Military Move in June

kittiesandcoffee

So DH and I found out two days ago that in June when I'm 21 weeks pregnant we will be moving from Jacksonville, FL to San Diego, CA. That means making that cross country drive. This will be our first time moving duty stations. We'll also be bringing along our cat and German shepherd.  Any Milso's out there with advice???

TIA!

NatashaSprout

We are a military family that has never had to move. Tons of our friends have had to move. Not sure how the navy works but the army sends people to pack your whole house.  You don't have to do a thing. Do you have one or 2 cars? Do you have to drive separately? We had a team of friends moving our friends from Texas to New York. Took turns driving and then all flew back to our homes. You should get a lot of travel days covered for that distance. They should be covering your hotel stays including extra deposits for animals. 

muybueno

No military experience, but I did move across the world at 24 weeks- from Africa to Texas. I didn't bring animals, but I did have an 18 month-old in tow It was...interesting.

Do as much homework/prep on your new city as possible. Scope out your OBGYN and get your records transferred. Start looking into local childcare options. Don't amass any new baby stuff before the move (!) and do a big clean out before you start packing. 

The first few months post-partum can be a socially isolating time, even if you aren't in a new place. Make an extra effort to get plugged into some sort of community in the few weeks between your arrival and your due date. A group of other expecting moms would be ideal- prenatal yoga class, or something like that. That way, you'll already have a few familiar faces you can hang out with once the baby comes. 

You must be excited to move to CA!

kittiesandcoffee

Thank you ladies! We are only bringing one car, we're trading both our vehicles in for one new one. We won't have any friends to help us with the driving but that's good to know about the hotel reimbursement. 

Luckily for us with our military insurance we use the military Hospital so all the records will be on file electronically and I'll just use the OBs there (we don't get to pick one). 

I'm definitely excited about the move but also nervous because it will be a huge change. 

2undertwo2bee

Fellow military spouse here with two moves under my belt. The military will move you unless you chose to do a dity.  Which with a dity you can pocket a lot of money but I find it to much stress and work. So we always just have the military move us. Once your hsuband gets orders he can submit them and schedule the move. June is prime pcs season so I would suggest getting it done as early as possible. He can also use his order to get on the list for housing if you guys choose to live on base.   The movers will come in and pack and disassemble everything. All you do is supervise and make sure you take pictures of your things before and have a list of all that you have.   As far as you guys getting there.  The military will tell him how many days he is allowed for travel.   From tx to md we had 5 I think.   They reimburse for those days for a hotel and give a food and gas and mileage allowance.  You can request partial upfront to help cover the cost on the way.  I'm not familiar with that as we have always just paid and requested one we got to where we are going.  Unless things have changed you get a certain amount for each of you.  We just drove to ga stayed with family and then drove up to Maryland.  So we gained a lot fo pocket money. Close to 3500 for the 2 of us. But obviously you will have to stop. Save receipts. They are always good to have though my hsuband has never been asked for any.    As far as pregnancy and pscing. I did it when I was 15 weeks last time.  We just stopped a lot and I would walk for a few minutes and stay hydrated. 

g8rmama_16

I have moved 10 times in 12 years. I would say that since you will be doing it pregnant, I would sacrifice the extra money you get with the DITY move and have personal property do the whole move for you. You are literally not allowed to pack anything yourself, for liability reasons, and they will help you unpack at your destination. It will save you a lot of heavy lifting and stress. 
I am geobaching in San Diego now and plan to drive back to Jacksonville some time during my third trimester. That should be interesting! 
Let me know if you have any questions about San Diego. It is an awesome military town! 

TwandaFTG

Not military but you may want to this about having your car transported and flying with your pets.  It might save you a bit of hassle if you are worried about them.  Your vet and give them some sedatives and it makes the travel with them short and sweet.

muybueno

TwandaFTG said:

Not military but you may want to this about having your car transported and flying with your pets.  It might save you a bit of hassle if you are worried about them.  Your vet and give them some sedatives and it makes the travel with them short and sweet.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. Or YOU fly with your pets and YH drives the car. He will be lonely but he can deal with it  

shevaCC

muybueno said:

TwandaFTG said:

Not military but you may want to this about having your car transported and flying with your pets.  It might save you a bit of hassle if you are worried about them.  Your vet and give them some sedatives and it makes the travel with them short and sweet.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. Or YOU fly with your pets and YH drives the car. He will be lonely but he can deal with it  

Or...YOU fly by yourself and your H drives your pets

When we moved cross-country this is exactly what we ended up doing, but it was because I needed to start my new job (that was paying for our relocation) a month before DH was able to move. We actually flew out DH's dad to drive cross-country with them and they really enjoyed the bonding time on the road trip.

