For many, the hol­i­days are the most won­der­ful time of the year.  For those of us who strug­gle with find­ing the per­fect gifts, it can also be the most stress­ful, full of fran­tic cat­a­log flip­ping, man­ic Ama­zon scrolling, and hec­tic trips to Tar­get (which we all know are the worst kind).

But if you have a mom or dad trav­el­er on your list, even kids who love to explore and wan­der, we’re here to help you find them the per­fect gift, with tried and true ideas that any trav­el­er would be thrilled to unwrap this year.  From san­i­ty-sav­ing head­phones, to the per­fect ves­sel for all those road trip cof­fees, and even gifts to keep you healthy while they trav­el, we’re break­ing down our favorite trav­el-inspired gifts for the hol­i­day sea­son. You can take advan­tage of the Black Fri­day sales to get a good deal on one or all!

 

 

 

 

The Avid Skier — Favorite Ski Slope Art

 

 

 

 

My broth­er and his wife are avid skiers and have bummed their way to ski slopes all across the coun­try, from Mon­tana to Ver­mont, Col­orado to Cal­i­for­nia.  They have become quite the dis­cern­ing ski slope enthu­si­asts and are always on the look­out for new trails to hit next. 

But among their favorites is Sug­ar­bush, a ski resort in Ver­mont that is pop­u­lar among New Eng­lan­ders.  So for Christ­mas last year, my hus­band and I bought them a can­vas print of the Sug­ar­bush ski runs from Cir­cle Square Dia­mond Art.  It was rea­son­ably priced and turned out real­ly cool.  And my broth­er and sis­ter-in-law absolute­ly loved it.

Cir­cle Square Dia­mond Art has a wide col­lec­tion of slope art for slopes all over the world, so you’re guar­an­teed to find your skier’s favorite slope.  There’s also the option of a tra­di­tion­al art print or a can­vas print and each option comes in a vari­ety of sizes. 

 

 

The Road Warrior — Yeti Cooler and Mug

 

 

 

 

Whether you’re dri­ving cross coun­try or just cross coun­ty, Yeti cool­ers and mugs are the ulti­mate lux­u­ry.  Their Road­ie 24 Hard Cool­er is com­pact and light­weight, but with the ther­mal per­for­mance that Yeti is known for, mak­ing it ide­al for trips to the beach or lake. 

And their trav­el tum­blers are the absolute best for trans­port­ing hot or cold bev­er­ages.  I’m not sure what kind of voodoo mag­ic the peo­ple at Yeti are con­coct­ing over there, but their mugs have the abil­i­ty to keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold for hours on end.  Trust me.  I’ve done the con­sumer test­ing.  Many a mug of cof­fee has been left in our car in a Yeti mug while we embark on a “quick” Tar­get trip (that lasts two hours) and when we come back, it’s just as hot as it was when we left it. 

 

 

The Adventurer — Bose Frames

 

 

 

My fam­i­ly and I like to explore on our trips — whether that’s hik­ing the trails or walk­ing down all the side streets, rid­ing bikes or kayak­ing in the ocean waves.  We’re not exact­ly ones to sit still for long. 

One of the things my hus­band and I can’t live with­out on our explor­ing expe­di­tions is our Bose Frames.  They’re Blue­tooth sun­glass­es that allow you to play music and take phone calls through your sun­glass­es, no head­phones required, and they’re seri­ous­ly awe­some.  The glass­es use vibra­tions in the part of the frames that rest on your ears to help you lis­ten to your pod­cast or music with­out dis­turb­ing any­one around you.

So why is this bet­ter than stan­dard head­phones?  We like it because we can still hear what’s going on around us.  They’re great for fam­i­ly hikes, walk­ing around on busy streets, or going to the beach because you can still be aware of your sur­round­ings, order a lat­te at the café, and be a part of con­ver­sa­tions but have your music going in the background. 

My hus­band wears them when he goes golf­ing and I love to use them on bike rides.  They’re some of the best Christ­mas gifts we’ve ever received!

 

 

The Backseat Drivers – Amazon Fire Kids Tablets

 

 

 

 

Have pint-sized nav­i­ga­tors in your back seat who are con­stant­ly inquir­ing about when you’ll reach your final des­ti­na­tion?  Any par­ent knows keep­ing your kids occu­pied on a long car or plane trip can be a daunt­ing part of trav­el­ing and can make or break your trip.

 

 

So give your mini trav­el com­pan­ions the gift of enter­tain­ment this year (and your­self the gift of trav­el san­i­ty) with the Ama­zon Fire Kids Edi­tion Tablet.  Instant­ly get access to over 20,000 kid-friend­ly apps, games, books, videos, and audio­books with end­less hours of con­tent to help keep your kids occu­pied and give them some­thing to do on long trips. 

With a kid-proof case that keeps it pro­tect­ed from every­day wear, and parental con­trols that let you lim­it screen team and set edu­ca­tion­al goals, it’s a device every­one can feel good about.

 

The Fashionista — Most Comfortable Travel/Lounge Pants

 

You can’t con­trol flight delays or rooms that aren’t ready when you arrive to check-in. One time, my flight was so delayed, I had to attend the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny of my con­fer­ence in the sweat pants I had worn for my 22 hours of trav­el. Not the most stel­lar way to make a pro­fes­sion­al impres­sion. After that, I was deter­mined to find some­thing that would mar­ry com­fort and class. Betabrand pants are that per­fect some­thing. They fit like cozy yoga pants but are designed to look like dress pants. They’re amaz­ing. By far the most com­fort­able pants I’ve ever worn. They have many styles to choose from.

