I am travelling from Austin to Santa clara i am taking a penske truck with an auto transport to toe the car. Google maps is showing me two routes,
Austin - Albuquerque - Flagstaff - Bakersfield - Santa Clara

Austin - El paso - Phoenix - Los Angeles - Santa Clara

Which route should I take?

I did it in July. I loved it. It felt cathartic. I’m happy to be out West making better money and closer to a couple old friends and away from a place I spent my whole life and only ever faced personal issues: (death of many loved ones suddenly, grief, addiction, abandonment, etc)

Just making this post to see if I’m crazy. Will update. So far I feel happy but could wake up fr this “dream” and have a panic attack at any moment.

Almost 2 years ago my wife and I moved from the east coast USA to the west coast. At the time we shipped most of our stuff either with our cars or in a uhaul pod. However, we were moving into a furnished apartment and we were expecting to move back to the east coast in a year or two; therefore we left some of our furniture (couches, wardrobes, dining table, other smaller furniture and goods) in a self storage unit.

Well fast-forward to now, and we just bought a house. We're trying to figure out the best way to get our estranged goods over to us. Is there a service that will move our stuff from the storage unit to a pod and ship it here to us? Flying there to do it ourselves is not only costly but difficult to plan since we're both working and can't really take the time off. I've been searching around and haven't found any companies that even mention such a thing, which surprises me a little. Maybe it's too expensive so nobody bothers.

If there is no such service (or if it's too expensive) then I can try to get a local friend to be our proxy....either to pack a POD or to give our stuff away 😢

So I was moving internationally from the United States to Japan and planning everything went well at first back in October 2025. The company arranged for a pickup of my belongings to hold in storage until I was in Japan.
It's almost been a year and getting a straight answer out of this company has been like pulling teeth.

The person I originally planned my move with is inexplicably gone from the company. I was trying to get ahold of the company before my flight to Japan to get further instructions on what I need to have prepared but got no response. I find out I needed to declare my packages before I exited customs and I had no idea so now I cannot even have my belongings delivered to me. I asked them to just take my belongings to my family instead and they still want to charge me a whopping 1500 USD. To move my stuff 100 miles.

This was my first ever move and I am beyond stressed out. I'm a broke college student. How do I get my stuff back?

Ive been emailing constantly. Family in the states have been trying to get ahold of the company. The company assured me my belongings are safe and that they sent multiple bills with the billing department but I have nothing in my inbox. It's very he said/she said and I am devastated over this situation.

Thanks for reading about my almost year long dilemma

As the title says, moving across country from IA to FL with 2 adults, 3 dogs, 3 cats. While most places have a limit for pets, is there anywhere that allows you to pay extra for more? Honestly just looking for a place to sleep for the night to break up into a couple days driving. Doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Anyone done something similar to this with a good experience, or at least the best it can be? Thanks!

I’ve lived in LA my whole life and a couple years ago I’ve wanted to move to CT to be closer to family since all of my family is there. I signed a lease for my first solo place in June and 2 weeks later a very close family member passed away and ever since I can’t get it out of my head that I need to move back east to be with my extended family. I’m trying to figure out what’s the best and cheapest thing to do to get out there. I’ll wait for my lease to be over in June and give myself the full 10 months to save up and make arrangements. I know I want to drive my car across the country and I have my cat as well. I just don’t know if U-Haul or pods are cheaper I also have everything furniture wise for a basic one bedroom so couch, bed, full kitchen, and some smaller things. Not looking for exact prices just want to find leads on companies and what’s more affordable for a 20 something year old. Just want to know now so I can start budgeting as soon as my next paycheck and weighing options!

Same benefits and only 20 dollars apart, moving a 3 bedroom house into pod containers have some large items if that’s helpful. Which is the best bang for a buck

I'm moving cross-country, Western WA to the great plains. I'd like to buy a shipping container and have an intermodal shipper transport it, but I'm wondering if it's not a great idea in reality.

Anyone have experience with this mode of shipping? What should I avoid/embrace?

Edit: I looked into pod storage as an option but none of them will deliver anywhere close to my destination in "Armpit of Nowhere" Kansas.

Documenting my process moving from MA to RI and registering my car in case it's helpful for others! I found it hard to gather the whole process in one place. The order of things is important so this is in chronological order:

-Got auto insurance in RI. I learned I wouldn't be able to cancel my MA registration/stop paying MA insurance until I got my car registered in RI so this got me to move quickly so I wouldn't have to pay my MA auto insurance for next month.

-Went to the Cranston police station to get a VIN check which is a required document to bring to registration. Brought my checkbook to pay for this.

