Coleman Unisex – Adult's Castle Pines Tent, Blue/Green, 4 Personen

Bubble Bum

We've been there. Lugging child booster seats through the airport.
We've also been there with taxis that don't car about little ones not strapped in properly (and then drive line maniacs).  All part of the fun of family travel? May be not.
When planning for an upcoming road trip abroad, with plenty of driving and transfers between places, carrying a booster seat around wasn't going to be an option. Fortunately a number of people recommended to us the '***BubbleBum***' - and we've been very impressed with it.
<MediaImage url="/uploads/2014/08/BubbleBum-inflatable-car-booster-seat.jpg" alt="BubbleBum inflatable car booster seat" width="590" height="392" caption="The BubbleBum inflatable car booster seat" />
We ordered our BubbleBum from Amazon and it came in a shape that didn't look like a car booster seat. That's because the BubbleBum is inflatable, so it can just be put into your suitcase to be inflated when needed.
<MediaImage url="/uploads/2014/08/The-BubbleBum-in-its-carry-case.jpg" alt="The BubbleBum in its carry case" width="590" height="392" caption="The BubbleBum in its carry case." />
It comes with its own carry case, and is lightweight, which makes a change from carrying around cumbersome child booster seats.
<MediaImage url="/uploads/2014/08/The-BubbleBum-inflated.jpg" alt="The BubbleBum inflated" width="590" height="392" caption="The BubbleBum car seat inflated." />
You inflate it by blowing into valve at the back. If you go camping you'll find it's the same sort of valve as a <Link title="Self Inflating Mats, and What’s Recommended for Family Camping" href="/camping/self-inflating-mats/">Self Inflating Mat</Link>.
Once inflated it is quite comfortable (better than hard booster seats) and has a fabric cover. Different colour covers are available.
<MediaImage url="/uploads/2014/08/The-BubbleBum-fitted-in-the-car.jpg" alt="The BubbleBum fitted in the car" width="590" height="392" caption="The BubbleBum fitted in the car." />
It simply clips onto the seat belts to secure in the car.
There's also a shoulder strap to position the upper seat belt correctly for your child.
<hr/>
**Update:** Well, our road trip is now complete. We used the BubbleBum for over two weeks on this road trip and it worked really well and definitely gets the thumbs up from us as a good bit of family travel gear.
It folded down well into the suit case and was light (so not using much of that valuable baggage allowance!). In the car it was comfortable (no complaints from our little man at all). And despite being left in a hot car - read very hot car as we went to Death Valley which was 120F or 48.888C! - the seat had no problems.
<hr/>
This is such a simple idea that works really well.
If you're travelling abroad and planning on hiring a car, it's well worth considering the BubbleBum car booster seat.

Planning on hiring a car abroad with small kids? The BubbleBum is the perfect solution to avoid having to carry around child booster seats.

BubbleBum

If you want to hire a car abroad (or even take some taxi journeys!) and you have young kids, what do you do about a booster seat? BubbleBum is the solution.

HMDX

HMDX Jam

Now, this is not the usual thing we write about on Get Out With The Kids, but this HMDX Jam speaker turned out to be an excellent gadget for family travels. We had such a good time with it on our summer hols last year.

## HMDX Jam Review

We've had ours for about a year now.
We bought it for a rare holiday abroad in Spain, where we had a private pool - yep, complete luxury! ;-)
The speaker pairs with Bluetooth music players, such as iPods or modern phones.
You never know when you buy these gadgets if they're any good or not, but the HMDX Jam was so surprisingly good, we thought we'd share it on here.
For such a small size (it fits into a small jam jar), the speaker is quite loud. Loud enough for kids having a pool party!
We found it lasted about 2.5 hours when used on one of its louder settings.
The speaker charges with a USB cable, so if you have an adaptor for your phone, it should work with the speaker too.

## Also good at home

<MediaImage url="/uploads/2014/07/HMDX-Bluetooth-Speaker.jpg" height="392" width="590" alt="HMDX Bluetooth Speaker" />

It's also great around the home too and in the garden.

## Another gadget for camping

OK, so it's not always good to blast music out at the campsite, but sometimes a little music is OK ;-)
The HMDX Jam can play music quietly too.

## Entertainment for long car journeys

This wireless speaker could also be used to play audiobooks in the car to entertain kids on long car journeys
If you do use it in the car, you might want to get a USB adapter for the car.

## Colours

I'm afraid when I bought ours, the only colour I could get at the time was the rather dull grey colour. However, you can get the HMDX Jam in lots of different colours.
I still see these in the shops, so should be easy to get one, or buy on online.

We found the HMDX Jam a surprisingly good gadget for family travels. Great for the garden, the pool, the beach, the campsite, or even long car journeys

Travel Gear Reviews

BubbleBum - The child's car booster seat when travelling

A great travel gadget: HMDX Jam Wireless Speaker

We gave this the Thumbs Up awardBubbleBum - The child's car booster seat when travelling

We gave this the Thumbs Up awardA great travel gadget: HMDX Jam Wireless Speaker

BubbleBum - The child's car booster seat when travelling

A great travel gadget: HMDX Jam Wireless Speaker