Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I received the Velocity Hotspot from AT&T, however all opinions are my own.
The holiday season is upon us! The joy of giving, well-wishing and time with family are what we enjoy most this time of year. As a Latina, my family is so important to me. Some of the best memories from my childhood happened during the holidays. Unfortunately, my family is all across the country now. While I have my immediate family with me, my two boys and my husband, I miss the holidays with my parents, my sisters and their families. During this time of year I’m thankful for technology and its advances. Tis’ the season for love and giving, and it’s also the season for connectivity!
How is LTE technology making our holidays away better? Let me share an example. For Thanksgiving we traveled to Arizona. The drive was almost 11 hours. Kids can get very bored on a trip that long. Who am I kidding, as an adult I kept checking the navigator app on my phone just to see how much farther? The boys enjoyed the drive. They had plenty of snacks and naps along the way, but there’s only so much sleeping you can do in the car, right? Using LTE technology, the AT&T Velocity Hotspot kept the boys busy watching movies and playing games! Wi-Fi on the road! What a genius concept and it saved me from hearing a lot of, “How much longer… Are we almost there yet?!” My heart literally skipped a beat to when the hotspot came on and notified us we had internet signal in my vehicle.
Who would have thought that would have been possible a few years ago, right?
Along with having internet on-the-go, there were a few more benefits to having the mobile hotspot on our trip. How many times have you been on a trip and then all of a sudden need to get online? You’re at a hotel and can’t connect because the signal is bogged down by everyone else staying there? Too many to count, right? Thanks to the mobile hotspot we got to enjoy our own signal without interruptions.
One of the best moments from our time away didn’t even happen in Arizona. It happened in Florida when we used the mobile hotspot to video chat with my sister and her family. Through this technology, we were able to share in my niece’s first steps, thousands of miles away!
Sorry it’s blurry! 🙁
Were it not for the hotspot, we could have only hoped to see a photo still of my niece taking her first steps a few states away. Yet we witnessed it live! How amazing is that!? The only other thing that would have made this moment more amazing is if we had been prepared to record the video as well! I have a feeling that I’ll be seeing her walk around a lot thanks to our smartphone, though. Special moments like those can be shared with family worldwide. Isn’t that incredible?!
The distance in hours and miles are nothing when we can communicate via phone, chat and video chat using technology like the AT&T hotspot. There’s no longer an excuse for not being able to share in special moments with family in other countries.
Thankfully, with technology, being away from family isn’t as tough as it used to be. I miss the hugs, but I’ll take a picture, text, video or phone call over nothing at all.
You are so right! My family lives in the Dominican Republic and if it weren’t for modern technology, they would miss so much. My girls are the only grandchildren and nieces and they get to be a part of it because of our electronic devices. I’m so happy you received that phone!
How proud your family in the Dominican Republic must be of your beautiful girls Elayna! Thanks for your comment 🙂
I’m lucky because my entire family all lives within 20 minutes of each other, so I see them all the time. I would totally video chat if we lived far.
The hotspot sounds like a great way to stay in touch! Glad you were able to using technology this holiday to stay close to family
We don’t have family that far away, but it seems we still have trouble getting together for more than Christmas some years. We stay connected thanks to Facebook!
I love the mobile hot spot! I’m always connecting to WiFi for streaming data.
There was a good amount of Skype calling over the holidays. We have family ALL over, and we’d be lost without our technology!
Emails and Facebook! We have everyone on there and we chat and send photos! It’s fun and quick, gotta love how far technology has come!
I’m often using my cell to keep contact with my aunts and uncles who live in other states. It’s a great way to keep in touch and I love it. I haven’t used video chat with any of them before, maybe sometime I will try it.
I love WiFi hotspots. I like being able to get online when I am away from home. A few of my family members live out of state so we talk online.
Really cool. So nice to share such great moments.
Yes Facetiming and sending lots of video/picture text is what I used to keep my family close during the holidays! I almost forgot what we did before to keep in touch if we arent able to see them!
I have a lot of family that are ar away we normally just use email that is honestly all I do.I hate calling or texting to be honest.
That’s amazing….and so awesome that you caught her first steps!! Technology has come so far. I can’t imagine going back 20+ years now after we know what we know about it now, haha!
It was by chance that we did and it was so amazing! 🙂 So thankful for technology!
I would not want to do a 11 hour drive with my kids. Cell phones and tablets would make it a little easier.
My son’s mother-in-law used technology to keep in touch with the grandbaby while she was in England for 6 weeks. I think it’s a wonderful way to keep in touch.
I am so grateful for technology to keep in touch with my nephews! Amazing that my 9 year old nephews have wireless phones, but I would not have it any other way!
It looks like technology helped you have a great holiday. My family is here in town so we don’t need a whole lot of technology to keep in touch.
What a great review and photos. We love video chats and do use that all the time to keep in touch with family and friends.
Isn’t technology awesome, we love staying close that way. We moved to Florida so we are always using our phones and such to stay close.
My parents live three hours from us and we video chat every single day. It makes the distance not so hard. Plus it keeps my kids connected to their grandparents.