13 Tips For Safe Summer Road Trips With Kids

Family Travel Safety Tips and Gadgets

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

Related articles:
Family Trip to DR - What To Pack
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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

Travel-Themed kids packs that include 20-page activity booklet, fun souvenirs to review, flashlight adventures, trading cards, stickers and luggage tags. These will keep them busy for awhile.

• Play movies and shows

collee Universal Car Back Seat Headrest Mount Tablet Holder

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.

Apple iPod nano 16GB

• 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

Belkin Rockstar Multi Headphone Splitter

• 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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5 Cool New Bike Gadgets To Hit The Road This Summer

5 Cool New Bike Gadgets To Hit The Road This Summer

Bicycle has been a mode of transportation for centuries. It is making a come back in small and large cities as an alternative to gas powered automobiles for shorter commutes. Bicycling is the greener convenient transportation.

Cargo Scooter

Image via indiegogo

Similar to cargo bike but smaller and best for shorter distances. Cargo scooter would be convenient for trips to store or as a transport to not carry you bags. Put suitcase on the front cargo rack, then scoot down to the train or bus station. Transfer suitcase on the bus rack, fold up the scooter, put that next to the suitcase, and you are ready to go. It is compact enough to fold up neatly in small spaces.

TagaBikes
www.tagabikes.com

A bike with a stroller built in. You can bike around with your little one, go to park, around the neighborhood, or sightseeing. And when you need to go into a store, museum, or similar, you can fold up the bike to convert it into a full size stroller. Convenient and fun transportation for both of you.

Carry your pet on your bike. Similar to the bike stroller for parents and kids, this bike add-on is for transporting you and your pooch safely. Made specificallyfor carrying small-sized pets securely and legally on a motorcycle, scooter or bicycle.

Bike Light/Camera

Bike lights are quite useful to make the biker visible to traffic. This innovation on tried and proved bike gadget not only works as a bike light but has a built in camera to record what is happening around you while on a bike trip. Could be used for great scenic videos or to review what happened if something occurs on the road.
Cycliq Fly6 HD Camera and Rear LED Light

Scuba Biking - Image: Instagram Techieattire

Biking Accessories

CamRah Bike Phone Mount Kit with Mounted Bicycle Light

Bike Light

Bicycle Roswheel Rear Seat Trunk Bag

Bike Mount for smartphone

Mini Bike Pump with Bonus Glueless Puncture Repair Kit

Unlimited web hosting Only $5.95

Sound-off: Are you planning any bike adventures? What is your favorite place to bike? Let us know below

Is your phone/tablet/computer open to hacking? Protect the ones you love with a PIA VPN service for safe and secure Web Browsing: VPN for Android VPN for iOS

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Travel News - Gadget Related - May

Travel News - Gadget Related - May


From Travel Sites & Blogs:

Google's Project Fi for Travelers: It's Great, If You Can Use It
Google Project Fi is a new US-based cell service that is able to switch automatically between the T-Mobile and Sprint networks as needed, and you could call and text over Wi-fi. Also included are free texts, $0.20/min calls and data at $10 per GB. With no annual contract required.
https://fi.google.com/about/

A sneak peek at Google’s upcoming travel app, Trips
techcrunch.com/2016/04/29/a-sneak-peek-at-googles-upcoming-travel-app-trips

Review: Skross World Adapter MUV USB
traveltech.about.com/Review-Skross-World-Adapter-MUV-USB

Skross World Adapter

SKROSS® World Adapter PRO Light from SKROSS on Vimeo.

