Best Travel Tools for Family Vacations

Traveling this Summer?  We are too!  I absolutely LOVE to travel with my family over the summer months – it’s a great time of bonding, teachable moments, and memories we are all creating together.  

I remember our road trip in Alabama when I noticed a strange large green bug was on my Mother-in-Law’s blouse, who was sitting in the backseat.  I calmly informed her…she panicked and flicked the bug forward…right onto my husband who was driving!  He of course freaked out and we swerved a bit but he was able to get us to the side of the freeway to “free” the bug from our car.  We laughed about it the whole rest of the trip.

Or the time we were driving through Mississippi and we saw the largest Firework booth…well, it was actually a 1/2 mile long tent, full of fireworks…and it was open until 11pm at night!  We only have small firework booths in Southern California.  We must have bought a couple hundred dollars worth of fun fireworks, without a clue as to where to launch them. The kids had an absolute blast choosing them, we couldn’t resist!

One thing we all know that whether traveling in the car, by plane, or train, you’re going to need power to keep your family’s gadgets charged.  We’ve got a great solution for charging as well as other fun gadgets to help you organize and keep track of things…and kids!

TYLT’s Energi + Backpack

Whether you are going on an outing or driving in the car, the TYLT Energi + Backpack is a great traveling accessory.  Featuring extra room (1500 cubic inches of storage) and pockets and pouches galore, this is the perfect backpack to carry your gadgets, snacks, museum tickets, maps, travel guides, and more!

But this backpack does more than carries your stuff, it charges it too!  Featuring a 10,400 mAh battery pack, TYLT’s Energi + Backpack can charge your devices 4 X over!  You can simultaneously charge your tablets, cellphones, and other devices with any standard micro-USB connector.  It features pass through compartment cabling – so you can charge your phone from the battery pack in the back of the backpack from the pocket in the front.

I love a multi-functional backpack – one that carries and charges is a must-have for a traveling family.  You can keep your whole family’s devices charged and continue charging your backpack while in the car!

The TYLT’s Energi + Backpack is available on the TYLT’s website for $149.99.

SCOTTeVEST RFID Travel Vest

We love the SCOTTeVEST products and couldn’t help but mention  the SCOTTeVEST RFID Travel Vest, as it is the perfect travel companion.  It features over 18 pockets hidden inside of the vest to carry your ID, passport, travel papers, cellphone, iPad, Kindle, books, maps, sunglasses, you name it!

Worried about the bulk from carrying all of these items?  I know that was a concern of mine,  But I found that the RFID Travel Vest’s lightweight breathable teflon-treated fabric is engineered in such a way that you don’t notice the bulk.

I will be traveling this Summer and plan on packing all of my gadgets, passport, ID, sunglasses, money, etc. in the vest pockets.  I can’t wait to simply take off the vest and put it in a container to go through security.  It’s going to be a breeze.  In the past, I have spent time trying to hurriedly take things out of my pockets and shove them in my backpack.  Not this time!  It will be nearly stress free! 

The SCOTTeVEST RFID Travel Vest is available through the SCOTTeVEST website in four colors for $135 plus shipping.  

Relief Band

Do your summer plans include boating or cruising? Over 60 million Americans suffer with motion sickness.  A new FDA approved, wearable device, the ReliefBand, has been clinically proven to treat nausea associated with both motion and morning sickness.  What a relief!

Relief band gets to work in just minutes, helping to treat nausea related to motion or morning sickness.  But it does even more, it can actually help people  who have difficulty traveling on planes, trains, in cars, boats , and roller coasters as well.

ReliefBand uses Neuromodulation to send out highly specific waveform, frequency, and intensity pulses to stimulate the median nerve on the underside of the wrist.  It uses your body’s natural pathways to block the waves of nausea produced by your stomach.  Signals from ReliefBand travel to the body’s central nervous system and to the higher emetic center of the brain to relieve nausea.  

No drugs are need to treat nausea, so no worries about having drowsiness as you would with over-the-counter nausea medication.  So if you’re headed to out to Catalina, that fishing boat trip your husband has been dreaming about, or even cruising the Caribbean,  the ReliefBand has you covered.

ReliefBand is available at Amazon for $89.99 plus free shipping.

