A Trip Planned with an iPhone

In December, my family of four headed out on a spontaneous two week road trip from Arizona to Washington. We packed the mini-van, strapped our two young daughters in their car seats, and hit the pavement to California. We had little plans, no overnight arrangements besides the first night in L.A., and limited funds.

But what we did have was two trusty iPhones at our sides. For two weeks, we tapped buttons on our phones that helped us navigate the Pacific Coast Highway (Maps app), search for nearby hotels, (Near Me app), upload instant photos via Klick app, and looked up roadside attractions with the Wikipanion app. Restaurants were tracked down with the handy Urban Spoon app and our kids were entertained with the always useful You Tube app. The Gas Hog app helped us track our gas mileage app and we still managed to stay connected with our friends and family via the good ol' Facebook app.

Thanks to our iPhones, we sent photos to our family of the Golden Gate Bridge , our girls' bare feet on the beach, and of our van driving through a Redwood tree. We slumbered in hotel beds that were rated decent by guest reviewers and didn't break the bank. We were able to find delicious vegetarian fare at the click of a button and knew when it was time to finally ditch the Pacific Coast highway (even MORE curves up ahead!) for straighter terrain. Gridlock didn't trap us in Seattle, because the iPhone gave us up to the minute traffic reports.

The trip was entirely planned based on the incessant demands of our children and the available technology of our beloved iPhones. And while it perhaps wasn't quite as exciting as heading out on the open road without any semblance of guidance or navigation, it was exactly what our family needed.

The iPhone helped make our road trip a memorable one as well as one that fit within our budget. Now, if it just could have prevented the car accident we had on the way back.