Hey there, maybe I can lend a hand as I just moved back about 10 babies myself! I moved from PA to IL (about 10 hours) and all of my little ones had no problem with it.
First off, I got glass pasta sauce jars prepared (rinsed with bleach and water VERY thoroughly) and filled them with about three inches of water. I screwed the lids on (you can drill a hole in the top if you want; I didn't and they were fine) and most importantly I found was to place them in a duffel bag to keep them in the dark. Keeping them in the dark seemed to keep them in their sleep-like state for the entire ride. Seriously, they didn't even have stress lines the entire way back!
As for the water cycling issue. When I was tearing down their tanks I put the gravel in some heavy duty Ziploc bags with some of the already cycled water from their tank. When I set them up at home, the bacteria had survived and my tank was completely cycled from the get go.
I hope this helps you out! Good luck, but I'm sure he'll be just fine.
