Make family vacations fun, easier with these gadgets

Pac Back

By Mark Verone

Family vacations can be exciting, relaxing — even educational — but they can also present some challenges. When it comes to getting through the airport with ease, entertaining kids on flights and packing enough (but not too much), it helps to have the right gear. My wife and I have taken a lot of family vacations with our kids, and we’ve learned a lot along the way. Here are some of the gadgets we’ve found make travel easier:

Pac Back: The FAA recommends securing your child in a car seat approved for air travel during your flight. But the FAA has no suggestions about how to carry that car seat on the long walk to the gate, while pushing your child in a stroller. The Pac Back car seat carrier enables an me to carry the car seat like a backpack, leaving my hands free for dispensing snacks and changing diapers. Without the Pac Back, my family of four might never have reached the gate, much less our destination.

gogo Kidz Travelmate: This lightweight contraption connects to the back of a car seat and converts it into a stroller — sort of like a dolly for a car seat. I can weave around the airport easily without having to “lug” the car seat to the gate. Bringing the car seat on the plane means no extra baggage charge

BabyBjorn

and provides a safe, comfortable place where my toddler can fall asleep on the flight.

BabyBjorn Baby Carrier: While I had the benefit of having my hands free at the ticket counter and security line, my son kept snug, warm and comfortable next to me. My back never hurt, and I found it easy to take him in and out. It’s easy to launder too.

Chicco TravelSeat: This light, portable high chair hooks onto the tabletop, providing a safe, convenient place to feed a child. It disassembles easily and didn’t take up much room in my suitcase. We’ve used it in hotel rooms for serving breakfast and snacks, on picnic tables for family events, and at other events, where traditional high chairs are unavailable.

Eagle Creek Tarmac-Plus-One: While this piece of wheeled carry-on luggage may have been designed for business travelers, I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of it on family vacations. The carry-on has a detachable backpack with compartments that I’ve used for bottles and sippy cups, as well as a built-in sleeve to store a laptop or DVD player. It’s spacious, wheels easily, and has a swanky color palette.

Leapster2: My 5-year-old son gave the Leapster2 a glowing review: “I love it!” From the parent’s perspective, I can tell the Leapster2 will be great for family

Rubik's Revolution

vacations. I think long, boring car trips and flights will pass quickly with this tool in a parent’s arsenal. It beats some of the more parent-intensive plane activities, like reading to your child for four hours straight. And compared to a Gameboy or other standard video game device, the content is fantastic: Leapster games focus on letter and number recognition, spelling, and arithmetic.

Rubik’s Revolution: If you thought solving the original Rubik’s Cube could keep you occupied for great lengths of time, check out the Rubik’s Revolution. The cube holds six games, each based on speed, strategy or both. So unlike the original cube, your strategy has to be different every time. My boys found it “fun and challenging,” especially with the constantly changing buttons.

Related Orbitz resources:

• Family vacations

Before his son was born, Mark Verone and his wife made a pact to keep traveling even with a newborn in tow. They got a passport for the baby a week after he was born and took 29 flights in his first year alone.

Tagged: Family time