The festive season has a way of sneaking up on us and before we know it, it’s time to start dreaming up wonderful gift ideas for those we love. Personally, I believe the best gifts are those that are thoughtful, useful and from the heart. That’s why, this year, I wanted to curate a list of gift ideas based on things we, as travellers, have found incredibly useful and feel other travellers would use and appreciate. I’ve also included a few things that are sure to bring a smile to someone’s face come Christmas day. We’ve got a range of gifts to peruse and while some have a higher price tag there are some budget-friendly ideas too + you can also use this list as inspiration and find a dupe within your price range! Remember, Christmas gifts aren’t about how much you spend, they’re about showing how much you care and you cannot put a price tag on that.
Check out our other gift guides for even more gift-giving inspiration!
- The Wander Club helps people keep their travel memories alive! Collect an engraved token for every national park, country, state, and landmark that you or your loved ones have visited and add it to a handcrafted token holder. What’s also great about The Wander Club is that they provide a meal to a child in need for every order placed. If you’re looking for a thoughtful gift for the travel lover in your life, look no further.
- When you buy someone a Tinggly gift voucher you’re buying amazing travel experiences for their next trip! You buy a Tinggly Christmas Gift Box and when the time comes, your travel-loving friend jumps online to choose from hundreds of experiences in 100+ countries. It’s great because you get to give them a memorable travel experience and they get to choose something they’ll love. It could be an aqua experience in Bora Bora, ice caving and glacier hiking in Iceland, white water rafting in California, a tandem skydive in the Namib Desert or one of the many other amazing experiences on offer. Find Tinggly here.
- From comfortable footwear for long-haul flights and massive travel days to exploring big cities and off-road adventures, a trendy pair of sneakers offer comfort and style. They’re a great all-rounder and an easy crowd-pleaser for the adventurer in your life! Trust me, I’ve been wearing my New Balance sneakers like they’re going out of fashion and they have quickly become the first thing I grab when packing. Find great sneakers here.
- For those who love the snow, a great pair of ski goggles is a sure winner! Avid snowboarders, like Matt, and newbie skiers, like me, will always put a good pair of ski goggles to good use. They’re the kind of thing that’s always needed but often not prioritised in the budget. We love the range from Copenhagen brand, MessyWeekend as they’re stylish, and practical and a part of all sales goes to cleaning our oceans of plastic.
a Tinggly gift voucher
aqua experience in Bora Bora
glacier hiking in Iceland
rafting in California
skydive in the Namib Desert
comfortable footwear
a trendy pair of sneakers
great pair of ski goggles
- If you want to really help a traveller out, a great travel backpack is a fantastic gift idea! I’ve gone through some really dodgy, poorly made ones and know the benefit and relief of finding a good one. My advice for buying the perfect travel backpack: it needs lots of pockets, has to be very well made and offer enough straps to ease back strain. The perfect backpack should also meet a person’s needs so, for me, I look for something a bit more trendy, compact and practical while Matt prefers adventure brands that offer durability. Find the perfect backpack here.
- For the active traveller in your life, activewear is the perfect gift idea! A great pair of good quality leggings, breathable top or supportive new sports bra will come very useful when they’re scaling mountains in New Zealand or mountain biking in Canada. I use and love Lorna Jane activewear and usually end up wearing it on long-haul flights too. Find amazing activewear here.
- If you want to give a gift that will be put to good use year after year, a really good quality coat is ideal. I have a wonderful North Face coat I use every single year and it is my favourite item of travel clothing. It’s waterproof, windproof, goes with everything I own and keeps me warm and dry on every adventure. I have owned mine now for years and it’s still one of my go-to travel items. Find the perfect travel coat here.
a great travel backpack
Find the perfect backpack here.
activewear is the perfect gift idea
a really good quality coat is ideal
Find the perfect travel coat here.
- Matt bought me a wireless, Bluetooth speaker a few years ago and it has become a packing staple for us! We listen to music while getting ready in the hotel room each day, chilling out or having a few drinks on a beach somewhere, watching the sunset. It always comes in useful and helps us create awesome music memories on the road. Find Bluetooth speaker here.
- Know someone who loves a good eye mask? Up their eye-mask game with a silk sleep mask. The skin around the eyes is particularly sensitive, regardless of what skin type you have. This smooth silk sleep mask will keep the skin around your eyes looking and feeling fresh. The Goodnight Co. silk sleep mask $39.95
- It may sound simple, but a great hat is always a good gift idea for travellers. Matt and I always travel with hats as we often need them to protect us from long days out in the sun as we explore a new destination. We recently both got an Akubra and have loved it! They’re so durable, stylish and practical we take them on all our sunny adventures at home and abroad. For a smaller budget, you can’t go wrong with a good ball cap or a nice floppy beach hat. Find a great travel hat here.
wireless, Bluetooth speaker
a silk sleep mask
The Goodnight Co. silk sleep mask
great hat is always a good gift idea for travellers
loved
- If you’ve got a bigger budget and are keen to give a gift that’ll be put to good use and last a long time, a set of good-quality luggage is perfect! We’ve reviewed and used quite a few different products from the Lojel range and love them all. We absolutely love our Voja cases, free from pesky zips that have a habit of busting! Find Lojel luggage here.
