I made a move cross-country (from Chicago, IL to Portland, OR) during a pandemic in the summer of 2021 with my partner and dog. We followed multiple how-to articles about moving cross-country with pets, but we made mistakes. 

We moved cross-country a week after my 13-year-old dog had surgery and during one of the worst heatwaves in the past decade. 

Here are FIVE MISTAKES you can avoid when planning your own move cross-country.

Mistake Number 1: No Break From Work

When I moved cross-country, I decided I’d take advantage of remote work and not use any vacation days. This was stupid. 

Our trip took 10 days (we stopped in Colorado to see some friends). I took a grand total of 3 days off work.

I thought I was being smart and saving time off. All I did was majorly stress myself out. The change in climate, lack of sleep, and utter exhaustion led to a stye in each eye. Plus, I had a panic attack by the time we reached Utah. 

My moving tip for people who move cross-country is to take time off to pack. Take time off to drive. Take time off to relax.

I worked far too much during our packing which led to my partner doing most of the packing. I worked while traveling cross-country which meant less time to enjoy the drive. Also, I worked while my body literally created cysts. Just… take time off, people. 

Mistake Number 2: Not Hiring Movers

Dan and I knew we’d need movers in Portland. Neither of us has any friends or family in the city, and I am too weak to help him carry our furniture. Thus, I booked us movers to unload our PODS in Portland, but we thought we were SO SMART and SO FRUGAL to do all the packing and loading in Chicago. 

We were not smart.

We were, in fact, idealistic and very, very stupid about our move cross-country.

We are both in our 30s with problematic backs, and I had an entire house to pack up. While we thought we were saving money, we broke ourselves emotionally, physically, and psychologically. 

In the three days leading up to the move, I had two anxiety attacks, Dan almost suffered heatstroke, and we ended up giving up and just leaving a third of my belongings in my back alley for neighbors to choose from. 

We ran out of time and energy. 

Do not be like us. 

My moving tip is to save up the extra 500 dollars and hire the second round of movers. You’re already spending an arm and a leg to move cross-country, so just do it.

Mistake Number 3: Not Planning for the Weather

When I first planned to move to Portland, I assumed I’d move in March. 

Nope, I moved at the end of July/Early August. This also happened to be a record-breaking year where it was so hot, houses started to melt in Seattle. 

The car had air conditioning, but it was working OVERTIME, and not very effective. I also live with a smoker, so we rolled windows down the whole drive.

At the end of day one, we stopped in Nebraska to a cool 98 degrees. We woke up, and it was 104 degrees. 

I had a recently post-opp dog we needed to stretch, a man whose whole body was rejecting the past two weeks of loading the pod, and me… cranky, PMS having, just spent two weeks eating fried food and bloated beyond belief, hate the heat, me.

Do NOT drive cross country in July/August unless you like to sweat out every bit of moisture. The average temperature for our 10-day drive stayed 101, and my average level of discomfort was 101 on a scale of 100. 

Mistake Number 4:  Not reading the fine print

So, I love planning. I also think I know better than websites and SOMETIMES skim the fine print (or do not read it at all). 

I successfully booked us a pod and pod delivery, reserved the street in front of our apartment building, paid so I could tow people who stole our spot, and hired Portland movers.

What I did NOT notice is that in order to have the parking actually enforced, I needed to rent Barricades for the street. These barricades needed to sit on the street for a week before I needed the parking enforced.

In Portland.

Where I would not be. 

Now, I did figure this out, but I had to rush rent street barricades from a block party shop in Portland. Pay extra to have others put them up. Had to ask my new building to make sure they stayed there, and I needed to eat crow at how poorly I handled it. 

On the plus side, ordering barricades is a skill I now have.

I also ended up having to pay a damage fee because a city bus drove over one the day we moved in. 

Moving tip: Read the contract and fine print of every document you sign. 

Mistake Number 5: Not taking Me-Time

Now, I love being alone. I am a loud introvert, and when I spend too much time around people, I become a raisin of a human. Well, if raisins were unstable crying monsters who hated humanity. 

Two months before we moved, we started the process of moving.

Dan, also an introvert, had a long list of people he needed to say goodbye to. I had a slightly shorter list because I greatly underestimated the number of people who would want to see me before I went. 

We made this genius choice to say “yes” to everything people asked us to do before our move. We both were fully vaccinated, Delta Variant hadn’t popped up yet, and all our friends and family were vaxxed. We thought “this is safe, let’s do this, we will regret it if we do not.” 

We just, were very, very wrong, about how this would affect us. 

I socialized more in the two months leading up to our move than I had the entirety of the pandemic combined.

This meant, when we got in the car to drive, we were not only physically exhausted, but we were so socially drained that we drove in silence for the first day. We did not play music. We did not listen to podcasts. We barely spoke except to say “cow” and “look at the doggie.”

If I took more ME time, I may have looked forward to every plan I made in those two months. If I took more me-time, I may not have cried my eyes out the entire weekend we were moving because we had put off so many imperative things.

TAKE YOUR ME-TIME

Moving cross-country is something I’ve now done 3 times. It was much harder in my 30’s than it was at 18. That being said, it was totally worth it. We did MANY more things right than we did wrong, and I’ll post about that on another date which you can find here.

What is the biggest mistake you ever made while moving? Post in the comment below! 

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