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10 Gift Ideas for the Hard-to-Buy-For Traveler

Updated: Jan 13, 2023

There's always that person your list who is impossible to buy for. If that person happens to love to travel, here are a few ideas that won't disappoint.


Note: This post does contain some affiliate links, but I promise you I haven't recommended anything I wouldn't buy myself or haven't used personally.



I resisted getting one of these for the longest time. It seemed unnecessary, especially since I already used a plastic zipper file for my travel documents. But a friend of mine gave me this family-sized passport wallet as a gift and I have definitely gotten my use out of it. It has room for up to 6 passports plus spots for boarding passes, credit cards, vaccination records, change, and bills. I often use the spare pocket for ticket stubs that I want to keep as souvenirs.


My only wish is that it came in a bright red or orange or something instead of pink (which I'm not a fan of ). I lose things easily, so bright colors are a timesaver. But classic grey looks nice, too, and I attached a Tile tracker to it, so I can find it easily even if it's not florescent.


Which brings me to...


I'm just going to be honest...we can't be friends if you don't lose your keys and your phone at least once a day. If you don't, you are apparently far too put-together and it's just not going to work out. For us normal people, it's a daily ritual.


As much as I enjoy a good routine, the scramble to find my stuff is one I could do without. So, at the suggestion of my brother, I invested in Tile trackers to put on each set of keys. Once I got started, I realized there were tons of other uses: I now Tiles on my purse, in the books I'm reading, and on my son's diaper bag. They are fabulously helpful.


I once left my keys in a grocery cart and I was sure I would never find them. Instead, I went to the store, hit the button on my phone, and tracked down the cart somewhere in the dairy aisle. Without Tile, I'm sure I never would have found them. The best part is, as long as you have a Tile, you can reverse-ring your phone and find it as well.


As a traveler, they are great because you can put them on your suitcase, your wallet, your carry-ons, etc and not have to panic that you've lost something. With four suitcases on family trips, the extra reassurance is nice. I often find myself on route to the airport just ringing all the suitcases like a digital luggage headcount.


3. Travel Games


When I was a kid, we would go on epic road trips across the US. In one particularly insane feat of parenting, mom and dad took three-year-old me from Indiana to Washington State and back by car...pre-iPad. Gutsy move, gutsy move.


At the time, they kept us calm with games. Our favorite was always the ambitiously titled "The World's Greatest Travel Game." It was like a very extended version of BINGO where you were searching for various items outside your car window. Each side had six items to look for, which meant the game could be altered to fit various ages and extended to fill various amounts of time. I (the youngest) was looking for easy finds like cows and cardinals, while my older brother looked for elusive birdbaths and porch swings. It seemed fair at the time.


You can still find it on resale websites but it's considered "vintage," which makes me feel very old.


In any case, games for travel are a great gift idea. They could be travel-specific like Auto Bingo, a toned-down version of my childhood favorite.



Or, you could look for games that are just portable. Skip-Bo, Uno, and Slamwich are classics in this category. A few new, small games are Taco-Cat-Goat-Cheese-Pizza and the unrelated Taco vs. Burrito. (I'm not sure why there are so many taco games on the market at the moment, but it's a thing.)


One of our favorites is Five Crowns, a rummy-style card game that is almost entirely handheld so it can be played on a plane or in a car. Apparently other travelers also like it because they now have a travel version that comes on a keychain.


Most of these games are around $10 since they are fairly small and simple.



4. Wander Club Keychains or Necklaces


I bought one of these keychains as a gift for my daughter's 16th birthday and she loved it.


The keychain itself is high-quality leather engraved with the owner's initials.


Each token is engraved with the name of a place you've visited. The best part is that they can be altered to fit various types of traveller. Hers were countries but they also have tokens for:

  • national parks

  • sports stadiums

  • cities

  • states

  • landmarks

  • military bases

  • continents

As a family whose lives are not super flashy, it is nice to have a daily reminder of what we have seen and done. It helps to resist the urge to spend on that new car or fancy gadget: "There are so many tokens we haven't earned and things we haven't seen yet!"


