Holiday and Travel Gifts

There comes a point in a person's life where the urge to travel is paramount. We need to see a small part of the world and we make the necessary arrangements based on money, time and desired location.

I have a friend who regularly travels around the world - usually on her own. And she has visited some of the more remote parts of the world. One of the things I always ask her - are you keeping a diary / journal and are you taking lots of photos?

So a couple of suggestions for the new travellers are - a travel journal, a pocket sized address book - so they can keep a note of all the names and email addresses and telephone numbers of people they want to keep in touch with whilst they are away, batteries, disposable cameras and extra memory for their digital cameras. Of course if funds allow, you can also consider buying a video recorder - but a lot of the digital cameras today have that capability - but it does take a fair bit of battery power - so rechargeable batteries maybe the way to go, along with an adaptor.

For seasoned holiday makers, giving a holiday gift can seem a little bit over the top. But for those people who have never been away, or haven’t been on holiday for a very long time, giving a holiday present may seem like a nice idea.

An elderly couple I know are going on their very first cruise. As you can imagine there are all sorts of gifts you can give for this type of holiday. Sea sickness tablets, an inflatable ring, and emergency rations all spring to mind. But then again I know them very well. But how about a nice evening scarf for the ladies, and a suitable tie for the gents for when they sit down for dinner at the captain’s table? Or a sequined evening purse? Or Holiday and travel guides, plugs / adaptors or how about a neck pillow or things for the journey itself.

Of course if you are the one going on holiday it’s always nice to bring little mementoes of the places you’ve visited for family and friends. And you can guarantee they won’t have anything like it at home - unless they’ve been there of course – but what chance that?

Buying a gift for the traveller is interesting. Whatever we purchase has to be one of three things, and preferably all three. Travel presents should be:

• Light
• Small and
• Useful

There is something that seems to be uniquely Australian about backpacking around the world. We carry all our worldly goods on our backs, like a snail does its home. And we hope we have everything we need for every situation for our pilgrimage to places new.

But it also depends on the travellers destination(s) that will impact on the type of gift you buy for them. Why buy a beanie if they don't intend travelling to the colder climates!! Or sun screen if they don't intend to travel during summer.

But some useful travel gift suggestions can include: Insect repellant, malaria tablets, a pocket knife that can double up as a can and bottle opener, a sewing kit and of course travel guides and dictionaries being some of the more useful suggestions. But how about string, international stamps, the bag itself, baby wipes (and no you don't need a baby to benefit from these), a couple of pegs and a telephone card.

If you've ever had to travel light, and backpackers will understand this all too well. Whatever you take has to have multiple uses. So when choosing your travel gifts, think creatively and think multi-purpose.