When your head is constantly in the clouds, your browser history shows mostly flight searches and your pinterest boards declare that you rather collect moments than things, your loved ones might wanna look into travel gift ideas. After all, what do you give someone who is rarely home or wants to travel the world? Showering them with decorative items, household appliances or regular gift ideas might not be the best. Cue the useful travel gifts for travel lovers, cause they see the world a little bit differently. (Pun intended.)
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Tailor your travel gift ideas to the travel type
Depending on what type of traveller your giftee is, your useful travel gifts might vary quite a lot. Do they prefer travelling in tropical weather, need outdoor equipment, combine business travel with leisure or go on a fully fledged world trip? Do they travel solo, in travel groups, long or short term? A city hopper has entirely different preferences than an outdoor enthusiast.
Since this post is to help you get started with ideas and not to discourage you, I have out together essential ideas for useful travel gifts. After all, travel preferences and styles might vary among travel lovers, but there is serious overlap of necessary travel equipment. To deepen on each category, I will publish a little travel gift series in time for Christmas. (It goes by the fancy name of 12 Days of Travelmas! Yay!)
Air travel gifts
Unless your to-be-gifted travel lover is exclusively set on travelling on the ground and maintaining a low carbon footprint (I applaud them!), chances are they will hop on an airplane in the near future. In that case, added comfort goes a long way. (Pun intended.) With aircraft carriers cutting down costs and amenities, your world traveller will appreciate useful travel gifts that make the flying experiences all that much relaxing.
Make sure that your useful travel gifts are lightweight, save space and are TSA approved. For example, a neck pillow is a good idea but an inflatable one that can be crunched together and stored away into a tiny bag is even better! Universal travel chargers are essential, however, avoid those with a thousand extra pieces that need assembling. The less hassle, the more useful your travel gift.
Practical travel outfits
Shopping for other people is always risky. However, if you know their taste, size and that they are cool with other people buying them travel clothes, then go ahead. A safe travel gift alternative might be shopping voucher. To be extra special nice, add your research of suitable cool and/or cute travel outfits to it.
Look for travel outfits that you think they will love, take photos and glue them into the gift card, for instance. (Maybe even take silly photos of yourself wearing the outfits – whether they fit you or not – as that gives the travel gift an extra personal and hilarious touch).
Electronic travel equipment
Nowadays, the motto appears to be: Are you even travelling if you are not posting about it? Staying connected on various platforms has become the standard. So why not help a travel lover out and aid in their search for the perfect electronic travel equipment and experience? Electronic travel equipment criteria you need to look out for are sturdiness, easy storability, light weight and connectability.
Remember, the equipment could be used in different climate zones, in- and outside and will potentially get lugged around a lot. Also, double check how much voltage the electronics gifts can endure. To be safe, stock up on a combined travel adapter and converter to not blow the travel equipment.
Electronic travel equipment gifts might blow your travel gift budget. But don’t fret, there are more affordable travel gift ideas out there. Alternatively, you could hand out a voucher. You can get those for specific shops or make it yourself, stating you will chip into an investment into anew travel camera, for instance.
DIY travel gifts
If you are the creative type or your holiday gift budget is rather low, DIY travel gifts are an awesome and personal gift idea. Pinterest DIY boards are a fantastic source for gift ideas. You could paint porcelain mugs with travel motifs, create photo albums or travel scrapbooks from all the brochures you have collected together (and that are collecting dust) and edit together travel footage from you and your travel friend’s shared trips.
There are tons of materials you can get in arts and crafts stores or on online platforms, such as Amazon or etsy. If you really don’t have a crafty thumb, you could source etsy for pre-made hand-made travel gifts. (I for instance, am selling hand-drawn travel prints and city posters on there.)
Business travel gifts
If your to-be-gifted travel lover is obliged to travel a lot but for work, they might require a different kind of travel gift. Business travel really is work and not that much fun. More often than not, travel lovers don’t even have a lot of time – or the energy after a long day – to go on explorations. Helping them save time and energy is crucial. Think of items that can be used repetitively, something more classy and high end and that ooze professionalism. If you have to travel for work, you might as well travel in style and make an impression in meetings later that day.
So many useful travel gifts
These are just a few travel gift ideas, to kick start your brainstorming and give you some pointers. Over the next few days, there I will dive deeper into the topic as I know how difficult it can be to find gifts for travel lovers.
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What kind of useful travel gifts did you find most sensible? Any you would like to add for other readers?
Read next:
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sheenwan70 says
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