We're Moving!

I graduated from my master's program and took a new job - in New York! I've lived in Georgia all of my life and my wife has only lived in Georgia since she moved to the states 14 years ago (native Chilean, also lived in Spain and Russia briefly). So we are gearing up for an adventure!

The first thing we thought of was "Crap! We have to sell our house!" The second was "What the **** do we do about Mav!??!" Let me clarify, he has a firm place cemented in our hearts and will absolutely be going with us wherever we go. We are already looking into renting a townhouse or a home rather than an apartment, but this will be our first move all together.

As far as relocating our fids... any advice for keeping this as low stress as possible? Thankfully my work will be moving most of our stuff, and potentially our cars. But I'm wondering what would be best for Mav: to fly him up with us or for us to keep my SUV and drive him and his cage with us? I know the drive would be longer for him, but he does great driving in his Pak-o-bird and if he flies he will be in his tiny little carrier. Plus if we move his cage ourselves I can set it up as soon as we get there...

Any and all advice is welcome! We just want to make sure that he doesn't go through a bad experience. He does great traveling in the car (we've done up to about 4 hours with him without issue) and he floats between our house, my parent's house, and the birdy boarding place whenever we travel out of town and he seems to do fine with that.

I, too, got the Rb when I was in grad school, and have moved, started new jobs... all that good stuff. The most nerve-wracking was when we moved from New Mexico to Ohio. My husband drove the Uhaul and I drove our sedan, Rb in front seat, cat and dog in back. We dared not try to sneak the bird into motels. My husband took the dog and cat inside, and I slept in the car with you-know-who. He came out of his travel cage at night and terrorized the inside of the car (and me). Awful. But successful.
It's great that your darlings are already accustomed to travel by car. I would greatly advise that for your big move. I don't trust airline shipping, and in the Rb's case, if I tried to take him under the seat, we'd both be ejected mid-trip.

Congratulations!

How exciting!

Hahahaha oh man! I can't imagine sneaking them into motels!

Are there airlines that permit them to be transported in the cabin instead of in cargo? I'm pretty confident that he would behave if there's an airline that allows that. When he's in his carrier he usually just tears up paper and chatters quietly so long as we are in sight of him...

On the other hand... It would only be a 14 hour drive, which my wife and I can split and make the drive overnight so he would sleep through it. My wife and I do lots of road trips and made it down from Philadelphia to Atlanta over one drive! I'm thinking at night he might just sleep through it all if we cover him up.

Thankfully we won't be responsible for the U-haul ourselves! As I said though, my concern would be coordinating his cage arriving on time. Although we could always buy a "spare" and have on hand to foster My wife would kill me haha!

Congratulations, let the adventure begin! If you relocate near NYC, it will be an adjustment but wow, you'll be in sensory overload. I've spent time in nearly every large U.S. city and NYC is magical. The history, varied cultures, and FOOD. So many ethnic foods done exceedingly well.

Driving with Maverick would be an extension of his already tolerant nature. Frequent stops rather than a stressful tag-time drive would be easier.

My preference is to fly, and most airlines permit a limited number of accompanied pets in the cabin. ATL to the NYC airports would largely be the domain of Delta, American, Southwest. Also United to Newark. You'll need a carrier to fit below the seat in front of you, and dimensions are available online.

We will actually be upstate, not brave enough to try out NYC! But there are direct Delta flights, so I will look into their requirements.

It's just the 2 of us and Mav, so hopefully we can make that work. It's a 2 hour flight, so not bad at all.

We are super stoked to be close to NYC though. We've visited a few times, and the food/art/culture/music/events/EVERYTHING is amazing.

It doesn't get very cold (at least not long-term) down here in Georgia, so we usually don't worry much about his exposure to outside in terms of getting into and out of the car, opening the door long enough to bring in grocery loads, etc. Are there any special precautions to keep in mind with the colder extremes? When we had our week of zero degrees, we had to take him to my parents and we pre-heated the car and kept his carrier covered with a blanket when moving him from the car to inside.

What are the typical safe temperatures for parrots?

We drive to Florida from NJ with the three fids every year or twice a year even.

It is a great bonding experience for all.

its pretty chill.
flying sounds like it would be much more stressful...?

Welcome to the Great White North! You will quickly find out the why of "Snow Birds." The effort of moving Parrots around in the late Fall, Winter and early Spring is the same as you had done when it got cold there. One change is that it becomes standard practice anytime you move your Parrot. If you need a coat, you Amazon will need a cover. Its just that simple.

The when comes into play!!! This time of year, as the fight begins between the Cold of the far North and the Warmth of the far South and the battleground occurs across that area. So, it will be important to know when the move will occur regardless of whether you will be traveling by air or SUV.

If your SUV has all-wheel-drive, you will quickly learn the advantage of great snow and mud tires and all-wheel-drive.

Lots to think about.
If you elect to go by air, remember that you will need to obtain a health document prior to your flight and that can take up to thirty days to make happen. See your CAV ASAP to get everything is place so when you have your flight scheduled you will have your health document as well. Once you know the airline, contact them. It will be worthwhile to check with Scott, which airlines are better when traveling with your Parrot. Remember his comment regarding the number of Pets allow in the cabin!!!

