Free Audio Books for Children

OK, almost free. All you have to do is buy a 99 cent app for your iPhone. That's pretty close to free for a long car ride with two kids in the back seat, no?

There is a wonderful organization called Librivox. They take books in the public domain and have volunteers record them and then distribute them on their website. You could listen to the books on your computer for free.

An enterprising company called AudioBooks has created an app whereby you can download these books to your iPhone et, voila! You're all set. There are new titles being added all the time and tons of books for kids.

Here's the bad news: the people reading the books are not actors and god bless them for volunteering, but some could use a little pep, zest and tone fluctuation. And some ACTING LESSONS! It's not like listening to John Lithgow, people! But it's free! (OK, 99 cents)

Here's what you do:

• go to the iTunes store -- for those of you with PCs, yes you can download iTunes and go to the iTunes store (did you really think that Apple was going to miss out on all that revenue?) and...
• go to the App section and search under "audiobooks."
• Now buy the app. It's called "Audiobooks" and has a blue background. Version 3.1 as of today.
• Now sync it to your iPhone.
  

You are done.

Oh, here's the other kind of down side: the catalog could use a little bit better organization. And perhaps, user reviews. And key word searches like say "boy" or "girl" and "Princess" -- stuff like that. But it's almost free! And there is a children's category to search. Look, for free, you can spend 15 minutes searching the catalog and figuring out what to play before you get into your road trip. Right?

What do you mean you don't have an adaptor to play your iPhone through your car stereo? And you don't have a headphone splitter so that both kids could listen to the story on separate headphones? Honey, start clicking. This is a GREAT investment.

It's only getting better, people.

Free 411 on your cell phone

How much do you pay each time you call 411 from your cell phone? It seems like ten bucks, am I right?

Google has a free, voice activated information system, whereby you can get business listings.
You don't need a computer, an Internet connection, or even the keypad on your phone or mobile device. GOOG-411 is voice-activated, so you can access it from any phone (mobile or land line), in any location, at any time. For free.

Dial (1-800) GOOG-411. Say where. Say what you're looking for. Example: Pizza. Then, say the city and state. GOOG-411 will give you multiple choices for pizza in the area. If you know the exact pizza place you want, then you can say it in the first place and it will connect you.
If you are calling from a mobile device, GOOG-411 can even send you a text message with more details and a map. Simply say "Text message" or "Map it."

Sometimes, it can't understand what I'm saying -- and it doesn't help that my children are talking loudly in the background, but it's been golden so many times that it has afforded us great eating opportunities in unfamiliar neighborhoods. (I live in Los Angeles, so there are a lot of neighborhoods -- and choices.)

...And another thing about our Road Trip to San Francisco...

When we drove to San Francisco over Thanksgiving weekend with our kids, we were loathe to eat at a fast food restaurant off of Highway 5 — one of the plainest, most boring drives in this beautiful country that we live in. We wanted… an experience. But Yelp doesn’t really cover I-5.

We had our GPS set up — I know, what for? I-5 is one straight line — but we’re techy people, so we had it on, just to satisfy our curiosity. My husband suddenly clicked on “points of interest” on the GPS. One of the categories was “food.” Yeah, we clicked that, too. There was a whole mess of restaurants only 5 miles off of the highway. Near the state prison. Yay!

We got off and found that gas was sixty cents cheaper (hello!) and we ate AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS Mexican food for a very low cost. And I was able to practice my Spanish with everyone.

Hey, if you’re a traveling mom, you must take some risks. When they pay off, it’s beautiful.