With the holidays fast approaching, there’s more than just shopping and packing the kids up for a Christmas weekend at Granny’s to worry about. That long dreaded phrase, “Are we there yet?” after just 10 out of the 125 miles can be avoided. Completely. Of course you have to have one of these five things, preferably all five, if you want to arrive at your destination with sanity and a smile on your face.1. First thing’s first, although a portable DVD player is not an app, it will work wonders on your children. It’s great for all ages as the child can choose from their collection of favorite movies to bring along the trip.
The portability also allows you to take the DVD player out of the car so they still have something to do while at Grandma’s house.
2. WorldMate; available for Android, iPhone and BlackBerry phones; is an app that creates your itinerary by automatically syncing your entire travel plans; flight status, hotel confirmation, car rentals and even weather; onto your phone.
The Smart Hotel Search feature shows you which hotels are near your meetings, or Granny’s house, according to your preference: budget, quality, amenities, etc.
If you upgrade to the Gold membership, alerts will notify you if your flight has been delayed or cancelled by constantly providing you with up-to-date information on your phone. There is even an option that allows you to find flights that are flying out to your destination, so you can still make it on time.
Connecting to another flight? WorldMate can tell you when the flight takes off and where you can find the connecting gate.
3. Road trips may sound exciting, but not necessarily when children are involved. Road-Trip-Bingo, available for Android and iPhone, turns the sights of a road trip into a game, far better than the classic I Spy.
To start, just shake the phone to create a bingo card and then keep an eye out for the signs, vehicles and animals on the card. The first to get five in a row wins.
4. For the older kids, Angry Birds, available on the Android and iPhone, continues to gain fans with its addicting game of logic, skill and force. Even younger children can enjoy the incredibly easy game of demolishing fortresses by slinging birds against them.
According to gamespot.com, the game has a “sensitive physics system usually [giving] different results.” Basically, the strategy that demolished the fortress once may not work a second time. This system will keep children from getting bored of the same old game by constantly developing techniques to win the game.
5. And finally, Instagram, available for iPhones and coming soon to Android, is the best app to take and filter photos to document the road trips best and, possibly, worst moments.
The app comes with 16 different filters, allowing the user to create effects on a photo on the camera roll or taken on the spot.
The user can change an everyday picture of your child looking out the window or playing Angry Birds, and turn it into a romantic portrait that you can reminisce on for years to come.
