Episode Details

370: Teaching Tech Skills Through Family Travel

Have you ever thought about turning family travel into a tech skills classroom? In this episode, Meryl shares practical ways to assign your teens real planning tasks before and during a trip — tasks that build digital literacy alongside life skills.

Ideas covered in this episode:

1. Pitch the Vacation Have each child research a destination and pitch it to the family using a slideshow (Canva, Google Slides). Slides should be visual, not text-heavy — they present, not read.

2. Research Activities with AI Have kids search with Google first, then repeat with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and compare results. Discuss why results differ, how to check accuracy, and how specific prompts (age range, cost, location) narrow results better than a keyword search.

3. Plan with Real Booking Sites Walk them through Google Flights vs. Kayak vs. airline sites. Teach them to look for hidden costs — baggage fees, seat selection, taxes. For hotels, have them consider breakfast, transit access, and proximity to your main activities. Discuss when a hotel makes more sense than Airbnb/Vrbo.

4. Budget Tracking with a Spreadsheet Set the budget yourself, then hand the tracking to them. Each day they log food, activities, souvenirs. Teach SUM and basic formulas. They’ll figure out fast what going over budget means for tomorrow.

5. Mapping and Route Planning Use Google Maps, Waze, or Apple Maps to plan daily driving distances and stops in advance. In the car, let them find gas stations, bathrooms, and lunch spots in real time. Give them the responsibility — and trust their answer.

6. Documenting the Trip Options range from simple (phone photos, daily journal) to polished (Canva scrapbook, Google Slides photo diary, Padlet board for sharing with family). For a longer trip outside summer, consider having them travel blog using Google Sites or Strikingly — combines writing, photography, and digital publishing into a credit-worthy project.

Links and resources mentioned:

• Canva — canva.com
• Google Slides
• Google Flights, Kayak