Regardless of your destination, packing for a trip can be a hectic process. When you find yourself preparing for a year away at a university, potentially cross-country or even across the continent, there are even more factors to consider that lead to added stress. We’ve already shown you tips for flying internationally but what about all the preparation that is needed before flying to college?
In all honesty, if you’re a veteran at moving to a new country this post may not pertain to you. We hope that you have this process down to a science by now! But, if it’s your first time moving for school, it’s important to know that flying to college is not simple, but can be rewarding in the long run.
You will be engrained in a new community, amongst new friends, and maybe you will find yourself adjusting to a new time zone. While it’s true that packing is only step one, it’s arguably the most important step. Below, we explore 5 critical tips for flying to college.
How to Fly Cross Country for College With Ease: 5 Tips
1. Plan on Purchasing Items When You Arrive at Your University
Originally, this was last on our list. But then we realized that when you are packing for your trip to university, it’s best to start with the things you don’t need to bring.
Everything you determine that can be bought at your final destination, like toiletries, food, and some clothing items will help leave more room for things that might not have made the cut otherwise.
In the event that you are making purchases for pick-up, popular chains often offer the option to order at one location and pick it up in the city where your university belongs. This leaves more room for the essentials to be brought.
2. Ship Large Items in Advance
Do you ever see someone at the airport lugging around a mattress? How about a couch? We didn’t think so.
This is definitely one of the more obvious items on our list. However, it’s particularly critical due to the amount of advanced planning that comes with shipping a larger item like household furniture.
Besides those larger items, shipping clothes is another way to lighten your load. If you can’t pack your life into a few suitcases, long-distance shipments will be helpful.
3. Consider The Timing of Your Next Flight
When you are flying to college, space is limited, and decisions must be made. If your plan for the year includes a three-month block without returning home, you will have a larger window of potential weather forecasts to plan for. This is critical because packing for a variety of weather forecasts can put a strain on your available space. For example, a cold environment will require bulkier clothes and footwear that take up more room in your suitcases, while a warm environment will leave more space for you to work with.
If you flying to an easily accessible part of the country, frequent flights home might be affordable and convenient. In this situation, you may have the ability to pack for the short-term, as you can simply bring a new seasonal wardrobe back to school after your next trip home. However, this doesn’t apply to more desolate locations, and if you are flying to college overseas, our tips for flying internationally will prove to be valuable as you prepare for your flight to college.
Packing for college can make you more excited about the first few weeks of your semester than the last few weeks. But make no mistake, these are equally important! If you are trying to save room, there are options to explore.
4. Only Bring What You Need
We have covered a variety of airport travel tips in the past, and a common theme is to “keep it simple.” Flying to college is no different than any other trip in that sense. Organization is a skill that will be invaluable in your studies and eventually in your professional life but being organized will first be beneficial for you while you pack your things to begin your college career. So, think about what you need. What are your favorite outfits? Shoes? Electronics – like your laptop, tablet, and chargers.
Getting through the airport will be the first hurdle you encounter during your travels, and neatly packed luggage will keep things moving. If you are strategic while packing and handle your luggage with care, you will be off the ground in no time.
You only have so much space so everything you bring needs to have a purpose. Also, remember that everything you bring will need to come home with you at some point. Even though you moved away for an extended period of time, it’s still a round trip.
5. But Leave Room For The Really Important Things
Personal belongings – including books, pictures, and posters, aren’t meant to be neglected. Even though you are moving away from home, you still need to take a piece of home along with you.
A lot of the basics can be replaced at your final destination which is why we stress only packing the essentials. That’s not to say that things that are personal and sentimental aren’t essential in their own way.
If you are flying to college, chances are you are traveling a decent distance which may lead to being homesick or missing your loved ones. As we mentioned above, items like jeans, sneakers, t-shirts, and toothbrushes can likely be replaced with relative ease but a particular framed photo or a personal souvenir won’t be so easy.
Using TravelRefund To Your Advantage
Traveling for college comes with a lot of preparation. You don’t want to have spent all that time getting everything ready to leave only to realize that your flight has been delayed, or worse, canceled. The truth of the matter is that flight delays could impact or even ruin your move in plans which could set the school year off on the wrong foot. So, you might be asking yourself is flight delay compensation worth it? That all comes down to the validity of your claim.
If you follow our tips for flying to college, you will be in total control of everything you can control. That’s all you can do! For everything else, you have TravelRefund.
Our mission is to ensure that your rights as an airline passenger are protected and that you get the EU flight delay compensation you deserve. Our no cure, no pay solutions will help calm any stress you have surrounding the process, and we want to fight for you.
Flight Delay Compensation
There is a purpose behind our mission. We never slow down, and we are always innovating our strategy to improve our process so that our clients get what they deserve in a timely fashion.
Our online flight compensation claim form makes it easy for you to take that next step. Once received we will review the case, free of charge.