The tokens run about $5 each (although they often have BOGO sales) and the keychains run about $25. Plus, for every purchase, they donate a meal to a child in need.




On our last trip, there was a battle each time we boarded a plane.


The issue at hand: who would get to use Nate's noise-cancelling headphones to watch in-flight movies.


Yes, there were other headphones to be had, but bluetooth earbuds wouldn't connect to the airplane's system and wired earbuds are uncomfortable as hell. Plus, most of them didn't have noise-cancelling capabilities sufficient to drown out our two-year-old's wailing.


So, the battle raged on.

We ended up having to set timers to equally distribute the usage and we parents never got to use them at all.


The sacrifices we make...


Next time, I will invest in a few more pairs so we can all fly peacefully. This set is an Amazon #1 best seller and, at $25, is priced low enough that if they get trampled on (as most things do on long airplane rides), I won't erupt in a fit of Bose-level rage.


These are sure to be a hit with anyone travelling in the near future.



I really wish I had known these existed before our last trip. I spent the entire time

propping my phone on the try table, only to have it fall within minutes. This little gadget can save you tons of trouble, especially on domestic flights with no on-board entertainment. Plus, at $10, it would make a good, practical stocking stuffer.



For those of us with older phones, the struggle for power is real. (That sounds unintentionally dramatic.)


Then there's travel: add GPS-ing all day and taking a million pictures and the problem gets even worse.


Having extra battery packs on hand helps greatly.


I don't have a particular favorite to recommend, but I do suggest reading through the comments to see if the company offered rebates for good reviews. Our first set of chargers died after a few months but had RAVE reviews. 🙄 Come to find out they had done the rebate-for-review scam.


Also, be sure to look in the product details to see how much the battery weighs. We had one set that weighed a pound each. That doesn't seem like much until you're lugging your bag through seven airports or dragging it up subway stairs. Go for the lightest model you can find.



When I think parasol, I think of corsets and Mary Poppins. It's definitely not a daily go-to.


And I prefer to duck and cover rather than carry an umbrella.


I'm not alone. Seriously, there are tons of Reddit feeds where foreigners ask why Americans prefer to get soaked. University of North Carolina even made it their Research Challenge of the Week at one point to see if they could get to the bottom of it.


But abroad, umbrellas and parasols are not just the norm but often a necessity. Many locations neither need nor have air conditioning, so dealing with the elements is actually required. Also, you are more likely to be on foot when you're overseas than you are in the car-centric US. Plus, for locations near the ocean or mountains, the weather is not predictable enough to assure you won't get caught in the rain.


That said, a travel umbrella with anti-UV protection would make a great gift for an avid traveller. This one is pocket sized and also comes with a case so that you can store it in your bag even if it's wet. At $10 including a one-year-warranty, this one would also make a great stocking stuffer.


We were late to the travel cube game. We assumed it would take up more space than needed or waste room around the edges. But I got some for Christmas a few years back and we've really liked being able to separate clean and dirty clothes easily and to have a dedicated space for electronics. If you're a roll-your-stuff packer, the cubes help hold those rolls tighter so you can fit more in.




10. Travel Gift Cards

If you're like me, everything is measured in plane tickets. So if the AirFairy came to visit, I would definitely not turn her away. Many airlines like Delta and Southwest now offer gift cards.


Some stores like Costco and Sam's Club offer discounts on these gift cards, like these Southwest offers to get $500 cards for $450. That said, if you are planning on flying Southwest Airlines soon, you could save hundred by buying them for yourself.


Airbnb, Hotels.com, and others offer gift cards as well. Target even carries a Pack & Go Card that is good for several travel retailers including Southwest, Airbnb, and Grubhub, and Chevron. Rachel Hansen of Giftcards.com explains how to use it.


Whatever gift you land on, have a wonderful holiday and happy traveling!



For ideas on how to travel on a budget, see "How to Take Big Trips on Little Budgets"


For info on how to save for that dream trip, check out "I Want to Travel. