it that way because it left the rest of the weekend to relax. On Sunday we took the train to a baseball game between the home team and OUR home team. That was the only thing on the agenda that day. Totally fun and a great way to get a flavor of the city. Went to the hotel and watched a family favorite on cable, “My Big, Fat Greek Wedding.” </p>
<p>On Monday, we got up and drove to the college town and checked into the local hotel and spent that day doing some housekeeping stuff (getting his student ID and managed to sneak into his dorm room). We also ate at a local restaurant to see if there was decent Mexican food in this small town 
. Afterward, we let ds veg in the hotel room, and dh and I spent the afternoon exploring the campus. This was his first time seeing it, so we really walked and walked and talked. It was great alone time for us as we embark on a new phase of our life.</p>
<p>Tuesday was move-in day. We woke up not terribly early but not late, because dh and I had to fly out that afternoon. I had no idea when we booked the flight that there were all these activities planned for parents that afternoon (so if that’s important to you find out the schedule NOW). Had I known that, we would have shifted the days, but, in retrospect, I’m glad it went like it did. After we moved him in – which took less time than I thought it would – we had lunch on campus, then back to his room to hang stuff on the walls, etc. We had to leave before any of the official parent events started. That was our Band-Aid moment. No long goodbye, just a hug and kiss on the corner because we had an hour-long drive to get back to the airport. </p>
<p>Maybe the reason our experience was different had to do with distance and finances. We knew we couldn’t afford to get there for parents’ weekend or to move him home so we made the most of this trip, rather than hurry in and hurry out. We had so much fun, ds wants us to move him in again next year! I wasn’t planning on that and figured he would handle it on his own. Still negotiating that. ;)</p>
<p>D’s college was in NYC and we flew SW and each took two bags plus our carryons. We left on Friday and spent the night in a hotel and then move in for her was Saturday. We did a Target run Saturday afternoon and on Sunday did a run to the grocery store and drugstore to get what ever else she needed. I stayed over until Monday and left in the afternoon. We were able to send boxes ahead to the hotel which had all of her bedding and some of her clothes.</p>
<p>Her school had an orientation program for the freshman that began the Monday I left and ran for the whole week.</p>
<p>kid #1 - H drove S to airport. Dropped him at curb.</p>
<p>kid #2 - H drove with D to school (8hrs–she was keeping the car there.) Unloaded stuff, had dinner (2-3hrs?) She drove him to nearby airport and he flew back home.</p>
<p>I didn’t get involved, except for packing/mailing packages to S. And picking up H from airport on his return.</p>
<p>Please don’t bring “extra” family members to move-in. They only get in the way. I can see having both parents there, maybe a sibling (that can help carry stuff). Last year, D2’s roommate showed up with mom, dad, brother, elderly great-uncle, elderly great-aunt, and some other random relative.</p>
<p>For S (our 1st to go away), we spent two weeks. We all flew to his new U, met the Director of Disabilities (or some such person), met some of the docs who could provide medical treatment if it was more than health center could handle, went to San Diego for a nice family vacation & saw zoo & animal park. Went back to visit with friends & get S moved in & buy some more stuff for his dorm. Flew back home. When we flew with him, we were each able to bring a suitcase with his stuff as well as our carry on. We left him with a rolling collapsible duffle & carry on bag that took up very little closet space. We left a day or two after move in day, as D’s HS was starting.</p>
<p>For D, she & S arrived the night before her orientation. We all helped her move in–didn’t need that much “stuff” since S gave her a lot of his stuff (same U). I think we were only there a few days, taking her to Costco (for food), Target & other places she wanted to get a few more things.</p>
<p>Yeah, we left ds2 at home. He was NOT happy, as he is really close to his brother. Compromise is that next year one of us will take ds2 up during the year so he can see the campus and do an overnight of his own now that he’s a junior.</p>