Gadgets for road trips helps ease cries of ‘are we nearly there, yet?’
WITH our long, skinny country, car trips are an integral part of the Kiwi summer holiday.
A good trip to your holiday destination can set your family up for a lifetime of memorable moments but a bad one can set the tone for a grumpy, tense time away.
Gone are the days of several children floating around the back seat fighting with each other. Now children are strapped in tight but that means they may need more than a game of I Spy to keep them occupied.
Technology can help ease the cries of ‘‘are we there yet?’’ and offer a chance for parents to start their break in peace. A tablet is the perfect piece of technology for a road trip, although make sure it has a case to stop it from getting sticky or scratched.
You can load them up with enough movies and music to keep the children quiet for several hundred kilometres.
Make sure you turn the device into airplane mode unless you want your kids chewing through your data plan while watching Frozen music videos on YouTube.
Also, spend a bit of time downloading content as you don’t want to get halfway to your holiday spot to have your children say ‘‘is there anything else to watch?’’ One simple way to keep the children involved in the road trip is to let them use the Maps app on a device. It lets them follow the journey and offers a chance to talk about the places you are passing through and make them use maths to work our how far it is to the next destination.
Another app to consider is 52 Fun Things to Do in the Car (iOS, $1.29) which, as its title suggests, should keep your children busy for a while.
There are many affordable MP3 players available and music could keep your youngsters entertained for hours.
It is worth buying volumelimiting headphones so they don’t end up with the hearing of an ageing rocker.
One option is the Endeavour Kid Friendly Headphones ($39.95 from Noel Leeming).
If your children have phones they can take advantage of streaming music services such as Spotify or Pandora.
Also, it may be worth buying a splitter so you can plug two headphones into one device. Another way to keep your children busy is to arm them with an old point-and-shoot camera and entice them to record images of their journey.
Other uses can include making movies of the family singing, or recording their impressions of the trip so far.
If you don’t have an old camera, then you can always lend them your phone. A multiplug car charger will ensure your devices keep running for the entire trip. There are many to choose from but the Belkin Dual USB Car Micro Charger ($40 from Dick Smith) is very good. It is small and its two ports should mean you keep all your devices topped up.