Travel Apps Archives | Cool Mom Tech

The outrageous, high-tech marriage proposal that required Google Earth, GPS, and 4500 miles of travel over 6 months

by Liz Gumbinner | Entertainment, Travel Apps

We have shared a ton of clever pregnancy announcement ideas and sex reveal (FKA gender reveal, inaccurately) ideas over the years, and surely you’ve seen Pinterest boards packed full of creative marriage proposal ideas. But having just watched this video about...

3 of the best apps for free international texting

by Kristen Chase | Travel Apps

With my daughter in Japan for the entire month of July, we needed to come up with a communication plan, most of which involved texting apps because they’re free. Whether you’ve got a teen or college student heading overseas, or you’re traveling there...

Is that poison ivy? The new Seek app can tell you that, and a whole lot more.

by Kate Etue | Fun Apps, Travel Apps

With the warmer weather finally here, I’m looking forward to getting outdoors with my family. We’re avid campers and hikers, and I have to admit, I enjoy the time we spend away from screens. Turns out, it’s also Screen-Free Week, so how perfect that...

How long is the airport security line wait? There’s an app for that!

by Liz Gumbinner | Travel Apps

Considering Disney has had their own wait time line trackers for years now, and now, thanks to my favorite travel app TripIt, you’ll be able to track real-time security wait times at the airport. It’s a feature now available to Pro subscribers and it will...

Why the new Local app could make you delete Yelp for good.

by Liz Gumbinner | Shopping Apps, Travel Apps

I admit, Yelp drives me crazy for a number of reasons. And now, just in time for the holiday shopping and travel, comes a truly viable app alternative. Let’s say you live in Silverlake, you like comedy shows and galleries, and four of your friends have recently...

TripIt’s new feature makes air travel so much less stressful. We’ll take it!

by Liz Gumbinner | Lifestyle Apps, Travel Apps

If you’ve ever tried dragging a bunch of tired kids and all of their luggage around an airport while searching for a charging port, a snack, or a bathroom — let alone the gate for the next leg of your flight that boards in five minutes — you’ll...

Google Flights makes booking travel so much easier. Maybe even cheaper, too.

by Jeana | Travel Apps

If you’re booking travel for the holidays, or even next year for spring break or summer vacation, you’ll want to check Google Flights for finding the best flight and rate, straight off the bat. What’s so great about Google Flights is the flexibility...

Google Trips app: Our cool free app of the week

by Kate Etue | Travel Apps

My family will be taking a trip to Seoul, South Korea, in the next couple months, and I’m a little overwhelmed trying to plan our itinerary. Pinterest is somewhat helpful, but there’s a lot of link bait to wade through. That’s why I was so pleased to...

Reserve app: Our cool free app of the week

by Kate Etue | Travel Apps

If you’ve ever sat at a table in a restaurant for 15 minutes (sometimes longer) with fussy, restless kids, waiting for your server to bring your check so you can leave, then you should download the Reserve app (iOS and Android) right now, especially now with...

Rome2rio travel app: Our cool free app of the week

by Christina Refford | Travel Apps

We just returned from a family vacation to Italy, and boy do I wish I had discovered the Rome2rio app before our trip. It could have saved us countless moments trying to decide the best way to get around the various sites with three kids, with the least amount of...

Waze Planned Drives: Big news for anyone who spends any time in the car at all, ever.

by Jeana | Travel Apps

If you haven’t yet heard about the brand new feature from the Waze app called Waze Planned Drives, then you might be as excited as I am. Especially if, like me, if you’re the kind of person who had kids, then went from being always early, to the one...

Bonjournal travel journal | Cool free app of the week

by Christina Refford | Travel Apps

Whether your travels this year take you halfway across the world, to your favorite beachside resort a few hours away, or to the campground you’ve been visiting since the kids were toddlers, I’ve found an easy, beautiful, and free app for iOS that will help...

Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

We started Cool Mom Tech in 2010 to help make our increasingly digital lives easier, more organized, more meaningful, and more fun, however old your kids may be.

We love that it's grown to become the go-to source for millions of parents who want commonsense info about tech delivered with a smile.

We even have the privilege of sharing our tips + tricks with The TODAY Show, CNN, HLN, GMA, Nightline, newspapers and magazines around the country, and our favorite -- regular parents who stop us at PTA meetings and ask us how old kids need to be to get a smartphone, and whether they really need to panic about Snapchat.

(Answer: It's complicated.)

We're so glad you're here! And we hope we can help you too.