Leaving Yonkers? How to Create the Perfect Moving Day Playlist for Your Long Distance Move

Thinking about moving to California? One thing you should know is that it takes a long time to get there from here, here being Yonkers and the rest of the greater NY area. Google puts the journey at just about 37 hours, which means a 4 to 5 day drive – and that’s for a fairly direct route. If you’re moving somewhere further up or down the West Coast, the journey may very well take much longer.

Music is essential for any long road trip. You don’t want to count on being able to pick up local radio the whole way – not only will there be areas where you can’t tune in any station, there will undoubtedly be times when the only station you can tune in will play the type of music you hate the most!  Avoid this by creating a playlist for your cross-country move. That way you’ll be sure to always have some music you enjoy listening to available to you.

Here’s what you need to keep in mind when creating a moving day playlist:

You’re Going to Need a Lot of Music

With a 37+ hour journey ahead of you, you’re going to need a lot of music. A playlist of your ten favorite songs simply isn’t going to cut it. DJs generally aim for 20 songs per hour; that means you will need about 750 songs if you’re committed to never hearing the same song twice. Does that sound completely insane? Relax – you can get by with creating multiple shorter playlists that you’ll listen to more than once throughout your epic cross country adventure.

Plan for Your Many Moods

One of the reasons music is so vital to long road trips is that music has a unique ability to impact our mood. Think about the state of mind you’d like to maintain while you’re driving miles and miles and miles. Upbeat, high energy tunes can help the journey speed by; you may want to create a playlist of calmer, more mellow tunes to help you relax when the traffic pattern gets a little tense.

Remember You’re Not Alone

Children and pets can’t ride in the back of the moving truck, which means that they’re going to be in the car with you. While older children can compile and enjoy playlists on their own – and appear to much prefer life with their headphones on! – that may not be something your younger kids can do. It’s not a bad idea to have a playlist featuring your little one’s favorite tunes to play when the “are we there yets” start. As for pets – most dogs and cats don’t state their musical preferences, but if you know a particular tune makes your hound howl or your kitty cringe, it’s a good idea to leave it off your moving day playlist.