22-04-2025
I've driven across five continents — here are 15 tech items I bring on road trips
Ah, the summer road trip — one of my favorite pastimes. Every year growing up, my family packed up the minivan and hit the road, driving all over the country to visit national parks and roadside monuments (Corn Palace and Wall Drug, anyone?). Now that I'm a father myself, I've kept the tradition going — minus the minivan. These days, it's a whole lot easier. No paper maps. No TripTiks from AAA (remember those?). And instead of a tube TV, VCR and stack of VHS tapes, you can get by with an iPad. My kiddo's still too young for movies, but all her favorite soundtracks are on my phone — no digging through a pile of CDs.
Of course, even with the modern upgrades, a good road trip still requires planning — especially when it comes to keeping everyone (and everything) charged, entertained and full of snacks. Over the years, I've dialed in a setup that makes our drives smoother and a lot more fun.
Here are the summer road-trip tech essentials I bring on every adventure to make sure things go (somewhat) according to plan.
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