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7 apps that make family travel planning easier

Occasionally, it can be more than overwhelming when it comes time to put together a travel itinerary. Sure, it can be fun, too, but how do you know how much time you can spend at the Louvre or how close it might be to another place you’ve wanted to visit while in France? How do you plan to keep all your activities and bookings organized during your trip?

Thankfully, there are apps that can help make travel planning easier than ever before. The best can answer the hypothetical questions asked above no matter where your travels take you. Below, we’ve put a list together of seven fantastic travel apps in 2021. If you’re ready to discover some tools that can remove a lot of travel-planning frustration, then let’s dig in.

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Try out Kiwi.com for great deals

If you’re looking for an app that helps you book airline tickets affordably, then you’ve got to check out Kiwi. You can find outstanding deals that compare to whatever you might find with the top online travel agencies. You can find excellent prices on VIP lounge tickets, rental cars, parking, taxis, and hotels. Moreover, once you’ve booked your flight, boarding passes will be emailed straight to your inbox. Talk about convenience!

Use Packing Pro for packing lists

Packing Pro is all about making the planning process easier by helping to create packing lists. A seemingly unlimited number of them can be made, which you can then share with friends and family through iCloud, Box, AirDrop, Dropbox, or iTunes File Sharing. Packing Pro is super easy to use and appropriate for those who want to simplify the packing process.

Organize your travel plans with TripIt

Sometimes, it’s handy to have a single app that does basically everything. That’s TripIt. The app is made for Android and iOS users, and rocks it as the all-purpose multi-tool of travel apps. One of its main features is organizing your airline tickets, hotel bookings, and car rentals, and keeping them in one place. A significant benefit is that you can then check reservations for your entire trip right there on your smartphone.

Find cool places with Roadtrippers

One of the coolest things about Roadtrippers is its ability to take the stuff you’re interested in and then plot out an entire itinerary based on your point of origin and final destination. It can literally find every place of interest between point A and point B, and then make recommendations.

For example, say you’re someone with an avid interest in museums or you’re someone who enjoys the nightlife. Roadtrippers allows you to find the places and activities that fit your lifestyle. How cool is that? Moreover, it can also plan out the most effective, time-saving route for your journey.

List out points of interest with Rome2rio

A bit like Roadtrippers, Rome2rio does things in a slightly different fashion. You can input a specific address, let the app know what city will be your final destination, or tell it specific kinds of places you’d like to see and experience. The app will then spit out lists of opportunities for bookings and info on accommodations, and much more.

Customize how you travel with Skyscanner

The name of the app gives its primary purpose away. Designed to help you find, compare, and book affordable flights, accommodations, and car rentals anywhere in the world, Skyscanner puts enough information together for you to customize the actual “travel” part of traveling.

Download maps of your destinations with Maps.me

Unlike many other apps on this list, Maps.me allows you to stay totally offline by downloading maps directly to your smartphone. Plus, the app is continually improved by user contributions because the software used to make it is entirely open-source. Another thing that differentiates Maps.me from other apps that offer road- and route-planning options is the fact that it also includes information and maps with back roads, hiking trails, and bicycle paths. If you’re the outdoors type, this travel app was made with you in mind.

Tourist Checking Travel App
Prime Cinematics/Pexels

Head out on your trip

Preparation is key to a successful and worry-free journey. The apps we’ve included in the list above allow you to do everything from writing packing checklists to planning routes to booking flights and more.

Remember, in the middle of planning for a trip, it can be easy to overlook or forget something important. However, with the many travel apps available these days, there’s no reason you should have to. So, why not try several or all of these apps and get rid of the stress and worry that can accompany travel planning for good?

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The best educational video games for fourth graders
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The battle between parents and screen time is an ongoing one. Fourth graders are obsessed with video games. With Play Station, Nintendo Switch, Xbox and the Wii, there are so many gaming systems to choose from, and then there are the games kids want to play on their other devices. When you do let your kids game, you want to ensure it's at least time well spent, and the best way to do that is with video games designed for learning. Of course, educational video games need to be fun, otherwise, kids will lose interest quickly. Thankfully, there are high-quality educational video games 10-year-olds will have a blast playing. We've rounded up educational video games for fourth graders that entertain and challenge the brain by working on math, science, social studies, problem-solving and thinking skills.
Best educational video games
Professor Layton
https://www.amazon.com/NSW-LAYTONS-MYSTERY-JOURNEY-MILLIONAIRES-Nintendo/dp/B07V3Q279M/ref=asc_df_B07V3Q279M/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459530536279&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12697454329275717148&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003928&hvtargid=pla-841757885902&psc=1

Fourth graders will really get into this puzzle adventure series designed by Level-5. The games are compatible with Nintendo DS, 3DS and Switch. Professor Layton is an archeologist, and players get to join him on his mystery-solving excursions. The game series is a best seller for Nintendo. Kids are exposed to different historical settings while their problem-solving and memory skills are challenged.
Nancy Drew - Dare to Play Interactive Games
https://www.herinteractive.com/shop-games/all-games/

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6 Apple Maps features that will make your family road trip easier
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Heading out on a family road trip? Third apps like Waze may be all the rage, but don't forget about the trusty Apple Maps. It comes fully installed on your iPhone and can be quite helpful when heading out on the road. Sure, when Apple Maps first came on the scene in 2012, users weren't too impressed. Over the years, Apple has added new features to its maps. When you hit the highway for those tournament weekends, vacations or an old-fashioned road trip, don't forget to pack your Apple Maps. Apple's latest updated version of maps offers helpful options and road trip tips to make the drive safer and assist you when you arrive at your destination. Check out these six cool Apple Map features on your next family road trip.

Reporting accidents and road hazards
Like Waze, Apple Maps 14.5 lets drivers report accidents and other issues on the road including speed checks. Using Siri, a driver can report an accident on a specific highway by saying "crash in the road." Siri will send the report. A passenger can do the same manually by tapping the up arrow and clicking on report. After clicking on report, the choices include accident, hazard or speed check.
Share ETA
Once you plug in the directions for your destination, Apple Maps provides users with an estimated time of arrival. A new option for those of us always running late is sharing your estimated time of arrival by clicking on an icon instead of texting or calling to let people know when you'll be there. You can alert the office when you'll be getting in, or let the relatives know you'll be at the house in 10 minutes by touching Share ETA on the bottom of the direction screen. Miss the prompt? No worries. You can still locate the feature by utilizing the arrow in the bottom corner. From there, you will see a screen pop up where you can find the Share ETA icon.

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Car camping has never been easier with this pop-up tent
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Have you always wanted to camp but were frightened by the idea of hauling all your gear in a backpack and roughing it in the middle of the woods? Don't worry. You are definitely not alone. If you want something between glamping and the middle-of-nowhere-is-that-a-bear experience, then you need to try car camping. What is car camping? We are excited you asked! Car camping is driving to your destination, like a state or national park, after packing your vehicle with all the car-camping essentials.

When you arrive, you simply park your car, and you and the family are ready to have a camping experience without dragging the kiddos through the woods lugging a load of gear and hearing the complaints. If Mother Nature rains on your parade, the car is right there for shelter or a quick getaway. Now, before you go car camping, you do need a car-camping tent -- and do we have a pop-up tent that will make your car-camping experience a pleasure.

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