The south is losing a good man and a great Amazon, but the north will be greatly improved. Good luck on the trip! Take good pictures! Have fun storming the castle! Yeah I got no good advice but wishing you a good move and home in New York.

We drove lots of places with our BFA. When making reservations, I told them I had a small bird in a cage, he was quiet and would not be out of the cage, is that a problem? Nope, never a problem. You just can't leave them in the car to do sightseeing or lunch.

I just flew from Seattle to DC and back with Bumble (Pacific Parrotlet). Her XS Pak-o-bird fit under the seat in front of me perfectly, so for a larger one you’d want to check dimensions with airline specs. Might still work, and she only had to be under the seat at takeoff and landing.

I flew Alaska. I know Delta and United also allow birds in cabin. There is a fee. It was $100 each way on AK, I think it’s slightly more on others. You can google “delta pet policy” (insert airline of your choice) and you should be able to find the details.

If you do fly, when you get to the airport, tell every TSA agent you pass that you have a live bird and are there any special requirements for security. In Seattle apparently I was supposed to have an escort through security (I didn’t know), flying out of Virginia was totally different. The TSA agents may or may not be on top of their game. What Seattle did (and what I told them to do in VA) was take her and her pak past the X-ray scanner stuff, have me go through as usual, and then they walked us to a private screening room. There I was able to safely take her out while they took her pak and ran it through the machine.

I did not need a health certificate to fly on AK, but I did need one to bring her into Virginia (Website looked like I didn’t, state vet office said I did - better safe than sorry). You can-and probably should-call the state veterinarian’s office in NY to find out the requirements for moving a bird into the state. They may be different than just traveling with a bird.

All in all, except for dumb TSA staff in Virginia, the flight experience went very well for us. And you do attract a bit of attention traveling with a parrot!

Good luck either way, and congratulations on completing your degree [emoji2]

EDIT: do make your bird’s reservation when you make yours if you decide to fly. They limit pets in the cabin-I think most airlines will allow 2. You can reserve online but you’ll need to call to add the pet in cabin. You also have to check in at the counter when you get to the airport so you can do online check in but you won’t get your boarding pass.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Kiwi loved the drive from AZ to OR when we moved up here. 3 days in a Uhaul with his favorite humans and being allowed to eat less than healthy since we were on the road? He had a blast made happy squeals and honks the whole way If Maverick likes car rides half as much as Kiwi, I think he'd be fine if not overjoyed at the extended road trip Plenty of hotels these days are pet friendly, so a little research beforehand of pet friendly hotels along your projected route will be helpful at the end of a long day driving. Good luck in your big move!

So, are you going to be just north of NYC? I have lived here all my life, and know quite a few great Avian vets in and around the city. If you need any referrals let me know. I have a 34 yr. old BFA named Sam. Welcome to New York!

As Kiwi's mom has so well stated; If your Amazon likes road trips, your Amazon will love a longer trip! Our Amazon sees it as a personal afront, if we are traveling and he is not with us. Yup, we get that Cold Wing Shoulder thing!

His prior owner's were Snow Birds and travel from far Northern Michigan to the far Southern Gulf Coast of Texas every year. Plus trips in the South during Winter and also in the North during Summer. If it even looks like we are going some place other than the store, he is at the door, ready to go!

Also, your point regarding having the cage with you! Kiwi's mom made a big point of having that cage at the back of the Uhaul, so it was one of the first things moved in and step-up! It makes life a lot easier for your Amazon when the Cage is ready!

When we moved three and half years ago, all the way across town, our Amazons cage was the first thing set-up. Our Julio is not as open to 'new things' as his buddy Kiwi, but with his cage anchoring everything. Live was going his way!

Enjoy The Trip, regardless of, which method you use! Just remember: The family that travels together stays together - or something like that!

Kentuckienne said:

When making reservations, I told them I had a small bird in a cage, he was quiet and would not be out of the cage

Click to expand...

Kentuckienne makes a good point. In my experience, most pet friendly motels/hotels have no problem having a caged parrot stay with them, but it's a good idea to make sure in advance. At one place I stayed with George the YCA, the desk clerk asked if I could bring the parrot in so the manager could see him. I did. George greeted the manager with a friendly "Hello George!" and the manager said "he can stay." That despite the fact the manager's name was not George, it was Lisa.

Thanks to all for your advice and anecdotes!

I guess in all my excitement I forgot the key detail: we'll be in Rochester, NY.

I've checked in with Delta (they're the only direct flight from here) and for a "fee" to the tune of $125 he can fly with us. I've got a health cert on file for him since we just had our annual, so at least that option is open.

I'm not unopposed to driving still! But the company will be providing me with relocation so I'm still waiting to hear the details of all of that and depending on the level of support during the move will probably be the most determining factor of how we travel.

After hearing all of your stories, I feel much more confident that Mav will tolerate either driving or flying. Flying would certainly be more stressful but much shorter, whereas driving would probably be easier for him initially but it would be a longer stretch. As I said, we'll see what the relocation company provides and go from there.

For everyone living up north, we would love to meet your fids and have a little playdate once we get settled! We don't interact with anyone here near us with birdy babies, so that could be fun!

Well, Rochester is kinda far from NYC. Probably about 6 hours. Good luck on the trip and new job.