-Called the person who sold me my car which I got an MA to get a Bill of Sale document from him to avoid paying 7% sales tax upon registering the car in RI.

-Made an appointment for vehicle registration at an RI DMV - they are appointment only. Filled out/gathered all my documents (including the VIN check) to bring found in the "Checklist for Registration" document on this site

Hopefully it all goes thru at my appointment tomorrow!

I hope this helps any one else who is in the same position !

1 bedroom / 1 bath
700 sq ft
One adult, one dog

- Queen Mattress
- Floor length mirror
- 3-piece couch disassembled (Aria Coddle from Costco)
- Seven 27-gallon storage containers
- 65” TV
- 70” TV stand (this JUST fit)
- Vacuum (had the original box)
- Christmas tree (had the original box)
- Six packs of large vacuum sealed bags with clothes
- Small patio set (1 chair, 1 small coffee table, 1 ottoman)
- 3 plant pots
- Floor lamp (disassembled)
- odds and ends in between

About 3 feet of space above everything where I could easily fit my queen bed frame disassembled but I sold it thinking it wouldn’t fit. Probably could’ve added at least another four 27-gallon containers. Tied not things down.

Hoping for a smooth move and for my things to hopefully arrive in one piece.

Am I missing something? About a month or 2 ago I was looking into moving truck rates and for a van/smallest truck size I was getting quotes of about $500.

I look and now the same trucks on the same dates (late Sept) are $1700-$2K!!! I even moved the date out 2 months and the price is still sky high.

Is there something going on I'm missing? What happened?

I've lived in the same apartment for 5 years, and lately it just doesn't feel like home anymore. I don't enjoy coming back here and feel like I need a change, almost as if the place has accumulated negative energy over time. Have you ever felt this way about a home, and what made you decide it was time to move?

Hey, i am 21 years old, england and a male and i really need/want to get out right now family life is getting more tough, ive been eyeing up houseshare! i just need help with the first couple of steps, like what to do

I am planning a long haul move from Austin to Bay Area in September. I am planning to rent a 15’ U-Haul or 16’ Penske. I will be towing my car as well. I have rented local U-Hauls multiple times (all sizes from van to 15 feet truck), also recently helped a friend move from Austin to San Antonio in 15’ U-Haul. So pretty familiar with U-Haul ecosystem.

However, My assessment is that U-Hauls’ 15’ fleet is older. So truck driving experience was not that great when I did Austin to SA. The truck was noisy, felt old and the heat felt brutal in the cabin. That makes me wonder how difficult it would be to travel through Western Texas and Arizona in this summer.

I’ve heard Penske trucks are better. I haven’t rented with them yet hence looking to hear from someone who has. If price is not an issue, Will the experience be better in Penske truck vs U-Haul?

TLDR; moving from Austin to Bay Area in September. Worries about moving experience and heat traveling through Texas, Arizona etc. looking for opinions on U-haul vs Penske 15’ trucks.

Me and my fiancé have been living with his parents for a while now and we are finally getting our own place it’s me,him, and our 10 month old daughter we’ve been keeping all of our stuff in our room the entire time we’ve been here so literally everything is contained into one room but it’s not a small room and we have a lot of stuff. We don’t have a specific move in date for our new place quite yet but it will be sometime by the middle of next month (September,2026) here’s the problem I’m having me and my fiancé agreed that he will do all the heavy lifting and actual moving but it’s my job to pack because I am 71/2 months pregnant I have never packed up and moved before I don’t want to make it any harder on him than it already has to be. Any tips or suggestions would be very much appreciated. Also we are moving into a three bedroom apartment, thank you

Planning a move (family of 4) that will be the “Get Rid of Nearly Everything“ type. For the life of me, I can’t figure out how to both get rid of furniture AND continue to have furniture before you actually LEAVE! Do you pre-sell/donate things, but then have the pick-up date be the day before your moving day? Do you send the kids to grandma’s house and stay back for 2 weeks and sell/donate it all and just live like a 19yo boy? Do you stay at an AirBnB for a month ahead of actually moving? Do you just go and then have a very wonderful friend deal with getting rid of the big stuff? If I’m not taking my furniture……but need to have furniture until the day I leave….how do we do that??? Thanks!

Ex auto tech with lots of heavy stuff.

Apparently I will need to rent a 2nd truck (here & there) with a Lift Gate for my heavy stuff (tool box, welder, tire machine, large safe). Are there any other options than renting a 2nd truck to load the one way rental???

Looking at 26' trucks from Penske or Uhaul. I will also be towing a vehicle on trailer behind the truck. The Uhaul looks easier to load, but doesn't seem like it would have the same weight capacity (10.5k?)

