Last week I was thrilled to be invited by my good friends over at KidzVuz.com to an informational event about hitting the road with your kids. As a travel writer, I’m always keen to find out the latest kid’s travel trends, and this event was made for someone like me. They partnered up with some of the most informative and kid-friendly brands to guide our discussion and I walked away with some very useful tips.
First up, we heard from Laurie Schact from Toy Insider Mom, who shared some of her favorite traveling toys for kids, mostly on the younger side. She talked about so many new toys including the Neat-Oh Lunch Box, the LeapPad and the Hello Kitty Ice Cream Shop portable megabloks set, which my 9 year-old daughter was mad about when I brought a sample home.
Then we heard from one my friends, Heidi Leder of Coast to Coast Mom and Techlicious. I was eager to hear her travel app recommendations as I am always in need of new ones. As this is a very suitable subject for my blog as a large part of what I write about is travel-related, I’m going to attempt to list as many as I can. It’s a great list broken down by every stage of your trip, but I’m not going to link to them so I don’t cause more trouble with Google (my recent bout with being pharma hacking has left scars). Feel free to look them all up, I certainly am.
Planning Your Trip: Trip Advisor, Kayak Pro, Trippy (Pinterest for travel – I can’t wait to use this one!), Hotel Tonight (last minute deals)
Organizing Your Trip: Trip It, My TSA, Pack & Go, Gate Guru
While On the Road: KidzOut (to find diaper changing stations), Gas Buddy, iExit (for driving on the interstate)
Travel Apps for Tots: My Suitcase, Wheels on the Bus, Kids Maps, Drawing Pad, Barefoot World Atlas, License Plate Game, I is for Xray, Stack the States, Goby, Viddy, Strip Creator
Road Trip: Trip Line, Writing Kit
She also mentioned a kid’s travel web site full of reviews that I am excited to have found and am now following called Trekaroo. It’s a grassroots community of families who love exploring the world and I fit right in.
Next we heard about Audible.com directly from the people who work there, with tips on what audio books to read with the family. We were given a gift card to try out two books, and I’m excited to try out a few, as well as a list of “family listening” audio books. The list includes classics which I’m desperate to introduce my kids to, so this might be a nice way to do so, including Anne of Great Gables, Charlotte’s Web, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweller and A Wrinkle in Time. In addition to audiobooks, Audible is home to radio shows, podcasts, stand-up comedy, and speeches from icons who shape our culture, politics, and business world. I’m looking forward to checking more of them out this summer.
Lastly, we heard from the folks at Homewood Suites, a hotel where we have stayed as a family before and had a positive experience yet there were things I didn’t know about the chain that I was glad to be told. Like the fact that they do your grocery shopping for you (how often have I dreampt about that happening?!) Like the fact they offer free breakfast and dinner and drinks Monday-Thursday and offer free popcorn in the room. Like the fact that they provide free Wifi (How many hotels do that these days?) Like the fact that they offer full kitchens and suites for no more than $150 a night. And I really love the fact that have partnered with early childhood-literacy advocacy (because I work in Publishing and have/love kids) group BOOKS FOR KIDS opening four libraries for at-risk kids in low-income neighborhoods and are donating over 5,000 books. I’ll be certainly looking to stay at a Homewood Suites again in the near future on one of our trips.
KidzVuz is offering a gift certificate to Homewood Suites plus a $100 Visa Gift card this upcoming week at their Twitter Party. Details can be found here - see you there.
Disclosure: I was invited as a guest to the KidzVuz event and was provided with a few samples of some the above mentioned items, but all opinions are my own.
Recent Comments