Holiday Gift Ideas for Travelers

Want to give a favorite traveler something they can really use as they traipse around the country or the globe? Something high- (or low-) tech that will make air travel more comfortable, safe and secure — and take the edge off flying in coach? Something to inspire them to explore new locales?

We’ve got dozens of suggestions, for every budget and every type of traveler. Happy Holidays!

• Fund all — or part — of a getaway: U.S. airlines offer gift certificates or cards that let you pay for some or all of a giftee’s trip. Check the individual airlines to see how they can be purchased (Some must be ordered by phone or mail.), and in what denominations, and how they will be delivered (e-mail or snail mail). Most important, read the fine print about how they must be used and redeemed. And don’t forget to check for expiration dates. Some must be used within a year, which could limit their usefulness for some giftees, while others never expire.

Airlines offering gift certificates or cards include: American Airlines; Alaska Airlines; Continental Airlines; Delta Air Lines; Hawaiian Airlines; jetBlue; Midwest Airlines; Northwest Airlines; Southwest Airlines; US Airways.

Do you have a lot of miles in an airline’s mileage program? Check whether you can transfer those miles to someone else. Just be sure your giftee lives in a city where the airline flies. In some cases, you can also buy miles to help a giftee rack up enough miles for free award travel.

• Accommodate them: You can also spring for a traveler’s lodgings, from more affordable B&Bs to posh 5-star venues: The Getaway Gift Card from BedandBreakfast.com can be used at over 4,000 B&Bs nationwide. Bonus: There are no blackout or expiration dates… Travelocity’s can be redeemed at over 30,000 hotels all over the world. (A nice touch, you can personalize the cards with your own photo.) … Hyatt Hotels’ Gift Cards and Gift Checks can be used for restaurant dining, in-room services, golf fees and spa services, as well as room charges. Bonus: Gift cards can be used by non-guests at Hyatt-operated restaurants or lounges.

If you want to treat someone to a taste of the luxe life, opt for a gift certificate from upscale hoteliers such as Ritz-Carlton; the Four Seasons Hotels or the Small Luxury Hotels of the World (available in dollars, pounds and Euros), which can be used at its 440 independently run luxury hotels in 70 countries.

• Help ’em get out of town — fast! Know someone whose schedule makes it hard for them to plan ahead? Travelocity offers gift certificates for its last-minute travel packages. Gift certificates are emailed and include a personal message. (Last-minute deals include airfare, hotels, air/hotel packages and car rentals.)

Vacations to Go is known for its big discounts (up to 75 percent off), even on last-minute sailings on top lines. You can order gift certificates in various denominations online for delivery via the USPS or DHL express service.

• Stretch their travel budget: Flyers can lose what they saved on airfares when they overpack and are forced to pay high fees for overweight luggage. A portable luggage scale ($9.75; TravelSmith) is a cheap and useful tool to use at home, and on the road, to ensure that luggage meets airline weight rules… A subscription to Budget Travel magazine is a must-have for anyone who wants to squeeze the most out of their travel dollars. And at only $12 for a one-year sub, it won’t break your budget either!

Travelers can cut the cost of sightseeing at top attractions with a City Pass Gift Certificate. Passes are available for Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California and Toronto… The 2008 editions of the Entertainment Book include discounts and coupons (up to 50 percent off and 2-for-1 offers) for local restaurants, retail stores, attractions and services as well as travel discounts for hotels and rental cars. Books are available for dozens of U.S. cities and start at $15. The books and passes are a great value for all travelers, but are terrific money-savers for families.

Even if a traveler manages to snag a cheap airfare, finding affordable accommodations around the globe can often be a real challenge. Fortunately, the editors of Budget Travel magazine have done the groundwork and compiled their favorites in Secret Hotels: Extraordinary Values in the World’s Most Stunning Destinations. The book details different types of lodgings (cottages, villas, guesthouses, etc.), many of which are known only to the locals, in top travel destinations. The hotel profiles include rates (generally under $200 a night); contact information and photos of the hotels (both interior and exterior shots).

