The holidays are upon us — and you know what that means. Time to grab those holiday shopping lists and get to work!
Although we all have that one (honestly slightly annoying) person in the family who has all her holiday shopping done by July, most of us find ourselves scrambling in mid-December, trying desperately to check everyone off our lists before the big day arrives. And if you’ve got some globe trotters to buy for this year, your holiday shopping task might feel even harder. After all, they’re probably not collecting silver spoons or hoping to expand their wardrobe — travel lovers are always on the go, which means material items can be more of a burden than a boon.
But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find gifts for travel lovers that they’ll actually adore. In fact, there are many things that will help them enjoy their trip experiences better! In this post, we’ve gathered some of the very best gifts for travel lovers, whether they’re constantly jetting off for business trips or hitting the road in their camper for leisurely adventures.
Read on to find out how to stuff their stockings — and honestly, to get some droolworthy ideas for things you may want to buy for yourself. (Don’t worry, we won’t tell!)
Road Trip Gifts
Got someone in your life who’s known to drop everything and hit the highway? Here are some perfect travel gifts for the road tripper on your shopping list this year.
Gas Card
It may seem simple, but for the dedicated traveler, there’s no such thing as too much gas money — and a gas card means whatever cash you set aside will be used exclusively for the purpose of propelling them to their next adventure!
You could also consider giving your traveling pal a generic credit card gift card, which would allow her to make broader decisions about how she uses the funds. But gas travel gift cards help counterbalance one of the most annoying expenses road trippers have to deal with, which makes them a perfect gift for travelers. Just make sure it’s usable at the stations she’ll encounter along the way! Not every region is serviced by the same fuel companies.
Road Trip Snack Pack
Who loves living off of Slim Jims and gas station hot dogs?
No one, that’s who. Or at least, no one’s body does. Convenience store food might be quick, cheap, and accessible, but it’s also full of sodium and preservatives — which can dampen any trip by making you feel less than your best. Give your adventurer the gift of being his best self once he gets to his destination by putting together an epic road trip snack pack, complete with items like fresh fruit, lightly-salted nuts, dark chocolate, and high-quality protein bars. (You can even bake your own, if you want to give it an extra dose of thoughtfulness.)
If you want something that’ll last slightly longer, you can purchase relatively healthy snack care packages from Amazon , which run a little over $20 for what’s easily a road trip’s worth of items. But you’d be surprised how many whole foods, like apples and carrots, store well enough to last a road trip — and how much better your giftee will feel noshing on them than she would on gummy snacks and Fig Newtons.
A Killer Road Trip Mixtape
What’s the very best part of road tripping?
To be honest, it would be hard to pick just one thing — but for most of us, jamming out to your favorite croonable car tunes is high on the list. Although you might not actually burn a CD now that it’s almost the year 2020, you can put together a kickin’ playlist on Spotify or whatever other music service your giftee uses. We suggest starting with classic feel-good hits, like “Respect” by Aretha Franklin.
Useful Gifts for Any Traveler
You know what we think are the best gifts for travelers? Ones they’ll actually use! Here are a few travel gifts that’ll have your favorite globe-trotter wondering how she got by before she had ’em.
Mobile Power Bank
Full disclosure: the person writing this post is a frequent traveler herself. (Hey, that’s how I know what your travel-loving giftee is wishing for this season!)
And let me tell you, when I finally got my hands on a decent mobile power bank, I immediately started wondering how I’d lasted so long without one. It was a total game-changer, allowing me to charge my phone on the road — which meant I didn’t have to worry about choosing between listening to my favorite air travel playlists and actually having enough battery left over to figure out where I was supposed to go once I landed.
Even though many airports and travel centers offer mobile charging stations these days, there’s nothing quite as convenient or comforting as having your very own rechargeable power bank along for the ride. They’re also picture-perfect gifts for business travelers, who are likely constantly using their phones to communicate with colleagues and contacts. Plus, the advanced technology we have these days means these tools are both affordable and lightweight, making them a win for all parties involved — both you and your travel-loving listee. Just make sure you choose one that’s compatible with your recipient’s chosen phone type (likely Android or iPhone) — or, for the best possible outcome (and the longest-lasting gift), just choose one that can work with either.
