Transitioning from the Tundra: Part 2

Sam's taxi service 

Well would you look at that, I made it around to a part 2! I will say that I am enjoying the rest that comes from my new unemployment status, as I sit here and write this at 9am on a Monday from the comfort of my couch. As nice as it is to take a break, I am a “doer” so I am already starting to get a bit restless in my inactivity. Sam and I enjoyed a week-long visit with his Dad in which we were out and about exploring and adventuring when the weather allowed for it (see attached pictures!). Other than that though, the next two weeks are devoted to getting some Alaskan based wedding tasks completed as well as clearing out and packing up the rest of our lives out here. This brings me to the focus of this part 2 post which is going to be about the moving process. 

Some items from our
first of 3 yard sales

To begin, let’s journey back to the summer of 2014 when I made my move to Alaska to live on my own for the first time. I packed up two rubbermaid storage totes with about 60 pounds of belongings each and mailed them to my little Alaskan village, for about $80-$90 a piece (yay postal costs!). Luckily for me, I would get a large chunk of my moving expenses reimbursed. I then took a large suitcase and carry-on bag with the rest of my stuff. That was when I was single and only planning to live in Alaska for 4 months. Fast forward to current day, 4 years later, to the point that I have made what I like to consider a quaint and cozy home for myself and Sam in Nondalton. If you’d like, we can insert some “aw how cute” and other little happy thoughts after that sentence. 

Cessna loved having
her grandpa here!

This quaint and cozy little home has been fine and dandy, up until we decided we would uproot ourselves and move across the country to who knows where. That’s where things get hectic. You see, we don’t have the option of packing up a U-haul and driving home. Could that happen from Anchorage, yes in theory it could, but that’s not happening so we’ll focus on what is. As we don’t know where exactly we are going to end up, we just started shipping stuff to my parent’s house in Pennsylvania. Are we taking everything with us? No way! We have spent a lot of time weighing out the costs of sending items home versus buying new once we get there. Obviously personal items are coming home, but various household items and tools were decided upon based on whether or not it was cost effective to mail them home. The items not coming along have been sold and will be sold at our final yard sale this weekend, or will be donated to our tribal office for distribution at their discretion. Our options for mailing are to mail totes which would cost about $100 per 50-60 pounds or to send items in “Flat Rate” boxes in which you can send whatever you can get in the box for one set rate. From experience, you can fit about 30 pounds of heavy items into the box and it’ll still be $17.65. Another thing to consider is how far these heavy boxes are going to travel and how much tape it takes to reinforce them to ensure they get there safely. To date, my dad has only recorded one “casualty” of mailing in which a classroom fidget toy I had basically exploded it's insides and oozed all over everything. Special shout out to Papa Dukes for cleaning up that mess! 

<3 

Something else to take into account is that by using the flat rate boxes, we are not able to properly organize the boxes as you would for a typical move. We can’t just label a package as “kitchen box 1” because you need to use up all your space in these boxes which means cramming random stuff from random places into the box. It will be like Christmas morning when we find a place to live and move in, because I couldn’t tell you what’s in 97% of the boxes. Heck, I just packed up 3 boxes yesterday and couldn’t really tell you for certain what’s in any one of them. Could we have made itemized lists of content in each box? Sure. Is that something I would be known to do? Definitely. But let’s be honest, ain’t nobody got time for that...so Christmas it is! 

Adventures on the muddy tundra!

Thankfully, the postal service has a fun little service known as “media mail” that we learned about thanks to a friend who moved from Alaska last year. As books and other media are heavy and therefore costly to send, the postal service has allowed for lower rates on boxes solely devoted to books, movies, etc. These boxes can be any size, so we have sent about 4-5 of them with various books and my non-digital teaching materials. The nice thing about these boxes, aside from the low cost of sending them, is that I know at least a general idea of what's inside each one. I will say I am so grateful that most of my materials are digital because I can’t imagine sending binders and boxes full of worksheets and manipulatives. 

Saying "see you later"

Finally, something I am most proud of is our organization of luggage. We are going to be using up ALL of our checked bags and carry-ons to get our more bulky items home. When Sam’s mom was in Anchorage, we sent her with a duffel bag full of our personalized blankets and knick-knacks. When his dad just let, he took home 2 of our important pieces of framed artwork as well as some of Sam’s bulkier belongings. Those might not seem all too crafty in the scheme of sending things home, but here’s where I got mathematical and organized. In June, I will travel to Juneau before making my final trip home to PA. However, the week before I come home for good, I will travel home for a weekend to attend my brother's wedding. Both times, I will fly on Alaska Air, where as an Alaskan resident I get two free checked bags as well as the normal carry-on and personal item. To send a 50 pound rubbermaid tote within the state costs about $25, and with patience and a plan you can fit a lot into a tote. With that said, I have mailed 3 totes to Juneau in addition to flying with my large duffel bag which will be checked baggage and my smaller duffel that will be a carry-on item. While I will be home for just 60 hours for my brother’s wedding and therefore just need a small duffel bag worth of stuff, I will be traveling with 2 totes, a carry-on duffel and my backpack. I will leave the two totes and most contents of the backpack behind and return to Alaska with an empty backpack and the small duffel, which will no longer contain the clothing I need for the wedding festivities. A week later when I return to PA for good, I will also bring with me a checked bag, tote, carry-on, and backpack. A large majority of our belongings are coming home in this process, so for $75 and the cost of plane tickets I had to buy regardless, I am pretty proud of this organizational feat. 

Our adventure pup LOVES boating

In all honesty, reliving this packing process is making my brain hurt, but I wanted to be able to explain what the moving process is. To be honest, the most stressful thing about this whole process for me is not knowing where these boxes are going to end up! As we’re going to be staying with my parents in PA, hopefully for no more than a few weeks, until we find a place to call home for awhile, we won’t be opening or unpacking these boxes. We'll pretty much live out of our bags as much as possible instead of trying to take a gamble on opening boxes to find specific items. After this whole relocating process, I will never again under-appreciate the ease of packing up a car or U-haul with all of your belongings. For anyone moving in the near future, I wish you luck and happy packing!