Five kids, two adults, luggage, toys, DVD’s in an 8-passenger minivan.  It’s a tight fit but somehow we make it work at least once a year.  It takes us 17-hours with stops from Virginia to Florida to see Grandma and Grandpa.  On a recent trip we stopped at a rest area and a woman we didn’t know came up to us after noticing our “Got Triplets?” sticker on the back of our van and asked, “How do you do it?  We only have one child and we’re struggling with traveling!”

There are certainly a vast amount of difficult moments.  More then once I have dived over the front seat to hand/throw something to one of the kids in the back of the van, but for the most part it goes more smoothly than you’d imagine.

How do we do it?

1. Plan and pack ahead. Seems obvious but I spend the entire week before packing luggage and washing clothes so it’s ready to be packed in the van the night before we leave.   We make a list of everything we want to come with us and put as much of it as possible in the van so the morning we leave we have little to do.
2. Leave as early and quickly as possible. My husband and I get up early to do all the last minute things then we grab the big kids and put them in the van. Lastly we transfer the three girls from their cribs to the car. No diaper changes, just throw them in and go! We get out much faster this way.
3. Plan your stops. We make our first stop about an hour in. We change everybody out of the their PJ’s and into their comfortable traveling clothes. We grab breakfast to go and get back in. Lunch and dinner are also as quick as they can be, but we do take time to stretch our legs whether it’s running around at a rest stop or playing on a McDonald’s playground.  On our last trip I mapped out all the Chick-Fil-A’s before we left (a feature that you can do on Chick-Fil-A’s website) and we made a stop there, ate some good food and let the kids stretch their legs on the playground.  It’s the same with hotel stops – it’s better to plan ahead so you’re not pushing yourself and are able to find a place that can accommodate you.  We need three cribs/pack-n-plays because we don’t bring those with us, so this is something we’d need to be sure a hotel would have in advance.
4. A few new things help pass the time. New DVD’s help but we often have a new coloring book and/or reading book for each child.  My bigger kids actually look forward to their new items which makes the trip more bearable for them.
5. Just keep going! We know we have no choice but to get there so we go and make the best of it.  Even when the girls hate their carseats, we put them back in and plug along.  The reward is seeing Grandma and Grandpa on the other end.  That and the free babysitting.

What about you?  Any tips you’d care to share?