There are two reasons why tablets and/or e-readers are essential on every family holiday. For mum and dad, those two weeks by the pool while the kids entertain themselves bombing off the diving board are perhaps the only quality time you will get to sit and read a book all year. Don’t make do with the trashy paperbacks you remembered to pick up last minute at the airport. Take your Kindle, and the literary world is your oyster.
As for tablets? Well, there are times on every holiday when having some video games or a collection of favourite cartoons to sedate the kids with is worth its weight in gold. Every parent knows it makes sense.
Action Cam
Holiday snaps are not what they used to be. The days of making do with overexposed family huddles in a restaurant with the waiter’s finger obscuring half the picture are long gone. Nowadays, if your holiday pics don’t involve you riding a wave, jumping into a swimming pool (as you take the picture) or doing something that involves falling from a great height, you might as well not bother your Instagram followers.
Yes your smartphone can take great pics. But unlike an action cam, your smartphone is not waterproof to several metres depth, virtually indestructible and designed to take immaculate quality motion pictures. With an action cam (plus perhaps a selfie stick), your photos really can go wherever the fun is.
Sat Nav
Need we even explain this one? If you are going on a road trip, a Sat Nav is the difference between apoplectic arguments over whose left you meant when you said left at the roundabout two hours back, and a calm, peaceful, trouble-free transit to your next destination. Plus, when one of your party wants to make a quick detour because they’ve just found something they absolutely have to see on Google, you can do so without suffering the dread of wondering if you will ever find your way back to your main route again.
Headphones
It isn’t just professional footballers who ‘need their own headspace’ 24/7. Every now and then, we all deserve to tune out, unwind and enjoy a few favourite tunes in the privacy of our own ears, without someone complaining that our taste in music is rubbish. What better time to enjoy this luxury than on holiday?
There is no longer any need to suffer the indignity of trying to listen to music on the move through headphones that make all music sound like cats scratching a tin roof. Whether your brand is Beats or Bose, you deserve a high-fidelity listening experience as you chill by the pool. Plus, of course, they will double up nicely when it’s time to give the kids some downtime with their tablets.
Solar Charger / Mobile WiFi
Ok so we’re cheating slightly with this last one by squeezing two into one, but they do serve a similar and essential purpose - making sure all your other gadgets keep working. One of the Top 5 holiday packing disasters has to be turning up at a destination only to realise you haven’t brought any plug adapters, immediately rendering all of your electronic devices useless within a couple of short days. The solution? Invest in solar chargers, and then you can have your phones and Kindles charging even as you sit by the pool or on the beach.
It’s a similar story with Mobile WiFi. Although better than it used to be, data roaming for mobile devices can still be pretty expensive. So instead of paying the charges for every device, why not buy one Mobile WiFi unit with one international SIM, and get WiFi connection for up to 10 smartphones and tablets?
Insure It All
Finally, having your favourite gadgets with you on holiday is great. But, should something untoward happen and something gets broken or lost, it could all end in tears. Protect yourself by getting whatever gadgets you take insured. At Row.co.uk, our specialist gadget insurance comes with international cover included, so your must-have devices are always protected, at home and abroad.