Literally. Earlier this week our family returned from a quick vacation. Now, I left my laptop at home, and while I brought my cell phone, it stayed turned off the entire time we were gone. That doesn’t mean we were gadget-free during our vacation…we just adapted to our surroundings.
If you listened to The GeekDads: Episode 38, you know that the GeekMom and I took the kids on a Disney Cruise. We did NOT fly from Wisconsin down to Florida – we drove. Yes, 21 hours in the burbmobile…thank you to whomever thought of in-van DVD players.
Twenty-one hours from Wisconsin to Port Canveral, Florida. To aid us in the trip we had:
- a Garmin Nuvi (never question the lady in the box…but that’s another post)
- twenty-one family-friendly DVDs
- seven MP3 players (for a family of six)
- three Nintendo DS, and one Nintendo Gameboy Advanced SP
- two digital cameras (we’re guessing that only one survived)
Our burbmobile takes six DVDs at a time. We loaded up the changer and played in order. I think we got through 8 or 10 of the DVDs on the round-trip.
Seven MP3 players – the GeekMom brought two – because she was listening to audio books and we don’t have a car-charger for either of her MP3 players.
The Nindento DS and the picto-chat was really fun to watch in the Disney Cruise terminal. Our kids were chatting with people they didn’t (knowingly) meet face-to-face…but hey, it passed the time between our check-in and when we were allowed on-board.
The digital cameras – well, I had one, my oldest GeekTeen had the other. I put the family digi-cam in my swimsuit pocket and soon after jumped into one of the pools on-board the ship. A less-than-family-friendly word escaped my lips when I realized what had happened. The digi-cam is sitting in a container with uncooked rice in an attempt to revive it. The jury’s still out on this one.
We had a fantastic time (and this GeekDad highly recommends a Disney Cruise for the family [or just the GeekMom and GeekDad]*), and the kids were troopers considering we spent nearly two full days in our van.
So what gadgets go with you when you go on vacation?
*this GeekDad is getting nothing for recommending a Disney Cruise – he’s just hooked on cruising with a magical mouse…
