Greetings from sunny Orlando, FL! I cannot believe it has been over 2 weeks since we packed up our house and drove nearly 1,000 miles from Baltimore to Orlando! This is the story of our journey, my husband Jason and I, along with our 2 kittens Merlin and Mim.
In the final days before we left, we emptied our entire house! We donated many items, sold some, and threw away some. These are some of the items we attempted to donate (not the boxes, those came with us).
We were able to donate my awesome 80's white wicker bedroom set but they wouldn't take the couch :( This explains why we were able to get rid of all of our furniture! It was so old and nasty that AMVETS wouldn't even take it!! We loaded up our porch with all of our stuff and AMVETS came to pick it up the next day! Easy peasy (except of course for the couch).
On Tuesday, our UPack ReloCube arrived right on schedule and even a bit earlier than I expected! The ReloCube is a moving POD (Google it) that they drop off at your home. You fill it up with whatever you want (except chemicals such as flammable gas) and they pick it up and deliver it to your new home. This was our choice because we have a small car and couldn't tow a trailer and we didn't want to drive a big moving truck 1,000 miles down the East Coast.
Wow looking back at this picture, I do not miss the chain link fence or power lines in front of our old house!!!
We weren't sure at first if the ReloCube would be big enough but it ended up being just fine and fit everything that we needed! The dimensions are 6’3"D x 7’W x 8’4"H.
The men in Jason's family were kind enough to help us take loads of trash to the dump and fill up the pod. They had everything done in just over an hour!! Mim ran and hid in one of our suitcases, she was totally freaked out :(
Merlin wasn't sure what was going on and watched the day's activities from the upstairs window in quiet wonder.
The pod was filled to the brim with 2 mattresses and box springs, our TV, TV Stand, game consoles, monitors, games, books, kitchen necessities, clothes, etc. It really couldn't get more perfect!
We called to make an appointment for UPack to pick up the ReloCube on Wednesday. They picked it up right on time, I was so happy that everything had gone so well so far!!
Finally, on Thursday, it was moving day!! I can't even begin to tell you how I felt that day. Excited, scared, sad, anxious...basically every emotion you could feel I felt that day. It has been my dream to move to Florida for a very long time now and I wasn't sure if it would ever happen. You know that feeling when you leave WDW and you think you just don't want to leave? It dawned on me that I would never have that feeling again, is that a good thing? I was afraid that I would lose some of the magic that I felt when I walked into any Disney park. But, many locals have told me that you begin to enjoy it in a different and more leisurely way. I was certainly looking forward to finding out!
As we packed up our house I felt so happy because our new house is WAY bigger for only $100 more per month. Case in point...this was literally our only closet in the old house!
And the lovely wooden board covering a giant hole in the wall where plumbing work was done...
We did have a very nice back porch that sadly did not get used often enough. We also had a big yard in the back where our landlord had a giant garden. But, we hardly went outside! That will certainly change in Florida because the weather is so nice all the time :)
Then it was time to pack up the car!! We have a 2009 2 door Chevy Cobalt. We packed it to the brim and it was not big enough to hold all our stuff. We had to leave behind some things and ended up throwing the rest away. Oh well, it was worth it!!
Bye bye house!
We were on our way! The kittens were safe and secure in a large carrier in the back seat...for now!
We left around 8PM Thursday night. We did not stop anywhere to sleep, we drove straight from Baltimore to Orlando - a 941 mile journey down I-95! Our quest had begun (queue Hyrule theme from The Legend of Zelda)!!
