So the other day my wife and I agreed we’d be taking O and Jake to Disneyland to celebrate Jake’s 2nd birthday. Well the actual celebration wouldn’t be taking place at Disneyland but we’d be celebrating. Somehow that seemed much less confusing to think about before putting it in writing.
Hopefully, you haven’t totally lost me and you’re still following along.
Okay, so I wrote a post the other day talking about how I’ll be using the app to get me to and from Disneyland. There were a couple of twists and turns and this post actually turned out to be something much more than I originally thought.
We actually live about 400 miles north of the LA area in Monterey, California. Although I know exactly how to get where I’m going when we drive down south I still find myself using the TeleNav app. In fact, it seems the majority of the time I’m using the app it’s actually when I know where I’m going and not somewhere new. This is the opposite thinking most people have when it comes to Navigation apps but let me explain.
Of course the app does an awesome job of getting you from Point A to Point B. What it does equally as well, if not better is telling you what’s in between Point A and Point B. I’ll give you an example:
We’re several hours into our drive and we decided that we needed some caffeine and the kids both told us they wanted milk. So our standby for these types of stops is Starbucks. I actually have a Starbucks app on my iPhone which does a great job of telling you where the closest stores are to you. The problem with that app is that as soon as you click on directions it opens up the phones Map application. There’s nothing wrong with this if you like looking at a map while you’re driving, having to click to the next page for each turn while you’re driving, and overall not get exactly where you’re trying to go. Yeah, that was my experience with the Starbucks app. With the TeleNav app I pressed the little Mic button and said, “Take me to the nearest Starbucks” and guess what happened? It actually told me how to get to the nearest Starbucks! And you know what? I didn’t have to look at my phone once, I didn’t have to push any other buttons, and best of all? We actually got there!!
A similar thing happens when it comes to finding gas stations near us on our route. What’s even better is that it will tell us the nearest gas station with the cheapest gas! If that isn’t awesome enough it will actually tell us the cheapest gas per octane! Our car takes premium gas so every little penny helps when we’re filling up that tank.
So before I tell you about our trip to Disneyland I will say that we were actually following my Sister-In-Law. TeleNav gave us slightly different directions to get to Disneyland than the way she was taking us. When we got to the exit my Sister-In-Law wanted us to take TeleNav quickly re-routed and guided us the rest of the way turn-by-turn. Again, we knew where we were going and even though TeleNav had us going a slightly different way it quickly adapted to our new route without much of a blink.
I wasn’t able to use the app in the park itself but there is a “pedestrian” feature which will take you where you want to go with the assumption that you’re on foot and not in a car. It converts everything to feet for you so you can easily determine how much longer you have to walk before your next turn. Of course, it will speak the turns to you as well even in “pedestrian” mode.
Disneyland was so fun as usual! We went on quite a few rides and the kids had a blast! My parents were visiting from the east coast and it was their first time to Disneyland. The kids lasted until the park closed which was a complete shock! I would’ve bet money that they would’ve been done in the early evening but they lasted all the way. We even got to stay for what O calls “the fireworkers”.
At the end of the evening my Sister-In-Law gave me special directions to turn on a particular street so as to avoid a highway that was near the park. I wasn’t worried at all since I knew I had TeleNav. Not only did it guide me right out of the parking garage but it took me the exact way she wanted me to go which either means she talks to TeleNav when I’m not around or they’re both pretty good with directions. I’m guessing it’s the latter.
On our 400 mile ride back home TeleNav past the ultimate test in my book. The kids were both asleep and the wife and I were starving. I clicked the mic icon on the app and said, “Take me to the nearest In-N-Out”. In less than 4 minutes we were in the drive thru of In-N-Out Burger. If you’re not familiar with this fast food chain then you’re definitely missing out. They are hands down the best fast food burger joint anywhere. Now would be a good time to go download the TeleNav app and say, “Take me to the nearest In-N-Out“. You may have a bit of a drive depending on where you live but you’ll never have to worry about finding what you need in between Point A and Point B.
I don’t know if this is the norm or not but O has always liked looking at herself. She’s 28 months so I don’t mean in the vain kind of way, of course. Rather she’s been fascinated with how the world sees her. She’s always checking herself out in the mirror and just loves to watch videos of herself on my iPhone. I think the idea that she actually has a reflection and being able to see what others see, intrigues her.
What’s great about this app and others like is that it is interactive. It’s something you can do with your children. The end result? You actually get a picture you can keep and send to friends and family as well. Having your phone with you wherever you go makes it great to just pull out and use when you’re waiting in long lines or even as a distraction when they’re about to have that melt down!
The makers of the app say if you’re child is old enough to ask for your phone they’re old enough to play. I suppose that’s mostly true and really there’s no harm in having them play short of them busting the crap out of your phone which is a totally different problem. The app is $1.99 in the app store and as of this writing received 4 out of 5 stars from 209 Reviewers.
