I just got off the phone with the Pet Transportation company and everything is falling into place. All of the pets are good to go with the exception of the gerbil who will most likely need to fly in a customized crate. As long as I get copies of the cats' Rabies vaccinations, all pets will be flying out to meet Al after October 30th.
Al's job has agreed to provide us with 30 days of temporary housing plus rental car. Once they give us an address, the pets will be fully booked. I scheduled a preliminary assessment with the movers to come out on Friday and survey how much stuff we will be moving.
The pets have to go before the movers come so they will be able to pack up their cages, beds, litter etc. On the other side of the country Al will need to get temporary cages and food and water supplies. He is refusing to take a day off before the move and I am afraid he is going to get burned out.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Things are progressing slowly...
Over the past 5 years we have accumulated a lot of stuff. When we put our house on the market we brought a good amount of it up to my mother in law's garage for storage. It made things easier for what little house showings we've had but yesterday we had to rent a U-Haul to get all of it back over here to prepare for the move.
I was planning to sell most of the furniture, but unfortunately some of it got molded from all the rain we had over the summer. With only three house showings under our belt over the past 6 or 8 months, we might have been better off keeping it all here. Now I will be lucky to give the furniture away.
I guess it's just as well, it seems no one wants to pay a fair price for anything. I've had 4 yard sales so far and had people trying to haggle with me over things like a $5 DVD player. Most of the things I've put on Craigslist have sat there even though they are bargain priced. Looks like we'll end up just giving everything away since we are planning to rent when we get to Portland. We may not have a yard where we're going and we have a lot of yard stuff; lawn mower, shovels, rakes, etc.
On the plus side, we learned yesterday that we can claim the loss on our house on our taxes. If the house sells for less than $175,000 which is looking likely; we'll be losing about $60,000 on it. The Pet Transportation is also supposed to be tax deductible. Still have not heard any additional news from them. Will have to give them a call tomorrow.
I was planning to sell most of the furniture, but unfortunately some of it got molded from all the rain we had over the summer. With only three house showings under our belt over the past 6 or 8 months, we might have been better off keeping it all here. Now I will be lucky to give the furniture away.
I guess it's just as well, it seems no one wants to pay a fair price for anything. I've had 4 yard sales so far and had people trying to haggle with me over things like a $5 DVD player. Most of the things I've put on Craigslist have sat there even though they are bargain priced. Looks like we'll end up just giving everything away since we are planning to rent when we get to Portland. We may not have a yard where we're going and we have a lot of yard stuff; lawn mower, shovels, rakes, etc.
On the plus side, we learned yesterday that we can claim the loss on our house on our taxes. If the house sells for less than $175,000 which is looking likely; we'll be losing about $60,000 on it. The Pet Transportation is also supposed to be tax deductible. Still have not heard any additional news from them. Will have to give them a call tomorrow.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
We'll make great pets...
Moving our pets across the country has proved to be the most challenging hurdle. We have cats, chinchillas, a guinea pig and a gerbil. I thought long and hard going back and forth with how I was going to do it. Cats in the cabin? Rodents in the cargo? Drive the cats and rodents across the US in the car? After much discussion and a recommendation from the movers we called a Pet Transportation company.
If you can afford to do it, this is probably the easiest, least stressful thing to do. The company will arrange the flights and health certificates, pick up the pets and bring them to the airport, and pick up the pets from the destination airport and deliver them to your door. It is very, very expensive though.
Things were going smoothly over email for about two days. But the first quote I got left out our gerbil and had one of our cats riding in a carrier that he would exceed the weight limit on. I sent one email asking about the gerbil and what carrier she should ride in and a second email stating that our 18 pound cat would need to ride in a larger carrier. (Something I think they should know since this is their business) I got one email back stating that if Raikou rides in a larger carrier it will cost an addition $275. I wrote another email asking "Okay, what about my gerbil?" Still no response the next day.
Shortly after, I emailed the owner (who we had spoken to previously) about my gerbil and how I felt my question was being ignored. He wrote back with an apology and the secondary person wrote with some bullshit response that she was working to see if all the pets would fit on one flight. Sounds like back tracking... why would she give me a quote in the first place if she was still currently trying to find a flight for all the pets? And why would she ignore me asking about my gerbil 3 times if that was the case?
I am already annoyed with the pet transport company... is this a bad sign?
If you can afford to do it, this is probably the easiest, least stressful thing to do. The company will arrange the flights and health certificates, pick up the pets and bring them to the airport, and pick up the pets from the destination airport and deliver them to your door. It is very, very expensive though.