Earplugs
This may sound (pun intended) like a gag gift, we know. But for someone who’s a light sleeper and also a constant wanderer, there’s no better tool to have in your travel arsenal. From blocking out the snorer next door on a red-eye flight to nullifying the frighteningly thin walls of a hotel room, a simple set of earplugs can significantly improve any travel experience. After all, literally everything is way better if you’re well-rested.
Travel-Sized Noise Machine
A similar concept to the last item on the list, but a little bit upgraded. If your giftee is a seriously light sleeper — or headed to an extra-noisy destination — a noise machine can create soothing static or beach sounds that can lull even the most stubborn insomniac into dreamland.
As someone who uses a white noise machine on the regular at home (even in a relatively quiet neighborhood), I can vouch that LectroFan creates a high-quality product and backs it with excellent customer service. For travel purposes, we recommend their wireless version, whose powerful, rechargeable battery offers up to 16 hours of use on just one charge. It’s also Bluetooth compatible and small enough to slip into a purse — perfect!
Hand Warmers
Is your giftee headed off to a thrilling ski vacation, or planning to hike some epic Norwegian fjords?
Some of the most beautiful and adventure-filled landscapes are also the coldest, and fingers and toes are particularly liable to get painfully chilly!
Easy-to-use, air-activated hand and toe warmers are the perfect stocking stuffer for the traveler who loves winter wonderlands, but can’t quite keep her digits toasty. You can get a pack of more than 30 just about $20 on Amazon, and it includes specially-shaped foot warmers that will fit inside her favorite hiking boots. Plus, they’re TSA approved for travelers whose journeys involve a jaunt in an airplane!
Foam Roller Water Bottle
Everyone needs a reusable water bottle — and for the athletic traveler on your list, this one‘s an incredible upgrade. Along with holding her H2O, this bottle also doubles as a foam roller, which can help relax even the tensest of traveling muscles.
Whether it’s a stiff neck from sitting on an airplane too long or sore quads after an epic afternoon of snowboarding, this gift will ensure that your favorite travel lover stays both comfortable and well hydrated, so she can keep on adventuring.
Insulated Travel Mug
The only thing better than coffee is coffee that comes along for the ride no matter where you go — and stays warm as long as you want it to. A good insulated travel mug can make or break any adventurer’s morning, and they make perfectly stocking-stuffable gifts. (Better yet, if your giftee already has one, it’s no big deal… you can never have too many coffee mugs!)
Our best advice? Find one that’s well-insulated enough to keep warm liquids warm for several hours, and make sure that it’s sized to fit in a standard cup holder. There’s nothing quite as annoying as a mug that slip-slides around rather than sitting in its assigned seat nicely.
A Passport America Membership
Yes, yes, you’ve heard us sing this company’s praises before. But if you’ve got an RV camper on your list this year, this gift is a total no-brainer.
Although there are dozens of different discount camping clubs out there, Passport America is one of the most straightforward. Its purpose is simple: it gets you access to 50% off campsites at almost 1900 campground across the country, no questions asked, no fancy gimmicks, no nothin’ but saving a nice hunk of dough every single time you camp. Considering that the membership is less than $50 per year (which price is often eclipsed by campsite accommodation fees on a nightly basis), it pays for itself in no time flat — but of course, it’s an even better deal if it’s totally free to your giftee! Click here to learn more and sign up your recipient today.
Personalized Travel Gifts
Below, find a few fun and unique travel gifts that’ll really make your giftee feel special — because they’re totally one-of-a-kind. Personalized, custom travel gifts are a great way to show your recipient how much they mean to you!
Markable/Trackable Travel Map
On a list of classic travel presents, this item would be pretty high — but for good reason. What better gifts for someone going travelling than a map to help them keep track of all their adventures?
Trackable travel maps come in pinnable, scratch-off-able, and even color-in-able versions; which one will suit your giftee best is up to you. Many vendors will also customize the map with a name and small saying, which can be an especially romantic gift for couples: check out this adorable one on Etsy that reads, “Anywhere with you.” How awww can you get?
Luggage Tags
Have you ever lost a bag?
