Back-to-School products that double for travel

I'm always a bit sad when it's time to buy back-to-school gear, because it means the long summer travel season is over. However, autumn day trips and weekend getaways are always in our future, so I find I'm still thinking 'travel' when it comes to fall purchases and the kids' school supplies. This year, I've found the best new back-to-school products that pull double-duty during family … [Read more...]

Recommended travel essentials: 15 must-have travel items

When planning for a holiday, we often get confused and irritated about packing for our smooth vacation. It becomes hard to jot down all the essential traveling items that we need for our tour. The most important things to keep in mind are the lists of items that should be packed depending on the length of your trip, the weather, and places to visit. So, to ease your vacation, we are here to help … [Read more...]

Van life gear review: Thule Transporter Combi review

Much like last summer, most Americans will opt to travel by car instead of air this year, with a big uptick in road trip travel once it’s safe to do so. To kick off the start of the summer travel season, with hopes that travel will soon be part of our plans again, I tested out Thule’s Transporter Combi hitch-mounted cargo box. For me, this is the summer of #vanlife, during … [Read more...]

Travel Gear We Use: Must-have products for road trips

The family road trip really is where the rubber meets the road. And this year, summer road trip travel will be bigger than ever. When it comes to the best products for road trips, we prefer useful items to flashy ones, the tried-and-true over the new-fangled. There are many, many items to bring on your next road trip, but these must-have products for road trips are ALWAYS in the car. 1. A … [Read more...]

Travel Gear We Use: All-time favorite healthy travel snacks

Today's Travel Gear We Use segment isn't exactly gear, but does help us as we travel: we're rounding up our favorite healthy travel snacks. There are many, many products out there that claim to be wholesome, organic, and tasty. We've tried almost all of them. Yet, this list is short. Very short. Why? Let's be real: most so-called healthy travel snacks are gross. Even my kids, who know their way … [Read more...]

Travel Gear We Use: 30 Road Trip Products

I know, your car is already packed to the gills for your family road trip. But trust us, you need these 30 road trip products and ideas to make your travel day run smoothly. We travel every month of the year, and test new road trip products every time we hit the road. Check out our list of road trip gear, updated to include new gear for 2017, and see what you're missing! Road trip safety … [Read more...]

Travel Gear We Use: The Seventy2 Survival System bug-out bag

You may not be a doomsday prepper or preparing for a zombie apocalypse (or maybe you are), but every family should have a car bug-out bag, ideally for each family member and certainly for road trips and emergencies. Opt for the Seventy2 Survival System from Uncharted. Preppers define bug-out bags as gear they can grab quickly in case of emergency, that's ready to go when they are. The … [Read more...]

Best food containers and bento boxes for the road

One of the best ways to save money and stay healthier on road trips is to pack your own food. Almost every road trip we take, we pack lunches and drinks, whether we'll be on the road a few hours or a few weeks. Since we banned plastic baggies and disposable plastic containers in our house years ago, the best food containers for our car include the following. Bonus: For a list of road trip friendly … [Read more...]

CarLock review: Monitor your car while traveling

CarLock is a real-time car tracking and alert system. After installing the small device in your car, you can track many actions from your smartphone, including when your car is moved or started, how it's driven, and if your battery is low. You can also track where it goes via GPS. Read on for our CarLock review: What CarLock can do: Why do you need all this info? Let's say you're on a road … [Read more...]

WiFi hotspot in your car: ZTE Mobley review

AT&T reached out to us to product test their mobile hotspot, the ZTE Mobley. We said we'd give it a whirl on a seven-hour road trip, because I was curious about the pros and cons of having a WiFi hotspot in your car: after trying it out, would we want to keep it? Would we decide we needed it, or not? We opted to set up the ZTE Mobley mobile hotspot in our Toyota van for use during a … [Read more...]