Travelers often waste a lot of money (not to mention time) trying to find local eateries that are really worth their vacation $$$. A one-year subscription ($24.95) to the online Zagat Guides gives free, and full, access to 30,000+ ratings and reviews for restaurants in the U.S. and around the globe; nightlife, hotels and attractions. The subscription also includes a 25 percent discount on items in the Zagat store.

Given the high cost of airport food and the state of in-flight offerings, it makes both fiscal and common sense to carry on food. But who wants to schlep around stuff in plastic or paper bags? The Gourmet Getaway ($24.85, Magellan’s) is a stylish-yet-practical way to stow snacks and food for in-flight and on-the-road noshing. The lightweight, stretchy neoprene material acts as a natural insulator to keep food warm or cold for several hours and it easily expands to hold beverages and take-out and plastic containers. Best of all, it’s washable, stays flat when empty and can be easily stowed in a handbag or briefcase.

• Take the edge off flying in coach: If you can’t afford to give your favorite traveler an upgrade (via dollars or miles) to Business or First-Class, consider these in-flight amenities: A washable cashmere travel throw ($210, Magellan’s) may not be the equivalent of more legroom, but it will feel a lot better than those scratchy — and previously used — airline blankets… If cashmere is a bit too opulent for your gift budget, opt for the less luxurious, but still soft, lightweight (and hygienic) microfleece airline blanket; $19.85, Magellan’s… Know someone who flies long distances or takes red-eye flights? They’ll love the PamBee ($84.95; travelbaskets.com), which includes a silk-like blanket (long enough to cover your feet, including your ankles); eye mask; inflatable pillow and a pouch that doubles as a pillowcase. The lightweight, compact and washable set is available in a fashionable Pucci print as well as solid colors.

You’ll help save any flyer’s sanity with noise-canceling headphones like Sharper Image’s “quiet place” Noise-Cancellation headphones; $149.95. If you’ve got the dollars, you can spring for one of Bose’s top-rated noise-canceling headphones such as the top-of-the-line Bose Quiet Comfort 3; $349. Their anti-noise sound waves let the wearer shut out most external sound and also allows them to listen to audio or video at much lower and safer volumes with almost no ambient noise.

You can ease the stress of airport wait-times (not to mention extended delays or layovers) with a day pass to an airline’s airport club. Delta Air Lines, for example, charges $25 for a single day’s access to its Crown Room Clubs (And note, you don’t have to be flying on Delta!). A day pass at one of the more than 500 airport clubs in the Priority Pass network is $27.

• Get a novice traveler road-ready: Each issue of Budget Travel magazine includes “20 Tips,” a compilation of savvy, clever and “Why didn’t I think of that?” travel tips and strategies submitted by real-life travelers. (These articles alone are worth the price of a subscription.) The magazine has compiled the crème de la crème of these in The Smart Traveler’s Passport, a must-read primer for travel newbies and anyone else who wants to smooth out travel’s rough edges.

Make packing and clearing security — two major travel challenges — a breeze: Buy a couple of TSA-approved luggage locks and a set of Eagle Creek’s TSA-size approved plastic bottles (They hold up to 3 ounces of liquids per the TSA’s 3-1-1 guidelines.) FYI: They’re also available at many other online travel suppliers as well as drugstore.com… Hit the supermarket for a box (or two) of the “you gotta use them” one-quart, zip-top plastic bags that the TSA mandates for liquid carryons.

Throw in some colorful and funky luggage tags (The more unique, the better. It will be easier to identify their luggage from the dozens of look-alike bags on the baggage carousel.) and you’ll have great stocking-stuffer gifts that will get used over and over by the lucky giftees. Check out luggage tags from Flight001; Magellan’s and the cool mix of designer choices (including the retro 1960s Yosifa-Penina tags) at LuggagePoint.com.

If your friends are concerned about security checks, opt for the SearchAlert Combo Locks. The security window on the resettable three-dial combination locks changes from green to red when anyone opens your bags; $19.85 for two, Magellan’s.

