Portable DVD player on a roadtrip?

I'm planning a West-East cross-country one-way trip. I'm just wondering if bringing a DVD player would help to fight some deadly streches on the road. Please share your stories if you had done it before and how it turned out, good or bad.

Thanks!

MM

I can see needing something like this for the kids but, even with kids, I personally wouldn't do it.

First, if you're doing it for the kids, the experience of seeing new scenery is something that they should learn to appreciate. This country is magnificently diverse and even prairie land or desert can be fascinating if that's not what you're normally used to. I just went from WA state to NM and back and, believe me, the diversity in the desert, colors of rock, rounded or squared off rocks, types of plant life, etc., were remarkably different from one area to the next. I really think that kids should be taught to enjoy these types of pleasures and not have the mass media and electronic diversions all the time. How can they ever learn to enjoy simple pleasures if they never experience them?

If you're talking about the driver or an adult passenger needing a DVD, I think the same thing applies. Of course, the driver should never be watching a show while driving, right?

Of course, if you're thinking about using this for a diversion in the evening once you're done driving, go for it. I just really think it takes away from the experience of being "on the road" myself.

I think a better evening activity is to go to where the locals are. It is great fun to walk through small-town America's downtown areas and talk to the locals out walking, sitting in the park, having a beer at the local hang-out, etc., and meeting new people. Sitting in the hotel or at a campground watching DVD is too isolating. Why not just stay home?

Just all my own humble opinion. Judy

Well, we just got back from a 4,000 mile road trip (San Diego to Omaha and back) and we took along my son's Playstation II with an external LCD screen so he and my daughter could play games and watch movies. It was great. They were well occupied and happy and my wife and I weren't pestered every ten minutes with "are we there yet". We also bought a set of headphones for the kids which added to the quiet enjoyment. It was a much more pleasant trip. I'd highly recommend one to any parent on a roadtrip. Although we didn't do this, you could also bring it into the hotel room and watch movies.

A roadtrip without "are we there yet"??? I just hope your kids had time to look out and see the world as it sped by at 70 mph.

Thanks for the report -- What places did your kids like the best on the trip?

M.

Well, their favorite place was a water park outside of Omaha, Nebraska (about 20 miles west on US80)in Mahoney State Park. It's at the the same exit as the Strategic Air Command museum which we also visited (I really enjoyed that). Second favorite place was Rocky Mountain National Park outside of Estes Park, Colorado. We found some snow off of Trail Ridge Road (about 11,000 ft) and had some fun snow fights. Also, the pay-to-fish trout pond (" Trout Haven") in Estes Park was great fun as the kids easily caught 12-16" rainbows. It's a little pricey ($.75 per inch of fish caught), but the kids had such a good time and we got some great video of them there.