 

 

 

The Germaphobe — An Essential Travel Kit

 

OK, let’s be real. After a 24/7 news­room feed of all the ways COVID 19 will kill or maim you, we are all in this cat­e­go­ry. If you’ve hun­kered down as long as you can and are ready to place faith in the strict clean­ing pro­to­cols hotels, air­lines and restau­rants have put into place, then the fol­low­ing will only up your game.

Our pedi­a­tri­cian turned us on to a saline nasal spray with xyl­i­tol called Xlear. The saline mois­tur­izes your nose as air trav­el can be noto­ri­ous­ly dehy­drat­ing. The xyl­i­tol pre­vents germs from stick­ing to your mucus mem­branes. So, you know all that crap float­ing around? It won’t stick to your nasal pas­sages. I squirt it as I sit down in my seat a cou­ple times and right before or after I’m about to get off the plane.

I recent­ly pur­chased a tray cov­er but haven’t used it yet. It looks good and seems like a great option. I’d still spray every­thing else down though.

Also, a recent new dis­cov­ery is an airlplane seat cov­er. Yes, a pair of African-Amer­i­can sis­ters invent­ed an anti-micro­bial slip­cov­er called Slum­ber Bliss that goes over your air­plane, bus or train seat so you don’t have to share germs with the last 10 pas­sen­gers who sat in your seat before you.

Buy them all indi­vid­u­al­ly and put them in a nice tin. Golden.

 

The Frequent Flier — Bose Noise-Canceling Headphones

 

 

 

For peo­ple who are fre­quent jet-set­ters (or will con­tin­ue to be when it’s safe again), Bose Noise-Can­cel­ing Head­phones are absolute game chang­ers when it comes to trav­el and I hon­est­ly can’t remem­ber what my life was like before I start­ed trav­el­ing with them. 

They drown out just about every­thing.  Woman talk­ing on speak­er phone in a crowd­ed air­port?  Check.  Tip­sy busi­ness man seat­ed behind you on the plane who keeps laugh­ing a lit­tle too bois­ter­ous­ly at his trav­el com­pan­ion? Check.  Snor­ing hus­band seat­ed beside you?  Check.  Kids fight­ing over the tablet?  Check.

They come in a vari­ety of styles, includ­ing ear­buds and wire­less over-the-head head­phones.  The best thing about them is they hold a great bat­tery charge and can eas­i­ly be clipped to your car­ry on for quick access.  They’re also life­savers for two busi­ness pro­fes­sion­als work­ing from the same 1200 square foot city loft (#quar­an­ti­nelife). 

 

 

The Documenter — Go Pro Camera

 

 

 

Know a trav­el­er who loves doc­u­ment­ing their trips and adven­tures?  Some­times you need a lit­tle more than a smart­phone cam­era to cap­ture those “can’t believe I did that” moments. 

If you’ve ever tried tak­ing a smart­phone video while moun­tain bik­ing or snor­kel­ing, I’m guess­ing you know what I mean.  They’re great for most things, but for all those real­ly cool moments you want to be able to relive, you can’t do bet­ter than a Go Pro. 

Go Pro cam­eras are designed to be tak­en every­where.  And we do mean every­where.  They’re water proof, drop proof, spill proof, and pret­ty much every­thing proof.  And they come with a vari­ety of acces­sories to help you cap­ture the moment with­out miss­ing the moment, like chest straps and han­dle­bar mounts. 

With GoPro 8 Cam­eras start­ing at $249.99, they make the per­fect spe­cial gift for the adven­tur­ous trav­el­er in your life. And dur­ing the hol­i­days, you can get yours for a sweet deal!

 

 

The Travelers with Four-Legged Co-Pilots — Dog Seat Cover

 

With all the road trav­el­ling our fam­i­ly has been doing this year, my hus­band and I have been thrilled to be able to take our dog along on more fam­i­ly trips.  But as any­one with dogs can attest, they’re hard on your car.  Between the fur and the drool and the nails, the inte­ri­or of our car was tak­ing a beating.

Until we got our Mead­owlark Dog Seat Cov­er.  This thing is such a life­saver.  It lays across the back seat and hooks over the head­rests to cre­ate what looks like a ham­mock or giant bas­ket for our dog.  It’s super easy to install and remove and can be adjust­ed to cov­er half the back­seat (if you have kids or a car seat that need to occu­py the oth­er half) or the whole backseat.

The thick fab­ric pro­tects the seat uphol­stery and the high sides ensure that our dar­ling, yet destruc­tive, Ruby can still look out the win­dows with­out scratch­ing up the inte­ri­or of the doors.  If there are ever any acci­dents or spills, all we do is remove the ham­mock and spray it clean.

As a trav­el­er with pets, it’s hands down some of the best $50 I’ve ever spent, mak­ing it an ide­al gift for all the trav­el­ing pet lovers in your life.

 

For the trav­el­ers on your list, you can’t go wrong with any of these awe­some gifts this hol­i­day sea­son.  As trav­el­ers our­selves, we’ve test­ed them all and can attest to how great they’ve been in mak­ing our trav­els more fun and enjoyable!

 

 

IF YOU LIKED THESE IDEAS, PLEASE CONSIDER PINNING OR SHARING IT!