How Do You Move Across The Country?

[CatLady]

For those of you who moved across the country, how did you do it?

 

I'm having trouble deciding if I should just shove everything in a rental truck and drive for 3 days or fly over and buy all new furniture in Calgary. Both options seem pretty expensive and I'm just worried if I buy stuff there, I'll waste time waiting for my furniture to be delivered/ have to assemble it myself. 

 

[OldBat]

I'd go for the drive. Sounds like you might be coming from Ontario (~3 days)? I've made that trip many times, and it's beautiful, especially in June. There's also something special about breaking from the old and starting a new adventure with a few days of quiet introspection.

 

I drove out from Ontario 9 years ago with my dog, three cats and a handful of goldfish (my humans flew out to join me later) - an exhausting but fabulous road trip that I highly recommend.

[Borborygmi]

Also drove from Ontario to Calgary for school. Chose the drive route through the US and took up visit time in Detroit, Chicago, Madison, and North Dakota (which is beautiful!). Treated it as a mini vacation over about a week. The catch is that my back, shoulders, and hips were destroyed from being in a car for so long. It was nice to do once, but I probably wouldn't do it a second time. How many opportunities will you have to drive across the country? Also, there are furnished places that you can find to rent while here. Just a thought.

[Borborygmi]

I'd go for the drive. Sounds like you might be coming from Ontario (~3 days)? I've made that trip many times, and it's beautiful, especially in June. There's also something special about breaking from the old and starting a new adventure with a few days of quiet introspection.

 

I drove out from Ontario 9 years ago with my dog, three cats and a handful of goldfish (my humans flew out to join me later) - an exhausting but fabulous road trip that I highly recommend.

Don't get me started on how much I love cats, but that sounds awful! How long did they scream for? And try to get trapped under the brake or gas pedal. Weirdos. Terrible creatures that I love.

[LostLamb]

When I moved out to Calgary, I did the road trip so I could bring my car with me. It was a beautiful trip in August and I did it in two and a half days of driving with a day and a half off in the middle visiting family in Winnipeg.

 

I'm glad i did it...wouldn't do it again though.  Had no problem picking up and filling my apartment with stuff--lots of neat places to find deals in Calgary (compared to Ottawa) and no provincial sales tax to boot. I brought the absolute essentials and bought the rest.

[sjc2]

Also drove across the country from Ontario. Put my stuff in a moving van though. Didn't want to stress about a U-Haul. It wasn't that much more expensive than getting a U-Haul. I also packed everything in Frogboxes which was my LIFESAVER because I didn't have to run around looking for cardboard boxes and nothing got squished.

 

The cheapest way to get a moving company is to have them bid on your move. I think this is the website I used: moving bids canada

 

Downside: you can go a bit with no stuff, like a bed.

Upside: you don't have to move your stuff

[CatLady]

That's smart, I didn't know you could have them bid. It's so expensive otherwise! The quote I got from a bunch of moving companies was ~$3500. In the end, I just decided to buy furniture in Calgary because everything I have is old IKEA anyway. I'm also looking at this as a much needed opportunity to purge.

 

Thanks for your help everyone. It's so overwhelming at first so it's nice to hear from others who did the trek from Ontario!