Travel Gear
Backpacks 🎒
We have a couple of these and they are great when you have younger kids on the trail. They have storage for a water bladder and snacks to keep the family fueled for the journey.
These packs are excellent for day trips. They essentially have built-in packing cubes and lots pockets and zippers to store everything away. We use them at the beach, on the mountains, everywhere!
These tiny packs are perfect for hikes when we need a little more storage than what’s offered in a Camelbak. We have one in each of the kids’ favorite colors!
These are excellent for hiking, biking, or even just long days away from home. They can also replace water cups that might spill in the car! We love our Camelbaks!
Airbnb Necessities
We use these in our garage for storage but they are also great when you’re traveling for extended periods throughout several locations. Clevermade is another brand that makes similar products that we like.
This little guy is essential. It can connect to WiFi and then rebroadcast with WiFi settings that all your devices already know. You can also connect your phone to share mobile internet if you don’t have wifi where you’re visiting. Oh, it also has a built-in VPN.
Great for iPhone and iPads. This charger is compact and charges devices very quickly which is handy when you have several devices.
When you have 4 kids you start to run out of options for sleeping in most houses! These cots are an excellent way to make a house work for sleeping arrangements when you have a large family or are staying with friends.
Vehicles
Our favorite vehicle is the Ford Transit (10 seater option) we used during our travels throughout Colorado and Utah in 2020-21.
When we moved to New Zealand in 2021 there was a car shortage and we couldn’t find a Ford Transit in the configuration we were after (short wheel base, 10 seats). We ultimately settled on the Volvo XC90 as a 6 seater option that has the following: a towbar (for bikes), a roof rack (for a cargo box), captain chairs in 2nd row (child seats in 2nd row, older kids pass through middle to 3rd row), and AWD (for the snow). And we love Thule for all car accessories.