- The ultimate travel gift has to be a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. These make a huge difference when travelling, from being stuck on long-haul flights and blocking out all that yucky plane noise to helping pass the time in crowded airports. We recently upgraded to a pair of Sennheiser Momentum over-ear headphones and are both loving them! We managed to get them for half price during a Black Friday sale online and I would just say, get the best ones you can find for your budget as cheapies don’t really deliver what they should. Find noise-cancelling headphones here.
- A great beach towel is always put to good use by a true traveller. The Turkish Towel Co produces beautiful towels spun & woven from pure Turkish Cotton, making them soft, breathable & highly absorbent which allows them to dry extremely fast. Find Turkish Towel Co towel here
good-quality luggage
a pair of noise-cancelling headphones
loving
Find noise-cancelling headphones here.
great beach towel
Find Turkish Towel Co towel here
- Nothing says, ‘I’m a classy, elegant, travelling adult,’ quite like monogrammed travel accessories. A personalised passport holder is a really simple but thoughtful gift idea that you know will be put to fantastic use. Find personalised passport holders here.
- A beautiful, fine art print from a beloved destination is always a great gift idea for travel lovers. Looking at it will remind of them of great travel memories, inspire them to travel more and, hopefully, become the first in a collection of artwork that commemorates their adventures. Find fine art prints here.
- For an eco-friendly traveller or active adventurer, a really good quality reusable water bottle is a great gift idea or stocking stuffer. We have each had one from camelback, which we love and carry with us everywhere when we travel. LifeStraw is also a great brand to consider as they specialise in water bottles that make any water safe to drink! It’s a great way to ensure we’re always well hydrated, avoiding nasty heatstroke in places like Thailand, and are able to cut back on our single-use plastics wherever possible. Find reusable water bottles here.
monogrammed travel accessories
personalised passport holder
know
Find personalised passport holders here
fine art print from a beloved destination
a really good quality reusable water bottle
any
Find reusable water bottles here.
- Spoil your wanderlust-filled friend with some bath and beauty products from Lush. The containers are recyclable and can be re-filled with their own beauty products from home, saving them the cost of purchasing travel minis and adding more crappy, unnecessary plastic into the world. They also have some great products perfect for travellers including solid perfume, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and more. Find Lush here.
- Surprise someone with one of their very own favourite travel photos printed on canvas or beautifully displayed in a frame. I always find it’s important to do something special with travel photos as they so often get posted to social media and forgotten about. Printing them out to be hung up in someone’s home ensures they’ll see them time and time again, reminding them of the moment and inspiring them to travel more. Find canvas printing here and digital prints here.
- A small, inexpensive but essential gift idea is an epic universal travel adaptor. The reason I say epic is because some of the modern ones now allow you to charge up to 5 devices at once while also being compatible with any outlet in the world. It’s easy to pack and incredibly useful! Find awesome universal travel adaptors here.
bath and beauty products from Lush.
one of their very own favourite travel photos printed on canvas or beautifully displayed in a frame
Find canvas printing here and digital prints here.
epic universal travel adaptor.
Find awesome universal travel adaptors here
- For the stylish traveller, Lo & Sons create gorgeous bags for travellers. I’ve had their ‘Claremont’ camera bag for a few years and it’s one of those things I’ll have and use forever. It’s more stylish when I’m doing a ‘fancy’ work trip with upmarket brands, it’s practical and keeps my camera gear safe as I travel. They also have a great range of other bags worth checking out too. Find Lo & Sons here.
- For anyone with a bigger budget, you simply cannot go past an action camera! The market is more competitive now so you have a few options to choose from, including GoPro Hero 8 and DJI Osmo Action. Matt and I love to use ours when we’re snorkelling, swimming, sliding down waterslides or hiding under waterfalls. They’re ideal for solo travellers but pretty much perfect for travellers of all kinds! Find GoPro here and find DJI here.
- Of course, if you have a really big budget, a new camera is the ultimate travel gift. I always recommend people buy the best camera they can for their budget as you tend to get what you pay for. We’ve recently developed a love affair with Sony and find their 6400 and 6500 meets all our videography and photography needs and their service/repair team amazing! Read my guide on how to choose the perfect travel camera here. Find great cameras here.
Lo & Sons create
gorgeous bags for travellers
you simply cannot go past an action camera!
a new camera
how to choose the perfect travel camera
- A few years ago I was gifted a kit of products from The Laundress by an amazing client and they’ve become my must-pack essentials. The kit includes everything you need to keep the clothing you pack smelling and looking great! Their ‘Travel Pack’, for example, includes fabric fresh spray, an amazing stain solution, a delicate wash soap for hand-washing and the amazing crease release spray – their ‘Starter Kit‘ is also perfect as the wash and stain bar is amazing. This stuff has saved Matt and me countless times! Find The Laundress here.
- For overnight getaways and weekend escapes, a duffle bag is always put to good use. You can step your gift-giving game up a level by getting a personalised duffle bag with your friend or loved one’s initials monogrammed on the side. Find personalised duffle bags here.
- A simple stocking stuffer and all-around cute gift idea are luggage tags. You can go with a classy, monogrammed option or keep things cute with a funny animal or silicone character. Either way, their luggage will be easier to spot and they’ll think of you each time they pick that bag up off the carousel. Find cute bag tags here.
a kit of products from The Laundress
a duffle bag
Find personalised duffle bags here.
luggage tags
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