pictured: flying across the country-no clue what we are looking at here, it is somewhere between SFO and ORD / lunch at Sheetz after arriving via red eye / handbag /

My oldest daughter attends college across the country. Now that she has been there a few years, we have move out down to a science. I fly in on a red eye, we pack during breaks between her finals, she sleeps in the hotel room, we put everything in boxes for storage, and what doesn’t fit in suitcases and is being brought home, gets shipped via UPS.

So, if you have a child attending college out of state, check with the university to see if they partner with a storage company. Many large universities do! This makes summer storage really easy, especially when you have to fly in and out of the area. The storage company will pick up the boxes from the dorm room and then deliver to the new dorm room in the fall. It makes move in and move out really easy!

This year she had a fabulous corner dorm room, with two windows! This is the view out of one window.

While she is sad to give up a corner room, she will be in a much nicer building next year, so that will be a huge plus. She usually runs out of her meal plan before the end of the semester, so it was the perfect excuse to visit her favorite restaurants in town. We enjoyed brunch and sushi. Loved it!

Of course, anytime you attend a school with a tiny airport, you have no choice but to fly through a hub; meaning you are forced to take a layover. With east coast weather being unpredictable and small airports forcing you to fly on regional jets-which tend to be small, you are prone to delays from weather.

Pro tip: Always book a long layover of two to three hours. This has worked for us up until this semester. The weather beat us this time and our flight out was delayed three hours, which meant missing our flight out of Chicago, which happened to be the last flight out, meaning a complete mess. Instead of sticking to the original itinerary, I rebooked for the next day, and we enjoyed a happy hour at the airport hotel.

Pro tip number two: Know the neighboring airports and how to get there. Our rebooked flight was out of another airport, so we already had the plan ready on how to get there and quickly book the airport hotel. The backup plan went smoothly, and we arrived home without incidence.

Of course, my daughter was prepared with her Pokemon cards, allowing us to entertain ourselves in the airport hotel. Loved that!

So, if you have a child going out of state for college, be sure to look into storage options provided by the school. Then, make sure you plan ahead for travel delays and know your options before you ask the ticket counter for help. They will try to keep your flight out of the same airport, which would have meant either collecting our bags during our delayed layover in Chicago (I was mortified by this option) or flying out three days later since all the flights were booked. I asked her to book us through a neighboring airport the next morning at 6am, she was stunned but got us on the first flight out the next day.

Also, book your flights and hotels direct, don’t use third party apps. This will help you rebook exactly what you want, directly at the airport ticket counter, instead of being at the mercy of the third party.

It might be scary to send your student across the country for college, but if you are organized, it will go smoothly, and they will have a fabulous college experience.

What I packed and wore for packing and cleaning out my daughter’s dorm room:

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO
Cathy