Best Gifts for Travelers | The Ultimate Travel Lover Gift Guide
It’s that time of year again, folks! When we relentlessly ask our friends and family what they want for Christmas only to order something completely random on Amazon three days before the big day.
Does anyone feel that?
It can be so hard to figure out what to get the people you love for Christmas. While we can’t help you with all of your gift giving needs, we can give you a few ideas for the travelers in your life. Consider this your ultimate gift guide for travel lovers.
To make this a little easier to follow we’re going to split it up into four sections: luggage, technology, fashion and fun miscellaneous travel gifts.
Ready?
Let’s go.
Luggage
It can be hard to find the perfect luggage for travel. That includes suitcases, backpacks, camera bags and cosmetic cases. We’ve found some of the best options and we think your traveling pals will love them!
First things first, the perfect suitcase from ROAM Luggage. They have four sizes from tiny carry-on to massive checked bag. They’re 360˚ rolling and they roll through airports like a dream! They are also the lightest suitcases we’ve ever owned with the smallest size coming in at 6.6 pounds.
ROAM is the first luggage brand to offer full customization for your suitcase. You can choose from over a dozen colors to customize nine parts of your luggage from the shell to the wheels and everything in between.
Your purchase also comes with a monogram and custom engraved contact plate to slip into the monogram pocket.
If you use our link, you can get $50 off any piece of luggage you choose. This is such an incredible gift for your traveler friends (or yourself) because luggage is (1) super important, (2) kind of expensive and (3) overwhelming to shop for on your own.
Once you have the perfect suitcase, you need to find the perfect travel bag (i.e. purse or backpack). We love our TravelOn bags because they have anti-theft locking zippers, RFID blocking pockets and slash-proof fabric. They’re also pretty cute, which can be hard to find in anti-theft bags.
They’re affordable, durable and give you incredible piece of mind when it comes to pick-pockets, especially if you prefer to use a backpack over a cross body.
Joanie B. uses the Heritage Tour Bag, which is a super cute cross body bag. Jenni B. uses the Heritage Backpack for everything, even camera equipment. It can be hard to organize everything just right, so if you’re looking for something more specifically for camera equipment we have another recommendation.
TravelOn also has some of the best travel cosmetic bags. We have two of them and they’re our faves!
If you’re looking for a travel camera bag that’s still pretty lowkey, we love these GoGroove backpacks. They have a pretty small profile, but fit everything you need from cameras to cords and your laptop. For reference, we have a Macbook Air 13 inch and it fits perfectly in the sleeve.
We pair it with the USA Gear H Series accessory case to hold our harddrives, cords and all of that fun stuff. It makes the organization process easier. Although a simple pencil pouch is great for cord organization
as well.
The only negative we’ve found about the GoGroove bag is that it does not have any anti-theft security measures. We would be wary of taking this internationally to places like Rome or Cologne but it all comes down to what you’re comfortable with as a traveler.
We have one of these (pictured below) to giveaway! Just comment on this post and tell us where you (or a friend) would take your new GoGroove bag!
Technology
Most everyone who travels brings their phone and a naked phone is not a safe one. That’s why we never travel without our Otterbox iPhone cases. We have the built-in pop top cases and they’re so cute! You can change out the pop tops you use based on your mood or outfit but the best part is, even though they’re adorable, they still have that Otterbox protection.
Another bonus Otterbox product we love is their wireless chargers! We don’t use these as often when we travel, but they’re very convenient when you’re writing blog posts or editing videos. Just pop your phone on the charger and you’re good to go.
Earbuds are a travel must. We don’t go anywhere without them. Over the years we have been through many, many earbuds but our tried and true buds are the Skullcandy Ink’d. These guys last for years, sound amazing and are some of the most inexpensive we’ve ever owned!
This one’s pretty simple, but memory cards. If you’re traveling buddies take photos or videos, memory cards are always a great gift or stocking stuffer. We’re pretty basic and use the Sandisk cards in 64-128gb.
The last two tech ideas we have are pricier gifts for your serious travel content creator.
The first is the Canon G7X. This little guy is great for photos and video. We’ve been using it for years and it still comes with us on every single trip. There are many times Jenni reaches for this instead of her Canon 70D because it’s compact and still looks amazing.