We had made the decision to give the kittens tranquilizers only if they needed them. We wanted to see how they did first. MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!! We should have just tranqued them before we left. About an hour down the road in the DC area, Merlin freaked out and pooped in the carrier. Mim freaked out too and I was picturing cleaning poop off of both of them at the next rest stop. Unfortunately the next rest stop was pretty far away so we had to deal with the smell for what seemed like a LONG time. But, luckily I am a planner and I was prepared for this. I had extra towels and baby wipes at the ready. But how were we going to do this in such a cramped car?? We moved some stuff from the back into the front so I could climb in the back and open the carrier, making sure all doors and windows were closed so the kittens didn't escape. It all worked out fine, we threw away the poopie blanket and I cleaned the inside with baby wipes (it was everywhere btw...ugh). Thankfully, Mim didn't even step in it. Not sure how she did that. Once I verified that she was clean we let her roam the car while I cleaned Merlin. Oh, Merlin. He had poop smashed in his paws, in between his toes, and all over his feet. It was pretty gross. But, we got it all cleaned up and I went into the bathroom to sanitize myself :)
After that we gave them the tranquilizers. It worked pretty well for Merlin but Mim only slept for about an hour before she was freaking out again. We stopped at another rest stop and decided to let her out of the carrier because the vet said it was ok. She calmed down after that and slept in the area between the back window and the seats. I sat in the back for the rest of the trip and pet her to keep her calm and that worked well. But, since I was so busy taking care of the kittens I didn't take any pictures until we got to Florida.
I think we stopped at 3 rest stops. One stop in North Carolina was a truck stop called Love's and I do not suggest anyone stop there. It was totally shady. At 1:30AM McDonald's was packed! I guess it was packed with teenagers because it was spring break. I gravitated towards a cop standing nearby while I waited for my food :) We filled up the gas tank twice for a total of maybe $80. I love my car, she's so fuel efficient!!
Around 6:30AM, Jason needed a break from driving. So I downed some 5 hour energy (an awesome present from the neighbors and friends we left in Baltimore) and took over while Jason slept in the back with the kittens. I had slept for maybe 1 hour. I forgot that I really have a hard time sleeping in cars.
As Jason slept, I listened to music from WDW. Everyone was asleep when we crossed into Florida :( The sight of the Welcome to Florida sign gave me the second wind that I so desperately needed. Jason woke up just before we stopped off at the highly anticipated Florida Welcome Center!
We took a longer rest here and let the kittens out to eat, drink, and use the small litter box we had brought with us. They were very curious as to what was going on!
Finally we were on our way again! We put the kittens back in the carrier and I sat up front while Jason drove. I think I drove maybe 3 hours? Jason drove the rest of the way, bless his heart! Once we hit I-4, I updated the property manager on our ETA because he was going to meet us at the house to give us the keys and do a walkthrough. We hit a lot of traffic on I-4 during lunch time on Friday which delayed us for almost 1 hour. This was the only traffic we hit the entire trip and it just HAD to be when we were 30 minutes away from our new house!
We got really giddy (and I cried) when we started seeing signs for Walt Disney World!
This billboard made me burst into tears! I realized that now I would have the chance to live a lifetime of Disney memories!! I couldn't wait to go home, stupid traffic!
Finally, we turned into our new neighborhood!! I just LOVE this little rock waterfall at the entrance and all the palm trees :) It was SUCH an incredibly beautiful Florida day!
We had made it. Safe and sound with 2 kittens, it was a rather uneventful trip and I was glad for that. In total, it took us a little over 16 hours. We had finally arrived at our dream home!
Our house is still rather empty right now so I haven't taken many interior photos yet. We bought a new bedroom set and office furniture but we still need a kitchen table, sofa, coffee table, etc. Right now we have an air mattress in our living room and some folding chairs, it's pretty ghetto!! Stay tuned for more photos of the new house plus stories from our first few weeks as Florida residents in Part 2 of this series.
I am truly blessed to have these experiences and I really do appreciate all the good things in life because I have been way down on my luck in the past. This is most definitely gonna be a good life!
If you haven't heard already, there is a new interactive game at the Magic Kingdom called Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. It is a Pokemon style card battle come to life where you battle in front of portals located around the Magic Kingdom. I had the chance to play this recently and I came up with some helpful tips to ensure that you and your party enjoy the game keeping in mind the other guests around you.