There’s a reason that many frequent flyers wear passport/ID holders around their neck when traveling: They know how easy it is to misplace or lose important travel documents (photo IDs, tickets, boarding passes and passports) when going through security checks. Round out your novice traveler’s gift pack with one of these. You can opt for the basic black models available in online travel stores or something a bit more colorful like TravelSmith’s $15 nylon Pre-Board Organizer or its more upscale $40 leather version.

• Make them feel secure: Identity theft isn’t something you usually associate with air travel. But some 15 million new passports are embedded with radio-frequency (RF) tags that can be “read” by the security scanners at airports and in retail stores. The RFID Blocking Passport Holder provides a protective shield for items (passport, credit and other ID cards, etc.) so they cannot be “read” until you remove them; $17.85, Magellan’s. Paraben’s Passport StrongHold Bags ($19.95) uses patented technology to block wireless signals to protect your personal information on the items you store inside it.

• Inspire an armchair-traveler to get up… and go! Many a dream trip was launched after a few hours perusing the pretty pix in those oversized travel coffee-table books. If you know someone who needs a bit of inspiration — and motivation, check out Rough Guides’ Make the Most of Your Time on Earth: 1000 Ultimate Travel Experiences; Travel + Leisure magazine’s 100 Greatest Trips; A Year of Adventures: Lonely Planet’s Guide to Where, What And When to Do It or the recently published Lonely Planet 2008 Bluelist and National Geographic’s Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Greatest Trips.

Travel writers such as Pico Iyer, Russell Banks and Jan Morris transport readers to a bevy of global favorites in The Conde Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys: Great Writers on Great Places.

Author Patricia Schulz has followed up her popular tome, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List with this year’s 1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die. The former will whet anyone’s appetite for globe-trotting while the newest addition does the same for U.S. and Canadian destinations.

• Keep a gadget guru (or techie) organized — and connected: Traveling with tech “toys” (cell phones, MP3 players, PDAs, iPods, etc.) means packing lots of those special chargers and their cables and cords, small-ish items that are easily lost. The $30 Traveler Cord and Charger Storage pack (kangaroomstorage.com) keeps all those chargers and cords in one place, which makes it easy to keep track of them and also simplifies recharging. The interior has six pockets and accommodates a small power strip, which lets the user connect all the chargers to it, that connects to a single power outlet.

Anyone who uses an iPod on the go will love a 55-hour iPod Battery Extender; $59, Hammacher Schlemmer. The unit won’t overcharge and its leak-resistant shell accommodates USB and headphone connections and won’t interfere with the control of iPods functions.

If staying connected is a key concen for your favorite traveler, you’ll want to wrap up the $29.99 Mobile Edge WiFi Signal Locator. The unit, which can fit on a key chain, detects 802.11B and G Networks hotspots. The LED readout indicates signal strength and the device eliminates false readings from cell phones and microwave signals.

• Give wings to your female pals’ travel dreams: The New York Times bestseller Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, author Elizabeth Gilbert’s ode to the transformative power of travel, isn’t a travel book per se. But the wildly popular book (and Oprah favorite) has inspired many women to make time for travel adventures. It’s a terrific gift for someone who needs some gentle nudging to move forward with her own travel dreams and make travel a priority.

The idea of traveling alone keeps many women stuck at home. Author, world traveler and travel blogger Beth Whitman tackles those fears and anxieties head on with practical advice and guidance in Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Traveling Solo. The book was written to “persuade women that traveling alone isn’t selfish, dangerous, or expensive,” an important message, well-delivered.

Can’t afford to sponsor an all-girls getaway? You can afford some inspiration courtesy of 50 Best Girl Friends Getaways in North America, which details how how to plan and enjoy a group trip and includes suggestions for destinations and activities.

Need some more ideas? Click thru Flight001, a fun and funky hodgepodge of practical, stylish and unusual travel items and the online catalogs from Magellan’s, TravelSmith and World Traveler. Each has a wide assortment of products at a variety price points. Stymied by all the choices? Want to let your giftee choose? They all offer gift certificates

Want to give a themed gift and multiple items, but don’t have time to shop? Check out the gift baskets from TravelBaskets.com.

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