AdmiralKitty

Fly with the cat, have your H drive with the dog. You can take your cat in the cabin in a carrier for a fee (we get a mild sedative from our vet to make ours more comfortable) but I do not recommend flying with a large dog. Checking them in under the plane is extremely stressful for them and many airline employees don't take great care of those animals. (I work for an airline that does not take pets as cargo for that exact reason). Although it's mostly safe to do, I do not recommend it. 

2undertwo2bee

To be honest I wouldn't fly.  That is a long trip for your husband to do himself alone.  Look at it as an adventure.  You can get a map and plan your stops to things you want to see. I had such a good time on our road trip. Lots of talking and sightseeing. 

NatashaSprout

Exactly what admiralkitty said. I would never fly my dogs as cargo. 

Justpeachier13

We just did that exact move a year ago!! Message me all you want also join the San Diego Military Housing Go to Guide page! 

RGS24

I'm a fellow Mil spouse! We're making the move from Japan back to our home of record at around my 25 week mark with a toddler and a dog.   PCSing isn't as terrible as it sounds, definitely let tmo move your things I don't reccomend a Dity move. You'll never recoup all your money spent ( I know from experience) as far as driving. Just make sure to get out of the car and walk around every few hours or so! I promise it's not that bad! 

kittiesandcoffee

Thank you so much for your responses, ladies! You've helped me out a lot! Unfortunately I would feel way too guilty flying while my DH drove. I'd rather make that trek together and try to make it an adventure. I think the most thing I'm stressed about is getting into mil. housing. You all have definitely made me better about the drive! We will NOT BE doing a dity move, we live on the third floor of our apt. right now and could never move all this stuff.

@heyboohey so are we not even allowed to pack our small stuff like games and whatnot into boxes? Do the movers just throw everything into boxes and put it in the truck?

Also @Justpeachier13 I'm in the mil. housing page but idk if it's the go to guide page. There's a bunch of different pages. 

RGS24

You're allowed to pack whatever you want, they will just make you sign a waiver saying you're responsible. If you get an option to live off base... do it! 

kittiesandcoffee

RGS24 said:

You're allowed to pack whatever you want, they will just make you sign a waiver saying you're responsible. If you get an option to live off base... do it! 

Oh, okay! Good cause I want to start packing and de-cluttering asap. Also, as big a fan as I am of living off base and pocketing a fair portion of our BAH, I'm extremely tired of apartment living and want a house/townhouse. Even though housing will take all our BAH it's going to be worth it. What we'll get for our BAH is way better than any civilian housing we can find.

RGS24

I hear ya on the de cluttering! I've already started that process myself!
I have no idea what base housing is like stateside, we've only been overseas for my husband's entire enlistment so I can only speak for overseas housing and it's terrible. Hopefully stateside is better! 

Cricket99

*Lurking from Jan16*
Definitely drive with the husband! We live overseas and did a long haul flight at my 22 week mark and I swelled so badly, despite drinking tons of water and walking and stretching constantly. I would have been far more comfortable driving. With the TMO movers, they will wrap everything in paper and pad it before they pack it. Just make sure you are supervising, especially in the kitchen with all the breakables! Also, give the movers coffee and donuts on both ends of the move and grab lunch for them if they are there for a long time. Feeding them and treating them respectfully goes a really long way for getting your stuff packed nicely and securely! Good luck on the move

Justpeachier13

The housing in San Diego is off base and usually much nicer that what you can afford out in town. Most take full BAH. The wait for housing is long, though. 

kittiesandcoffee

@Justpeachier13 I agree with you there on the quality. I can't find anything good civilian-wise. I am concerned about the wait list since we only just found out we're moving in only two months. I don't want to have to pay for some other housing beforehand. Ugh. That would suck. 

@Cricket99 that's a good idea about the donuts and stuff for the movers! 

meansallison

D15 mom here, just got out of the Marine Corps in January and moved out of San Diego to North Carolina. My husband and I lived in Poway. Not sure where you or DH will be stationed but Poway is 10 minutes from Miramar and about 35 minutes from Camp Pendleton. Coronado is about 45 minutes away. Very family friendly area loved it. Before Poway we lived in Clairemont, DO NOT move there. We were constantly calling the police. Which hospital are you planning on delivering? If you are a dependent I suggest staying away from Naval Medical Center San Diego also known as "Balboa". I have had many friends have their babies there and have all had a terrible experience most recently my best friend that delivered there in December. Feel free to PM if you need any advice on places to live or anything else.