Holidays with the kiddies – Travel Smart Apps

Family Friendly Travel Apps for a Hassle Free Holiday

Whether you are a family of six or a single parent, planning and enjoying a family holiday abroad can sometimes be hard work and leave you more stressed than when you left. It doesn’t have to be – the key to enjoying your family vacation is good planning and travelling smart.

There are number of smartphone apps geared to making parents’ lives easier as they help you prepare for a successful family vacation and return home with cherished memories too.

Gogobot (FREE) for iPhone

Gogobot helps you plan the perfect trip with the help of friends and other like-minded parents. By allowing you to tap into your personal networks, be it on Facebook, Foursquare or Twitter, you can receive personal advice and source reviews from other parents who’ll understand the needs and necessities for a family vacation.

Its mobile app allows you to remotely plan an entire holiday by browsing more than 60,000 travel destinations and arranging them according to recommendations made by your friends. With the touch of the screen you can search for hotels, family-friendly restaurants, and pre-plan what attractions you would all love to visit, whether it’s in the UK or abroad.

Plus, you can turn your family’s fun holiday snaps into postcards, which can be shared with grandparents, siblings and friends via Facebook, Twitter, SMS or email – letting everyone know that you and the kids are having a great time!

Packing Pro (from £1.79) for iPhone

The holiday is booked, the kids are excited and you’ve stocked-up on enough sunscreen to keep the family smothered for the next two summers! Now you just need to pack it into two suitcases without forgetting the passports and other holiday essentials.

This excellent app is perfect for parents that have to remember a hundred and one things. Packing Pro will assist you with what to bring based on number of adults (males & females), children, days, as well as temperature, destination and clothes washing preferences. With Packing Pro, you’ll never forget something as crucial as nappies or sunscreen again.

Interactive Alphabet (from £1.79) for iPhone, iPad

Long car journeys and flights, airport queues and departure lounges can leave little ones feeling bored and restless. The Interactive Alphabet app is perfect for keeping your tot entertained (and quiet) whilst helping them learn. Incorporating letters, music, colours and animation, this clever app will become your best friend! Best of all, it will leave you with some much needed quiet time to finally read that chick-lit.

Currency (FREE) for iPhone, Android

Family holidays in the sunshine can mean endless trips to the ice-cream van, poolside snacks, inflatable lilos that the kids just ‘must have’ and a whole lot more – all of which can add up and become quite costly.

This free currency app allows you to check up-to-date currency exchange rates, so you always know how much your money is worth, before you splash out. Currencies are provided for over 180 countries, so you will always be able to find out the value of local money wherever you are travelling.

Red Cross First Aid App (FREE) for iPhone, Android, Blackberry

Every parent knows that it’s important to be prepared for anything and everything, and that goes for whilst you’re on vacation too. We all like to think that nothing will go wrong on holiday health-wise, but in case it does this essential first aid app will help.

This free app features simple, easy advice on 18 everyday first aid scenarios including nasty scratches, burns and choking. The information you need is all hosted on the app itself, requiring no internet connection, making it fast and easy to access in a crisis.