A week spent with the family in the tropics taught me a few valuable tech lessons.

Lesson 1: Never trust a telco's mobile broadband coverage maps. Vodafone left me stranded in Mackay and, whichever mobile broadband service you use, I'd certainly recommend calling the local store before travelling to see if the coverage maps lie.

Lesson 2: Have plenty of entertainment options if you're travelling with children. A cancelled flight saw us stuck in Mackay airport for five hours and not arrive home until after midnight, but access to plenty of entertainment meant it was an inconvenience rather than a disaster.

Lesson 3: iTunes M4V is my new video format of choice. Using HandBrake to rip DVDs as H.264 M4V files means you can play the same files in iTunes, on an iPhone or with a portable media player like the WD TV Live.

Lesson 4: The torture test for sat-nav apps is travelling interstate (something I'll write up soon). I spent the week playing around with the TomTom iPhone app and cradle, and I was lucky to live to tell the tale. The latest TomTom app is far more useful if you mute the voice, because it can't count when it comes to which roundabout exit you should take.

Hopefully these lessons could help save the day if you're looking to take your clan on the road this summer.