2016 is shaping up to be the summer of the road trip
Cheap fuel prices, and with summertime gas prices predicted to be the lowest in 13 years, families have more spare change to spend on their trip. 90% of Memorial Day travelers are planning to go by car according to AAA.
Image: Newsroom.AAA.com
Safety
• Traveling during the warm weather months, give yourself an extra five to ten minutes to get the car cool before putting the kids inside. It can be miserable and also dangerous in a hot vehicle. Plus this will get you off on a better start to your trip.
• Make sure the kids have all the snacks and drinks they need
Kids Play Tray for Snacks Great for Car Bus Train and Plane Journeys
Cozy Greens® Backseat Car Organizer - Must Have For Traveling With Kids
High Road Kids Food 'n Fun Car Seat Organizer with Cooler and Snack Tray
• Make sure that you have the directions to your destination set up on your GPS
Google Maps App (iTunes/Google Play)
How To: Use Google Maps Offline When Traveling
Waze - GPS, Maps & Traffic (Google Play/iTunes)
Garmin nüvi GPS
• Place your sunglasses and glasses by you/driver
Driver’s See Through Sun Visor that blocks glare from the sun and oncoming traffic could be a good idea in addition to glasses.
• Take out (if not already) electronic toll collection device, such E-Z Pass, and mount onto the windshield
• Phone charger is plugged in and ready to charge phone that is put away into a cupholder
• Or if you are using it as GPS or handsfree calling, make sure that the phone mount is securely in place
We have used on many road trips and love the iOttie Easy One Touch Car Mount
• Answering the phone on the road is not a safe option. Best, if you do have to, is to use Bluetooth for hands-free system
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Aruba Vacation - Kids Gadgets and Accessories
How to Get Your Phone and Tablet Travel Ready
Summer Family Trip to Norwalk CT
more tips for summer road trip below
Entertainment
• Keep the backseat passengers busy and enjoying the ride
• Play movies and shows
Best way to watch movies in the car is with a mount that would hold the iPad or other tablet in place, hands-free, and away from kids' faces. Giving them a better view and also some distance from the screen.
• Listen to music
iPod Nano these days is under $100 and has 16GB of storage which can hold around up to 30 hours of music. More than enough for most road trips.
• Share the sound
Better yet, the backseat passengers can share the music, as long as they agree on the genre, for duration of the ride without needing an extra MP3 player. A headphone jack splitter will allow multiple users to plug into the same device and listen to the tunes
• Charge All Your Gadgets
Using the car's cigarette lighter, or better name would be an electrical port since we never use it for that, you can charge your gadgets with the USB chargers specifically designed to fit there. We currently have the Griffin dual USB charger in the front. It has been plugged in there for 3+ years. The latest gadget for charging your devices in the car is the Belkin Road Rockstar with 4 USB Ports. Not only does it have the same USB plug for the electrical port, but it also has an extension that is pulled through to the backseat and 2 other devices can be plugged in. The secondary portion has 2.4A ports that can charge tablets.
Extra
• The Best Part of Road Trips is…
• Water Safety Tips for Kids
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1 comment:
Great tips! So important to remember to charge the gadgets before hand... guilty of forgetting that too many times to count :) Thanks for all of the suggestions!
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