Travelling with Triplets.

We have family far away.  When I say far away, I mean about 600 km away (400 miles).  So when the boys were little, we had to find a way to travel with them for a trip that would take about 8 hours.  Well, it used to take us only 8 hours.
To be fair, we didn't make the trip until the boys were about 5 months old.  We didn't even want to try with them any younger.  We figured that the boys would need to eat at least once on the trip if we could time things right. This is how we did it.
Step one.  Pack for ourselves.  Do this the night before.  It will save time in the morning.  We like to leave about 7:00 am.
Step two.  Pack for the boys.  Do this the night before.  At least with everything that could be packed away. We made sure that everything possible was ready before we were ready to go.
In the morning, we made sure that the van was packed before we got the boys out of bed.  We got them out of bed and did the whole feed and change process.  Then we put them in the van.  This would allow us the maximum time on road before we would have to stop. That is why it's important to feed them last and be ready to go.  You don't want to waste a half and hour or 40 minutes packing the van up with the playpens, clothes etc. after they've been fed.
We wondered how to warm up bottles on the road.  The boys were on formula at this point in there lives.  The answer seems so simple it was embarrassing.  We had gotten into a habit to making the days formula in advance by the jug full, pouring into bottles and then warming it up in a crock pot for a few minutes when we fed the boys.  So this was our mind set.  It took us a while to figure out to bring the powder formula and the luke warm water separately and then just mix what we needed when we needed it. So simple.
The first time we stopped, we thought, fast food.  We went into the restaurant, fed and changed the boys and then we ordered and ate.  This whole process, took us about 90 minutes.  It still seemed slow.  There had to be a better way.
On the trip back, we stopped at a sit down restaurant.  We got a table and asked the waitress to give us about 20 minutes before we placed our order.  We were half way through the feeding the boy process when we ordered.  The boys were just finished eating when our hot food came to the table. We ate and then hit the road.  This time it took us just over 60 minutes.  The fast food bill was about $22.00 for my wife, myself and our 7 year old son.  At the sit down restaurant the bill was just over $30.00 because we ordered carefully.  The time saved and the fact that the food wasn't fast food was well worth the extra $8.00.  The sit down restaurant was also much more comfortable to hang out in for that hour.
Other than the meal time, we only took the boys out of their seats a couple of times during the trip for a diaper change.  They were content for the most part.  On the way there, they started to fuse when we were about 10 minutes from our destination.  I am so glad that they are good travellers.
I just realised  that I stopped at step 2.  There are hundreds of steps as any parent of multiples will tell you.  The best thing to do is find what works best for your family and you children.
We have made the trip about four time a year since the first time and we have adapted as the boys have grown.  Perhaps I will write about that another time.
Have a great day.
Triplet Dad.