Things were going smoothly over email for about two days. But the first quote I got left out our gerbil and had one of our cats riding in a carrier that he would exceed the weight limit on. I sent one email asking about the gerbil and what carrier she should ride in and a second email stating that our 18 pound cat would need to ride in a larger carrier. (Something I think they should know since this is their business) I got one email back stating that if Raikou rides in a larger carrier it will cost an addition $275. I wrote another email asking "Okay, what about my gerbil?" Still no response the next day.
Shortly after, I emailed the owner (who we had spoken to previously) about my gerbil and how I felt my question was being ignored. He wrote back with an apology and the secondary person wrote with some bullshit response that she was working to see if all the pets would fit on one flight. Sounds like back tracking... why would she give me a quote in the first place if she was still currently trying to find a flight for all the pets? And why would she ignore me asking about my gerbil 3 times if that was the case?
I am already annoyed with the pet transport company... is this a bad sign?
Thursday, October 7, 2010
A tale of a life changing location switch...
I am moving across the country in about a month. From Worcester, MA to Portland, OR. The more research I do about hauling my ass across the US, the less satisfied I am with what little information I find. This is why I decided to start a blog. I figured if anyone else is in my situation; they may find whatever I did to get there informative.
First off; about me: I'm a girl about to turn 32 at the end of this month. I have been depressed for a while mostly due to obesity and location. I have always been overweight; 235lbs being my highest. Shortly before I met my husband; I was living in Norwich, CT and I had lost about 85lbs partly from being sick and partly from doing the Weight Watchers.
My roomate at the time decided to move to Pennsylvania. I was faced with a choice; follow my roomate (who was like my second mom) to Lancaster, PA or move in with my boyfriend in Worcester, MA. I chose the latter.
Over the next couple years I went through a couple of changes. I decided to be Vegan and I gained about 60lbs. I would attribute my weight gain to a several factors: 1. Being Vegan I have discovered there's actually MORE food to eat than I ever ate when I was omnivore or vegetarian. 2. I stopped working because of chronic back pain so I am very sedentary. 3. I hate it here. Plan and simple I hate Worcester, MA.
There are a lot of people with "Worcester Pride" who would hate to hear me bad mouthing the city. I think perhaps if you're not actually from Worcester, you can't help but see what's wrong with the place more so than what's right. But I wont get into all that.
Al and I were originally planning to move to CT. A lot of my depression stems from the fact that my friends all live in CT and I find the people in Worcester to be wholly unfriendly. I know only two people in Worcester after living here for 5 years and one of them is incredibly obnoxious.
So Al said to me "If they offered me a transfer at work; maybe in California, what would you want to do?"
I said "Well, I think it would be an interesting experience if nothing else. We could go for 5 years, then if we decided we didn't like it we could move back."
Al got the ball rolling at work and he was approved for a transfer to Portland, OR. Milwaukie, OR to be exact. His start date is November 1st and we have a lot of planning to do.
First off; about me: I'm a girl about to turn 32 at the end of this month. I have been depressed for a while mostly due to obesity and location. I have always been overweight; 235lbs being my highest. Shortly before I met my husband; I was living in Norwich, CT and I had lost about 85lbs partly from being sick and partly from doing the Weight Watchers.
My roomate at the time decided to move to Pennsylvania. I was faced with a choice; follow my roomate (who was like my second mom) to Lancaster, PA or move in with my boyfriend in Worcester, MA. I chose the latter.
Over the next couple years I went through a couple of changes. I decided to be Vegan and I gained about 60lbs. I would attribute my weight gain to a several factors: 1. Being Vegan I have discovered there's actually MORE food to eat than I ever ate when I was omnivore or vegetarian. 2. I stopped working because of chronic back pain so I am very sedentary. 3. I hate it here. Plan and simple I hate Worcester, MA.
There are a lot of people with "Worcester Pride" who would hate to hear me bad mouthing the city. I think perhaps if you're not actually from Worcester, you can't help but see what's wrong with the place more so than what's right. But I wont get into all that.
Al and I were originally planning to move to CT. A lot of my depression stems from the fact that my friends all live in CT and I find the people in Worcester to be wholly unfriendly. I know only two people in Worcester after living here for 5 years and one of them is incredibly obnoxious.
So Al said to me "If they offered me a transfer at work; maybe in California, what would you want to do?"
I said "Well, I think it would be an interesting experience if nothing else. We could go for 5 years, then if we decided we didn't like it we could move back."
Al got the ball rolling at work and he was approved for a transfer to Portland, OR. Milwaukie, OR to be exact. His start date is November 1st and we have a lot of planning to do.
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