5 New Ways to Use Tech to Survive Family Road Trips

Ever since there have been family cars, there have been family car trips. Over the years, technology has made those long, fidgety hours on the road easier, but the usual result is still kids and grownups alike, sitting together and wondering, “Are we there yet?”
Here are five tips to make automobile adventures a bit smoother for everyone.

1. Explore car-trip cartography

Kids can learn a lot from maps and that knowledge can make long car rides less painful. Before the trip, show kids the route you’re taking, using an app like Google Maps or a traditional fold-out. Giving kids their own maps for the drive also helps them understand where they are and how much further there is to go, says Paul Heersink, co-author of Maps and Mapping for Canadian Kids.

Maps reveal hidden lakes or side streets the kids would otherwise never know about.

“Maps can teach kids about direction and distance, but a parent needs to explain scale to a child. You can tell them how long it takes to travel a set distance to help them figure out when they’ll get to a destination” he says. Maps are also great for showing local geography. If you’re headed to cottage country, a map reveals hidden lakes or side streets the kids would otherwise never know about.

2. Empower kids with packing lists

List-making apps like Google Keep or Wunderlist give you confidence you’ve packed everything you need. It can be fun and empowering for kids to make their own checklists.

Keep necessities accessible—sunglasses, simple snacks, Band-Aids, wet wipes, garbage bags and water should be within reach.

3. Use gadgets wisely to combat sea-sickness and mess

Kids can become very carsick when looking down to draw or play on a tablet.

The first time that Toronto mom Lisa Murrant made the 1,275-km trip to North Carolina with her three- and five-year-olds in the back seat, she scoured the Internet for ideas on what to bring to keep them happy and engaged: crafts, books, snacks and an iPad loaded with cool apps. It was a disaster—all the carefully planned activities ended up on the floor, lost or out of reach.

Then, she learned the hard way that her kids become very carsick when looking down to draw or play on the tablet. Since that trip, her kids are equipped with sea-bands, blankets, a stuffed toy and mounted DVD screens with volume-controlled headphones for day-long drives. Elaborate snack treats have been replaced by dry cereal or crackers.

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4. Plan ahead so you can stay focused on the road

Before the trip, it can be fun to come together as a family and create the ultimate soundtrack or to pre-select some cool podcasts to enjoy together.

For movie watching or solo-listening, securely-mounted tablets or DVD screens—with child-safe headphones to control the volume—can be great. Just make sure drivers don’t get distracted with needing to ‘fix’ iPads, fast-forward movies or search through music playlists: they should be focused on the road.

5. Plan (or don’t plan) your breaks

Some families plan stops along the way for sightseeing and others just want to get there.

“For our trips to North Carolina, I don’t plan where we’ll stop for the night,” Lisa explains. “You never know what’s going to happen. If we're having an awesome day, we can push it further. Or, if all hell breaks loose, we can call it quits and pull off the interstate earlier. When we stop for meals, it’s eating time for me, but not my kids. They’ve been sitting all day in a car, so expecting them to sit now in a restaurant is crazy. This is their chance to run around and get some fresh air. They can eat when they’re back in the car,” she says. 

"If we're having an awesome day, we can push it further. Or, if all hell breaks loose, we can call it quits."

For those who want to plan out the route beforehand, there are apps like Roadtrippers and Trekaroo, which not only calculate directions, but also bring up attractions, hotels to book and kid-friendly restaurants along the way (just remember to keep track of your data and roaming—without the right plan, en-route online gets expensive!).