Taking the iPad on the road - Family Vacation!

[MLimtiaco]

We're on our way to San Francisco from WA state - rented a minivan and started on the long drive this evening, and now staying the night at my brother-in-law's. 12 hours' driving should get us into the Bay Area tomorrow.

My wife insisted on getting road maps from AAA and planning the trip with Post-it notes...probably because that's how her parents did this sort of thing back in the day. I'm armed with the trusty iPad for navigation, plus the Calendar for event planning, Notes for journaling, games to keep the kids occupied...So this is road tripping in the 21st century.

We hope to visit the Apple Company store while down there just to find Apple-branded swag...

 

[Robertt]

Make sure to get Trapster!

 

[Samurai]

We're on our way to San Francisco from WA state - rented a minivan and started on the long drive this evening, and now staying the night at my brother-in-law's. 12 hours' driving should get us into the Bay Area tomorrow.

My wife insisted on getting road maps from AAA and planning the trip with Post-it notes...probably because that's how her parents did this sort of thing back in the day. I'm armed with the trusty iPad for navigation, plus the Calendar for event planning, Notes for journaling, games to keep the kids occupied...So this is road tripping in the 21st century.

We hope to visit the Apple Company store while down there just to find Apple-branded swag...

Absolutely nothing wrong with roadmaps. If nothing else they work without batteries or signals. So are you driving? ...or navigating? Hopefully not both That's no fun at all!

And - have a great time!

 

[vsstanton]

Did a great road trip with the iPad thru Vermont, new Hampshire, Maine and mass...it was awesome...we traveled for seven days with no reservations. We would find a hotel, go in and check from a room and rate...then stand in the lobby and get the better Internet rate on the iPad and go back to the checking desk with our confirmation number. Never got lost with the great map and found all great places to eat and amazing things to do...the iPad helped make a great trip!

 

[MLimtiaco]

I'm driving and either my wife or son will be navigating, depending on who's in the right-hand seat. Today's the long haul - 12 hours from Olympia WA down to the Bay Area. Today the iPad will likely get used mostly for answering the question, "Are we there yet?"

 

[pallentx]

Hopefully you have better luck keeping a data signal than I did recently. On the West coast, you should be ok. If I do another long trip through the boonies, I'll look for a good mapping app that lets you download all the maps to the iPad, so you arent at the mercy of ATT.

I loved traveling all day listening to music, playing games and navigating, and still having battery left after 10hrs.

 

[MLimtiaco]

Yup, we had a few issues with connectivity in southern Oregon, but not for too long. As expected, the kids burned most of the iPad juice playing games and watching YouTube...but there was just enough power left after 14+ hours of driving to double-check the motel location just before we got off the freeway. Tomorrow: looking for places to eat in the East Bay...

 

[pallentx]

Check out the urbanspoon app for finding places to eat!

 

[MLimtiaco]

Finally, on the sixth day...a casualty. We left the iPad charger and cable in the hotel room in Crescent City CA yesterday, about 500 miles back. Still no confirmation from the hotel that they've found them yet. At least we still have the iPad (down to 19% power and counting).

 

[MikesTooLz]

Last time I went on a road trip we would just pick the next stop from the hotel the night before on hotels.com

They tend to have deals when booking a room that is within the next 24 hours. I guess if the rooms are not booked the hotels lower the prices to try and get as many occupied as possible.

 

[sim]

Just got back yesterday afternoon from a 9 Day trip from SE Minnesota to Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks. Full 3G where we stayed at Jackson Hole. Drive there and back through South Dakota and Wyoming....not so much. Lots of miles with no service. Lots of miles with signal so bad that it wasn't worth the time trying to surf the web. Read magazines in Zinio, read part of a book in the Kindle app, kept a travel Journal and played games while on the road. Always had wife where we stayed..

Steve

 

[figmo10]

"always had wife where we stayed..."

Must...not...make....data service wisecracks

 

[MLimtiaco]

I think if you were taking a really spontaneous road trip (sans children!) you could take the iPad along and improvise as several have suggested - which would be a heck of a lot of fun. Our trip was planned out ahead of time - when you have kids along, the fewer surprises the better - and we used the iPad for local nav and restaurant hunting. We ate at a couple of places (The Restaurant in Ft. Bragg CA, and Rollin' in Dough in Gold Beach OR) that we found via the iPad, and they were terrific - much better experiences than we would've had at any fast-food places.

The iPad was also great for double-checking fees and hours for various attractions, which helped a little with the schedule and a lot with the budget.

 

[henry2]

"always had wife where we stayed..."

Must...not...make....data service wisecracks

my girlfriend read that and made the comment about sleeping on the floor if she was his wife .. i told come baby you know your job is to sleep when iam driveing only to wake up and go are there yet along with i need a bathroom when we are on a road trip .. ..