As many of us unpack from a long weekend at the rents’ place or actively plan out our upcoming Christmas trip, I’m always reminded that travel can be incredibly fun — if you have the right gadgets to get you through it.
Growing up, I had family that lived 10 hours away (by car) in Atlanta. For a long stretch of years, we’d annually trek down there for a visit. In the late 90s and early aughts, it was much more vital that you prepared your upcoming trip. Do I have a enough batteries for my Gameboy and Walkman? In later years, does my MP3 have enough charge to last me the trip? Sometimes, my trip would get even more intricate as I’d remove one of our van’s chairs and stick in a small portable television, complete with a cigarette lighter power source, for 10 hours of movie-watching bliss.
However, my most memorable little gadget was a 7-inch Sony portable DVD player. There wasn’t anything particularly remarkable about it. In fact, it gobbled of a charge so fast you’d be lucky if you could get through one two-hour movie, but I remember being fascinated with that little portable LCD screen and that I could just let it sit right on my lap. Now, travelling is less cluttered, and by extension, less fun: “Do I have my smartphone? Ok, cool. I’m good.”
What about you? Do you have or have every had any favourite gadgets you would bring along to help pass the time when sequestered in the passenger seat of a vehicle or aeroplane?
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