If not, I hope you never do. It’s an experience I literally wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. There’s nothing that makes you feel quite as vulnerable and disarmed as landing in a foreign country, or even just a different state, without any of the items you planned on having with you. (Yes, it’s probably patently obvious that I’m speaking from experience, here; a baggage error means I got to spend my first fifteen hours in Ireland without a raincoat.)
Luggage tags are an affordable, and often lovely, way to prevent this problem. You can find beautiful, custom-made ones created out of solid wood, leather, aluminum, and other fine materials, which significantly outshine the classic paper-and-plastic, hand-written versions. And if you’re thinking those fancy-pants pieces of trackable luggage have rendered bag tags redundant, think again! Some airlines and travel companies disallow those gadgets because they interfere with navigation technology — and besides, even if your giftee can track the bag, having their address and contact info right there on the tag can expedite the whole situation significantly. (Plus, they just look really nice, right?)
Travel Gift Ideas for Women on the Go
While many travel gifts work for men and for women alike, here are some cool travel gifts specifically for her.
Essential Oils
Helpful with everything from relaxing the mind to improving the mood, essential oils are thought to have healing properties by many — and they smell undeniably delicious, too. Plus, they’re super powerful… which means they come in teensy-tiny bottles that are totally compliant with the TSA’s volumetric rules.
Choose just one or two essential oils to get her, or splurge on a whole set; you can get a whole slew of ’em for less than $50 on Amazon. To make the gift even easier for her to enjoy, get a beautiful diffuser necklace, so she can literally wear her calming and centering scents to her destination.
Travel-Sized Spa Kit
Traveling is awesome, no doubt. But it can also be difficult and tiring. All that bouncing around shakes up our usual routines, which sometimes leaves us feeling — and looking — less than our best.
So treat your travel buddy to a self-pampering sesh with a travel-sized spa kit, like this skincare set from Knours. For less than thirty bucks, you (and more importantly, your giftee) get a cleanser, two luxurious facial creams, a refreshing mist, and pre-packaged cleansing wipes — i.e., the most accurate and honest on-the-go skincare product on earth. What’s more, each component is appropriately sized for TSA guidelines, so if she’s getting on a plane, it’s no problem!
Top Gifts for Travelers of Any Sort
There are some things that just always win the holiday gift game, no matter what kind of travel lover you’re buying for. So if you’re looking for travel-related gifts or a killer present for someone who you know is traveing a lot this year, look no further: these items will certainly win their hearts!
Travel Journal… or Plain Old Notebooks
No matter who your travel-happy giftee is or what they’re traveling for, one thing’s for sure: they probably want to remember their adventures!
But for those of us who travel a lot, even epic journeys can start to blend together a bit. Unfortunately, having a faulty memory is just part of being human.
That’s why travel journals can be so helpful: they give their owner a reminder to take a second and reflect on all the amazing experiences they’re having by writing them down… which helps them both appreciate the moment more and remember it better later on. Win-win, right?
Whether your giftee has some epic, once-in-a-lifetime trip planned to a dream destination or is just wanderlusty in general, you can choose between purchasing travel-specific journals, which offer travel-related prompts, or open-ended notebooks that can be used however their new owner sees fit. For a comprehensive present, don’t forget to throw a quality pen into the bargain
(Nice) Travel Pillow
Travel pillows may not have the best reputation as far as being stylish and chic. But if you’ve ever spent more than a couple of hours on an airplane, struggling to snooze while smushed against the window, you know how valuable they can be.
Plus, these days, travel pillow manufacturers have gotten seriously creative. Along with the classic, cheapish U-shaped versions you see for sale in the airport, there are also luxurious memory foam travel pillows and souped-up versions with built-in hoods. You can even get one that folds itself out into a whole other shape — like a unicorn — for the discerning traveler who doesn’t want to be seen with that donut-shaped object slung around their carry-on bag. (But even if it’s one of the plain ones, your giftee will love you for providing them some much-needed travel snoozing!)
Electric Adapters
In the late 2010s, one thing’s for sure. Even the most intrepid adventurer probably doesn’t want to go anywhere these days without access to her cell phone, and possibly her computer too. We live in an all-connected-all-the-time world, for better or for worse, and those connections require another important connection: electrical power.
But as anybody who’s ever traveled outside the U.S. can attest, all power is not created equally. (Or at least, it’s not delivered equally, anyway.) Although it may seem silly, electrical outlets aren’t standardized, and if you simply fly to a different country with your regular old charging cord in tow, you may end up being unable to use your gadgets.
