While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced every travel lover to hit the snooze button on their plans, it's still meaningful to bring hope and inspiration to that frequent traveler in your life who can't wait to get their exploration on.
Whether you're reading this article for yourself or for that traveler family/friend you have, we got you covered. We've identified 10 types of traveler who may be in your life and the top gift(s) to get them this year!
1. Best Travel Gift for Road Warriors (including the COVID-Induced!)
Prior to 2020, most of our trips were by plane. We actually didn't even own a car in Chicago until a couple of months ago. With the COVID 19 Pandemic, we've become road warriors to fulfill our thirst for travel and adventure. While we were well-equipped for airplane travel, travel by car has some unique needs that we've only recently had to think about about, including the fact that it can take a lot longer to get from point A to point B.
One of our best investments for road trips is having audiobooks. While audiobooks can be useful for plane travel too, immersing yourself in a good book can make hours feel like minutes as you drive down the interstate. Audible is an awesome service that gives you your first 30 days for free, one book credit per month (two per month for Prime Members!). Its a total bargain at $7.95/month (update: Amazon has it on sale for 4.95/month for the first 6 months!).
Is that person in your life already an audible member? No problem! Opt instead for an audible gift card, good for three additional credits for their Audible library.
2. Best Travel Gift for International Travelers
One often overlooked part of international travel is the inconvenience of having a different electrical outlet in almost every country that you stop in. In a connected world, it's important to keep your phones, cameras, drones, and any other tech you need charged up and ready to go.
This Travel Adapter and Universal Plug set will convert many of the most common plugs and voltages around the world to be usable on all of your US plugs, and it provides the added benefit of turning one measly outlet into three plugs and four USB outlets for all your charging needs. One kit can make travel to India, Australia, China, France, or the UK a breeze, and other countries are just a cheap plug converter away. We don't leave home without this adapter!
3. Best Travel Gift for Solo Travelers
Solo travel is freeing and can be a great way to learn more about yourself. We highly encourage everyone to go somewhere by themselves at least once! But traveling solo has its challenges - Whose going to watch my back?
Don't worry, we've got you covered with this Waterproof Anti Theft Backpack with External USB Port and reflective stripes (11.8 x 5.5 x 17.7 inch). This is actually the exact model we use on our trips. With an anti-theft backpack, you'll feel more assured that without someone watching your back, you can still enjoy your trip with ease without worrying about who might have access to your belongings.
The reason we bought this particular backpack is because there are no external zippers! There's absolutely no way someone can access your things without needing to put their hands behind your back to find the zippers. With an external charger, you don't even need to open your backpack to charge your devices. 100% secure! Of course, the backpack size fits under airplane seats, is TSA friendly, and has multiple internal compartments for easy organization.
4. Best Travel Gift for Her
Personally, I've lost so many earrings and rings on trips because packing on morning of check out is always hectic and I never had a good process to keep track of my jewelries. So having a light weight travel jewelry box is extremely useful as it keeps everything organized throughout the entire trip rather than just throwing one pair of earrings here and another one there. You also avoid having to scramble to find the pair right before check out.
This 3.94"" x 3.94"" x 2.16"" or 10 x 10 x 5.5cm travel friendly jewelry box is the perfect gift for your girl friends who love to glam up during traveling! This organizer is simple and compact, with 2 removable dividers so you can customize how you want to organize based on your jewelry's shape and size. The box closes tight with a zipper to ensure no matter how rough the bag check process is, everything stays inside!
5. Best Travel Gift for Him -
Part of the fun of travel is taking pictures and videos to remembers your travels. Many guys rocking a rugged beard or killer moustache need daily maintenance to keep looking like their best selves. Unfortunately a lot of beard and moustache trimmers are too big and bulky and take up too much of that precious luggage space.
We picked this trimmer since it is:
USB Chargeable - this means you can literally plug this in to your external battery on the go!
Compact - This trimmer is extremely compact - coming in at only 6.2 inches, it can be easily stored in the bag that comes with your purchase, or your travel toiletry bag (honorable mention in the "Gifts for Him" category).
Adjustable - Your trimmer also comes with 7 precision length settings that fits every man's needs. No need for extra attachments!