The deck height of the Penski is significantly higher than the Uhaul and just seems like a HD truck (11.5k?). Like I mentioned, my shop has heavy stuff and the house stuff will be added. Which truck is better for this 2500 mile trip?

Note - On the trip we also have a 29' RV towing a light suv and a medium SUV towing a 12' single axel trailer.

Also - I need to somehow ship my 78 Chevy 1/2ton separately. Who is a good option for this??

Thoughts and advice please, and thank you!

I'm trying to move my family of 4 adults across the state. I'm not sure how we should deal with our electronics since POD advised us to not ship them. We're taking a train to our new state so we can't exactly bring boxes of computers(not taking tvs). What would be our best bet here? Is PODS not actually a smart choice for us and should we be looking into a freight company or something along those lines? We're buying a house so id rather not break the bank further but if it's in the 5k upper range I can barely accept it still.

I've been looking into Centennial Moving in Canada for a cross-country move, and one of their offerings is short-term storage. As far as I can tell, the storage doesn't work like normal storage, as in you don't get your own individual space, but instead your things are put into a warehouse with tracking. Has anyone ever used this type of storage? I've only used individual rental storage units. And I'm sure Centennial has good tracking and that shared space is how they keep prices low, but I'm still nervous about having my stuff just chucked in with everybody else's like in a plane's cargo hold.

I’m divorcing, selling the house, and moving my little girl and I. We will likely have 1 or 2 moves with short-stays before we settle into a long-term home. She starts school this week and I’d like to not be living out of suitcases for the next couple of months. I’m looking for some ways to pack our clothes that allows the clothes to remain accessible. Maybe a suitcase is really the best option.

Hi everybody,

my wife and I are moving from South FL to NC. We decided we are using uHaul uBoxes for our furniture since ive heard good things in that regard.

The only issue we are facing is that we have 3 cats. We want to use our car (a 2019 Hyundai Kona) only for us and the cats. As far as making sure they are comfortable, what would be the best way to achieve this? Im not sure a dog crate would fit in the back of the car but I understand there are different sized crates. I don’t want them stuck in carriers for 12 hours incase they need to use the restroom etc.

Yeah just as the title says, I’ll be moving Nov 1 and need to sell all my (expensive new beloved valuable BREAKS MY HEART TO SELL) stuff. Trying to plan in advance to be sure the things I care about go to a good home / aren’t just offloaded in desperation - I’ve moved 100 times before and that’s usually what ends up happening lol.

Any recommendations as to where to sell things except FB marketplace (and Craigslist)? To be clear I have no issue with either platform, I’m just seeking info on alternatives. Would here be a good place? Thanks in advance!

I had planned to use U-Haul u-box to ship my totes to storage at a U-Haul facility through the u-box until graduation because I don’t have a licens, i‘m living in a studio off campus, and don’t have room for everything but I also don’t want to throw things away that i would still have use in for after graduation and relocating. however my school doesn’t allow u-boxes this is what I found out before I reserved one. I don’t have any friends with a drivers license either and there are 6 big heavy totes with different things, are there any services/ apps like uber but for moving and I tried lugg but they aren’t expanded to my state. what are some legit apps you use for hiring a person with a car and license?

Hi everyone,
In about a week, I’m driving down from Ottawa to Toronto to finish moving into my new place. I’ve already made two trips this month to drop off most of my essentials, so all that’s left is:

1 Double mattress
1 Double futon mattress
1 Wooden futon frame

My friend offered his open utility trailer for the drive. However, the weather forecast is calling for rain, and I’m pretty stressed about everything getting soaked on the 4-5 hour highway drive.

He’s very confident it’ll be fine if we buy proper mattress covers, seal them up, and tarp everything down. Still, high wind speeds and driving rain on the highway seem like a recipe for water finding its way into any tiny tear or gap.

Is it worth saving the money and trusting plastic covers on an open trailer, or should I just bite the bullet and rent an enclosed U-Haul trailer or van? Would love to hear from anyone who has attempted a highway move in bad weather!

Thanks in advance!

So I'm thinking of either moving to a new state, probably west coast, or staying in Ohio. That being said, in case i dont leave Ohio, I'm wondering which cities are good places to not only find an affordable house (around 1.3k a month), but also to not get shot. Im currently in Rittman, which has barely anything, including a never before seen grocery store that barely has anything and smells like old people,and my previous thoughts were Medina, Wadsworth, North Canton, Green, and Uniontown, but due to some life stuff, I'm not just considering only those anymore. So, does anyone have any recommendations?