That’s why a travel adapter is an absolute necessity for any traveler who’s planning on heading overseas: without one, her gizmos will quickly die and she’ll be stranded, possibly in a place where she doesn’t even speak the language! Furthermore, travel adapters can help regular the amount of power being funneled into those wires, which can keep sensitive (and expensive) gadgetry from up and frying. As far as we know, a dead motherboard is no one’s idea of an excellent start to a vacation!
Good Headphones
From bopping along to your favorite tunes on the airplane to settling in at a coffee shop for a little remote work (or simply personal writing), having a solid set of headphones is important to most of us who are on the go. Need proof? Just take a good look around next time you’re on any form of public transit.
But not all headphones are created equally — in fact, not by a long shot. Stuffing uncushioned earbuds into your sensitive ears can become tiresome and even painful after a while, and besides, the sound quality simply can’t compete with larger, over-ear versions.
Although a nice set of headphones might be an expensive gift, it’s one your giftee will likely treasure for years to come. This author can’t imagine an airplane ride without her cushy Bose noise cancelling headset, which was, indeed, a Christmas gift from her parents a couple of years ago. (She also uses them for working in crowded, noisy places, where they create a bubble of serenity even in the midst of chaos!)
Holiday Gifts Specifically for RVers
We couldn’t leave our travel gift list without a section specifically for RVers. This is RVshare, after all!
Here are our favorite RV gifts for the campers in your life — or for yourself, of course.
An Instant Pot
Chances are you’ve heard us wax poetic about the magic of the Instant Pot before. We do, after all, have a whole post dedicated to these versatile kitchen appliances.
But there’s a reason we’re obsessed, particularly if you spend a lot of time in the teeny-tiny kitchen of a motorhome or trailer! An Instant Pot gives you — er, your giftee — the ability to perform a whole slew of amazing kitchen tasks with just one easy-to-use tool, and it doesn’t have a very large storage or countertop footprint.
Instant Pots are used to make all sorts of delicious concoctions, from slow-cooked stews to quick cakes and everything in between. And you get all that capability for around a hundred dollars, or possibly even a two-figure sum, depending on the exact size and model. That counts as a total steal, in our books.
Nesting Cookware
Kitchen storage space is one of the biggest annoyances (and limiting factors) in any camper’s experience — especially if the giftee you have in mind considers himself a gourmand.
But being able to whip up your favorite meals on the road is one of the most attractive parts of RVing in the first place. So to help him keep his chef’s hat on straight, some simple storage solutions can be a serious benefit.
One of the best ways to save kitchen storage space in an RV is to invest in tools that offer lots of functionality with a small footprint, or objects that stack so you get many different items for the size and space of just one. Nesting cookware, whether it be pots and pans or mixing bowls, goes a long way toward achieving this objective, and makes sure your recipient’s cabinets feel nice and organized.
Cute RV- and Travel-Themed Decor
For the person who has just about everything, travel-themed gifts can be just as exciting as the more practical items listed above. And fortunately, when it comes to cute travel- and camping-related decor, the internet definitely has you covered.
For instance, check out these travel-themed throw pillow covers. How cute would those look on a camping couch? Or maybe these RV-bedecked kitchen towels, which remind your giftee that when you’re camping, home is, indeed, wherever you park it?
You could also get your globetrotter a reminder of home, like one of these state-specific Homesick candles. Florida’s, for instance, smells like citrus and mangrove. A state-shapd necklace is another travel-friendly trinket that will make your giftee remember their home base, no matter where their wandering feet may take them.
Looking for even more RV gifts or good gifts for travelers in general? We’ve written about a ton of camping accessories and add-ons that can make even the most luxurious motorhome or travel trailer feel even homier. Check out the following RVshare posts for more ideas:
- Our Master List of 20 RV Accessories We Can’t Live Without
- 7 Luxury RV Accessories to Make Your Rig Shine
- 10 Camping Accessories that Will Make your Next RV Trip Even More Fun!
- 7 Tried and True RV Accessories Under $50
- 8 New and Exciting RV Accessories We Can’t Wait to Try This Year
Happy holidays, campers!
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