6. Best Travel Gift for Parents Traveling with Kids
Traveling with kids is extremely rewarding. It not only is a great memory to make, but also open their eyes to new perspectives, cultures, and lives. While traveling with kids is an amazing experience, it can be tough. We have 2 items that is a must have when traveling with kids (one obvious one, and another very creative)
The obvious answer is the Amazon Fire Kids Tablet (which I know a lot of parents don't want to rely on this until it's necessary...). This tablet is one of the most kid friendly tablets on the market. Main features we appreciate are: tailored age appropriate content, multi-language audio, and the ability to immediately download anything your kids click on to allow for offline viewing at a later time. Based on your settings, you can feel confident that no browsing apps / tools are available to kids under a certain age. Parents can also control educational goals, create time limits, and filter content. While this might be a last resort for parents, this device does last 12 hours which could be a good road trip or quick flight option.
Spending a lot of time in the car this holiday season? Here's our recommended mount:
This mount is easily adjustable to fit not only your new Amazon Fire Kids Tablet, but also most other tablets. The mount allows for easy and versatile positioning so if you can choose horizontal or vertical viewing for your little one. The mount also tilts based on the viewer's height - great for kids of all ages.
7. Best Travel Gift for Travelers with Pets
Other than your animal's favorite toy or blanket, we recommend Animal Car Seat Cover and Leakproof Water Bottle for anyone hitting the road with their furry friend.
When we adopted our dog Oreo (follow her on Instagram), we immediately purchased a dog car seat cover, which proven to be our best purchase yet on our multi-day road trip from Chicago to LA. Don't let Oreo's short hair fool you. She sheds with the best of them, but after days of being stuck in the back seat, the cover collects the hair rather than your seats or floor mats. So for anyone who is going on a road trip this year with your animal, please consider investing in a seat cover, we promise it'll save the clean up work later!
We also can't praise this leakproof reversible water bottle enough! This is the exact brand we bought for Oreo when we travel. Here's the thing... there are a lot of options for your animal to stay hydrated on the road or in the air. However, many require that you waste the water when your dog doesn't feel like drinking it (eg. collapsible water bowls, we use these too). The genius thing about this water bottle is that you press a button to release the water as you tilt it, and after your pet is done drinking, you tilt the water bottle back and let the water flow back into the bottle! No more pouring your pet an entire bowl of water and they decide they don't want any of it (I'm not triggered or anything....)
8. Best Travel Gift for Honeymooners
Packing cubes are extremely useful for keeping your suitcase organized, maximizing that carry on size to avoid a checked bag fee, and of course, keeping the dirties well separated from everything else. Whether your honeymoon is long, short, multi-country, or one location, you know honeymooners will be fully loaded when they head to the airport or filled with extra souvenirs for friends and family when they come home. To make the most of your luggage, we recommend compression travel packing cubes! Normal packing cubes have some benefits, but adding in compression can turn your carry-on suitcase into a magic trick. You won't believe how much you can fit in these things!
Experienced travelers swear by packing cubes, and fitting the clothes, accessories, and gear you need is the only way to start a trip. So to make sure your honeymooners know how to pack efficiently, here's a course we've taken that's very helpful as well!
9. Best Travel Gift for Travelers on a Budget
We know that a lot of budget conscious travelers prefer staying at hostels. And while hostels are an affordable option to stay the night, the experience and amenities can be bare-bones compared to what much more expensive hotels might offer. While we take it for granted in the US, many countries' water supplies are not as clean as we would like, but don't expect hostels to provide bottled water. So what is a budget traveler to do to stay hydrated safely?
Having a self filtering water bottle can be a game-changer. That budget conscious traveler in your life can just get running tap water and drink immediately through the built in filter without worrying about local sanitary issues. This gift is great for the backpacker in your life too! No more stomach issues on day 1 of your trip ruining your precious time away!
10. Best Travel Gift for Luxury Travelers
This Bose Noise Cancelling Headphone is one I recently invested in and I couldn't recommend them enough. Noise cancelling headphones may have gained popularity for their usefulness cancelling out unwanted noise on airplanes, but in a COVID world they are more useful than ever. These headphones knock all the basics out of the park, whether you are blasting your favorite BTS song, catching up on episodes of your favorite podcasts, or just looking for some white noise to drift away to sleep. The most recent discovery about the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones is their superior call quality versus other headphones. In a world of endless Zoom calls, having a clear microphone is critical, and in my experience this newest Bose product does not disappoint. The headphones are able to remove outside noises during calls such as wind with ease.
So for luxury travelers who work on the go, a good pair of over the ear AND noise cancelling headphones can be a game changer and you won't remember what life was like without them.
Don't want to pay for the latest and greatest? These older models have many of the same features with a much lower price (Kyle still swears by his!)
That's all the type of traveler friends we've know / have been. What are some of your recommendations for these categories??? We would love to hear from you!
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