Features of gaming gadgets to travel with
outoftownblog.com/features-of-gaming-gadgets-to-travel-with

Travel Tip: Apps for Packing, Lost Luggage, and Food Allergies
petergreenberg.com/2016/04/29/travel-tip-travel-apps

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for the Traveling Mom
jmanandmillerbug.com/2016/05/mothers-day-gift-ideas-traveling-mom.html

Mother's Day Travel Tech Gift Guide
traveltechgadgets.com/2016/05/mothers-day-travel-tech-gift-guide.html

JetBlue Rewards Passengers Every Time a Baby Cries During Flight
cntraveler.com/stories/2016-05-03/jetblue-rewards-passengers-every-time-a-baby-cries-during-flight

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Memorial Day - Summer Start - Travel Start

Must-Have Travel Gadgets for Summer

Memorial Day (May 30,2016) is the official kickoff for the summertime travel season. So that means that the airports will be hopping. Expect the roads to be packed with people making the most out of their four-day weekend as well. I have put together a graph of the worst travel days during the holidays here: Top Holidays for Travel & Their Rating. Weekends are the busiest travel days during the summer and holidays.

Mother's Day Travel Tech Gift Guide

Mother's Day Travel Tech Gift Guide:

Does your mom travel by car?

iPad
Keep the passengers entertained with pre-loaded games, shows, and movies.

Apple iPad Air

Tablet Holder
Easiest way to watch movies and shows for the rear passengers is hands-free with the iPad or other tablet mounted onto the seat's headrest

iPad Air Car Headrest Mount Holder

Point-and-Shoot
For a quick and quality shot from the car or a quick pit stop, a small digital camera would a great travel gadget for mom. A point-and-shoot with great optical zoom will let you shoot from a distance yet get clear up-close shots. Cameras, such as the one below, also have 1080p videos, high sensitivity sensor with 20 Megapixels.

Canon PowerShot SX610 HS - Wi-Fi Enabled

Does your mom take the long and more scenic way on a train?

Pocket Tripod
One of the biggest benefits of train travel is the scenery. When traveling through the countryside, it is likely that you would have an opportunity to get out and take it in and take some shots. To get the best shot set up a tripod, especially at dawn or dusk. The Tiltpod Pocket Tripod is one top gadget in this category. It attaches to your camera’s strap, and is small enough to carry in your handbag.

DSLR
Good camera captures a lot of light at the right moments and limits the light coming in at another. Cameras best at this are DSLRs. On train trip you would get the best scenic shots with a semi-pro camera that is quite user friendly.
Top Recommendations for Travel & Outdoor Photography

Nikon D3300 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR

Laptop
Train travel is a slower pace trip. The time spent in travel also would let your mom or anyone else traveling with her to catch up on movies, shows, and making of albums, movies and other things that have been pushed aside by regular daily activities. And, if really have to, catch up on some work stuff as well.

Portable External Battery Charger
All these devices need to remain charged up to be used during the trip.  A battery charger with lots of mAh would keep your mom's gadgets going throughout the trip.

Anker Astro 5200mAh Candy bar-Sized Ultra Compact Portable Charger

Does your mom take a flight to reach her holiday destination?

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones
Screaming kids, teenagers, and adults. Not a great combination in a small enclosed space. Tune all of these out with a good pair noise-cancelling. headphones. Headphones, such as the Bose Quiet Comfort cancel out all noise around you. Enjoy the silence or listen to your own music, without having to turn it up to hear it clearly.

Kindle
Mom can get comfy in limited space and also tune out the surroundings with a good book. On Kindle, she can preload multiple titles to pass the time in the airport and on the airplane.

Kindle Paperwhite

Does your mom like to take in the sites on a cruise?

Two-Way Radio
A walkie-talkie might seem like a rather old fashioned type of gadget to use, though if you’re traveling with a family or a few friends it is a great way to stay in touch on a cruise ship. Ships are well known for their lack of (or blocking) cellular services and Wi-Fi. Which makes it very hard or very expensive to communicate using your smartphone. A set of walkie-talkies makes it simple to keep track of everyone around the ship and get together whenever necessary.

Waterproof case for iPhone
Waterproof cases mean you can snap pictures, watch movies and send text messages in the wettest of environments without damaging the iPhone or iPad

Lifeproof case

Lifeproof FRE SERIES iPhone 6/6s Waterproof Case

For Mother's Day get $50 Off Fire HD 10 Tablet

Sound-off: What will you be doing for Mother's Day? Any travel plans?
What is your mom's favorite gadget?
Let us know below

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