076 Tech Travel Gift Ideas

With the holiday gift giving season almost upon us, we thought it would be a good time to talk about our favorite travel tech. Leticia Barr from Tech Savvy Mama joins us to share her tips and choices for travel technology for families.

ON THE PODCAST

:30 Tamara & Kim's favorite travel tech

2:50 Tamara is getting the iPhone X

4:11 Kim is going back to the iPhone 8 Plus

5:55 Kim loves Google Photos

7:15 Kim uses AT&T and Tamara uses Verizon

8:00 Phone cases and waterproofing

12:00 GoPro vs Drones

13:30 GoPro battery issues

16:30 Introducing Leticia Barr

24:04 Kid-safe headphones

27:30 Tablets

29:00 Buy used

31:00 Noise cancelling headphones

33:00 Avoid too much blue light

34:30 Downloading shows to watch offline

36:00 Borrow ebooks and audiobooks from the library

39:20 Kindle Unlimited

40:10 Downloading content via mobile apps

43:00 Plugged In and Common Sense Media

44:47 Favorite tech

49:30 Label everything

50:27 Favorite apps

58:30 How to be a conscientious traveler

1:01 Tips for the week

1:03:30 Giveaway (Amazon Echo Dot)

ABOUT LETICIA BARR

Leticia is the founder of the award winning Tech Savvy Mama, a site that helps parents navigate parenting in the digital age. She uses her experience as a former teacher and technology specialist for a large DC Metro area school system to share new technology and educational resources, including her passion for hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities and learning through travel.

Since 2012 Leticia has been traveling to Haiti to visit artists who work with the Artisan Business Network (ABN). Her first trip was out of curiosity and a deep desire to want to get to know the country beyond what was being reported on the news after the 2010 earthquake. She’s visited Haiti each year since then and loves sharing the stories of artists and the importance of providing sustainable jobs to Haitian artists all over the country through a fair trade model.

Leticia has been an Iris Award nominee in the category of Philanthropic Work of the Year for her work in Haiti and enjoys the distinction of having been Parents Magazine's Editors' Pick for Best Tech Blog, Babble's Top 100 Mom Blogs, one of the 50 Top Twitter Moms by Babble, and Mom.me's 50 Favorite Mom Bloggers. Despite being tech savvy and relying on her social media networks for philanthropic ventures, she is also a fan of unplugging to spend time with her husband, 2 children, their overly enthusiastic Yellow Labrador, and backyard chickens.

To learn more about Leticia and her trips to Haiti, read the stories on her blog, view her photos on Flickr, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

FAVORITE TRAVEL TECH Make sure you have kid-safe headphones that have volume control (such as iFrogz or CosyPhones) For tablets, invest in the best case possible (such as Otterbox) Amazon Kindle Freetime lets you limit the time kids spend in different applications Buy a used device to save money and then it isn't as upsetting if it breaks Noise cancelling headphones are great for flights (such as Califone) Be careful not to spend too much time using devices with blue light as it can damage eyes Download shows in advance to watch offline (Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Prime, etc. -- some require you to download via the mobile app, not through the browser on the laptop) YouTube Kids can be watched offline (YouTube Red is a good investment for families) Kindle Paperwhite is good to avoid carrying books but look into borrowing ebooks from your public library Kindle Unlimited gives you access to ebooks for a monthly fee Use Common Sense Media and Plugged In to see the recommended ages and gauge appropriate content Label your devices and cables using Mabel's Labels Create playlists for destinations you are visiting with YouTube videos to prepare kids on what to expect Look for local apps such as National Parks FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR

Leticia loves the Bose quiet comfort noise cancelling earbuds, a Belkin surge protector, Ventev charging cables and Ventev Powercell 10000 charger and her Kindle Paperwhite. Leticia also loves the Scottevest Lucy black cardigan with large deep pockets and Tieks flats.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Make your phone battery last longer by turning on low battery/battery saving mode. You can also put your phone into airplane mode and make sure you don't have apps running in the background. Go into your settings and make sure that most apps are only using location services while you are using the app, not always, as this will really run your battery down.

GIVEAWAY

Since we are talking about tech, we are giving away one Amazon Echo Dot to a lucky listener! Just head over to the Vacation Mavens Facebook page and leave a comment on our pinned giveaway post before November 30, 2017 to be registered to win. Sorry, this one is only open to those in the United States!

 

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