Our last tech gift suggestion is a Wacom tablet. We love this for detailed photo edits or creating graphics for videos. Because of its small profile, it’s easy to slip into any open spots in our bag. We were recently gifted a new Wacom Intuos tablet, which was a huge upgrade from our previous one, because it’s wireless.
Fashion
We don’t pretend to be fashion bloggers, but there are some must-have travel pieces that we have come to love. These make putting together outfits simple and help us feel confident wherever we’re going.
First is a solid pair of jeans. We recently purchased the new Old Navy warmer jeans and oh boy! They are so comfy and fit like a dream. The jury is still out on whether or not they are actually warmer than normal jeans, but they are 1000% more comfortable.
We have the high-waisted super skinny style and they are so flattering. The waist hits right above the belly-button and (on Jenni) the regular length hits right at the ankles. We each have a dark blue wash and a black. Super versatile and easy to throw on with any top.
Black warmer jeans pictured here.
Finding a great fitting and comfy shirt that packs well is harder than it should be. Back in April we went on the hunt for that perfect top and we found some of our faves at Zenana.
All of their shirts are so comfortable, breathable and they pack better than anything else we own. The only negative, is that many of the tops are pill prone when something is rubbed against them (i.e. backpack).
We own several short sleeves and tanks, but a few months ago we ordered a few of their sweaters. Those sweaters are the most comfortable tops ever! Pretty much everything from Zenana is in a solid color, which make them great basics. We can’t count how many compliments we receive when we wear these tops and we’re constantly telling people about Zenana.
Also something important to note, we purchase almost all of our Zenana shirts in plus sizes, because we like a flowy, oversized fit.
If you’ve been following us for a while, then you know our go-to shoes are Skechers. We’re basically their biggest fans.
They’re comfortable for all conditions and perfect for travel. We love our GoWalk Joy slip-ons, but for our most recent trip we took some Skechers boots and OOOHHH they’re so good.
This one is random… before our most recent trip with Viking we knew we needed a new coat (because Germany is freezing this time of year!).
We settled on this amazing coat from Target and it did not disappoint! Joanie B. has it in olive and Jenni B. has it in rust. Both are the perfect fall/winter colors.
For the quality, this coat is super affordable! It’s warm, fits true to size and comes down past your butt, which is perfect for those windy days. It also comes with a fluffy removable hood.
But our favorite part… the pockets! They’re massive! You can throw your phone in one and your camera in the other. Very convenient for travel.
Miscellaneous Travel Gifts
The owners of the Bug Bite Thing recently reached out to us to try out their product. Unfortunately, this is the one time of year where there aren’t crazy psycho bugs flying around Florida so we haven’t had a chance to properly try it out.
When you get it, it looks like a piece of plastic, but it’s actually a pretty snazzy gadget! It sucks out the venom or saliva of bugs like mosquitos and ants. It can even help remove the stingers of wasps and bees. If you or someone you know is traveling in a bug-prone season, it’s honestly a great gift! Super affordable and easy to throw in your bag. So if you’re looking for something practical… here it is.
We actually have one of these guys to giveaway! Leave us a comment telling us how you or someone you know can get great use out of the Bug Bite Thing.
Another company that reached out to us is Well Told Design.
They have a variety of products, but their gorgeous champagne flutes are in season with Christmas and New Year’s Eve. They have a beautiful etched design of a map from any city of your choice. We ordered ours with a map of New York, but you can get any city/town in the US or more than 1,000 options from around the world.
The champagne flutes are available with or without stems and are such a beautiful addition to any
travelers kitchen.
Last, but not least, is the iconic scratch-off map. For anyone keeping track of their countries, continents and states, this is a beautiful gift. There are an overwhelming amount of options, but we’ve selected a few of our favorites from Amazon (one, two, three).
We don’t have one of these in our home, but it’s such a classic gift for any travel lover.
Did we leave out anything you, as a traveler, love or would like to receive? Let us know in the comments below. And don’t forget to enter the giveaways in this post!
A very special thank you to our Patron, Sylvia Vasquez Plexus, for supporting us on this wild ride! If you’d like to become a Patron, we have some awesome reward tiers. Sometimes we even pick up little gifts for you along our travels.
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