BuddyTag Bracelet

The BuddyTag is a child safety device that helps you keep track of your child.  We all know that frightful feeling when our child darts out of our view.  If your summer travels take you to an amusement park, a crowded US National Park, or even to the mall, the BuddyTag will give you extra security in keeping your children close by.

The BuddyTag is a colorful bracelet you put on your child’s wrist.  It uses Bluetooth to connect to your phone and it alerts you if your child gets too far out of range.  In addition, it features a panic button that a child can press if they need your immediate assistance.  I have always disliked sending my son into the men’s bathroom.  With the BuddyTag and it’s panic button, I can feel a big sigh of relief.

But it gets even better.  BuddyTag is waterproof and when submerged in a foot of water or deeper, such as a pool, ocean, or lake, the signal to the app will be weakened and cut off.  This will sound off the out-of-range alarm to alert you of possible drowning.  Wow, what a great feature!

When my son was 3 years old and floating right next to me in a pool once, I was talking to a friend and I turned around and my son had just started down in the water. What amazed me was that he didn’t fuss.  He didn’t flail his arms, didn’t make any vocal noises, nothing.  It was then I realized that drowning is a silent killer.

BuddyTag’s Bluetooth range will depend upon the environment you are in.  If there an open space, BuddyTag can work up to 80-120 feet.  If you’re inside a house with a number of walls surrounding you, the range will be around 40 feet. 

The BuddyTag is available through Amazon for $37.99 plus shipping in a variety of fun colors.

Qliplet

Though not technically considered technology itself, the Qliplet is a handly little clip that makes it easy to tote your stuff.  It can work alongside your backpack, purse, or other items to attach or hang things from it.  The Qliplet is a modified carabiner with a rotating, folding hook, hangs or rests just about anywhere.  It is strong, made of lightweight aircraft grade aluminum and designed to hold up to 50 lbs..

Use the Qliplet to hang your headphones under the desk, attach your backpack to your rolling luggage, hang your purse or backpack from the tray table from your airplane seat, clip your water bottle to the treadmill, or even create your own hook to hold your items in a public bathroom.

Use the Qliplet to hang all your shopping bags from your stroller when taking in the sights in a new city.  With its unique design, you can use the Qliplet in a multitude of ways from a hook to a carabiner.  

The Qliplet is a great tech companion and is available in 8 great colors from Amazon for $18.80 plus shipping.

TripIt App

I have been using TripIt Pro now for several years, in fact, it’s my favorite travel app, next to TripAdvisor.  It is a fantastic tool to help you organize your travels.  If you have a big family vacation coming up, it’s usually very difficult to keep all of your tickets, confirmations, and timing straight.  

TripIt.com is an online tool and app that will make travel arrangement management easier.  After signing up for the free TripIt service, you simply forward all of your hotel, flight, car rental confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com.  In fact, many times, TripIt will identify a confirmation in your email box and automatically send the details to your TripIt account (if using Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook).

It will arrange everything according to the trip you are going – which can include several cities.  TripIt creates a master itinerary, piecing together all of the puzzle pieces.  Your itinerary is available anytime on any computer or device, even when you’re offline.  You also have the option to selectively share your travel plans with your spouse, family member, or business associate.

All of these features are free and they are so handy.  If you upgrade to a TripIt Pro account, you will get added features such as the ability to receive real-time flight alerts, help in locating alternate flights, being notified when a better seat is available, receive fare refund notifications, track your travel reward programs in one place, and more.

The basic TripIt app is free and available on Android, Apple, Blackberry, and Windows platforms.  Upgrading to TripIt Pro costs $49/year.

Enjoy your time as a family.  Cramped traveling quarters can cause kids to get testy and quibble in the backseat.  Plan ahead of time for games and little surprises to keep them focused on fun things instead of each other, trust me, it makes the ride so much more enjoyable.  

When we travel, I tell my kids that they have a certain amount of spending money to spend.  But every time they get in a spat, that number diminishes.  It’s amazing how when I ask them, are you fighting, they put their arms around each other and tell me no.  They are banding together for a common goal…and that works for me!

Enjoy your summer travels with your family – time moves on way to quickly.  Savor these moments.

                   * We requested each of these items to review and test out before giving recommendations in this guide.  All opinions are our own.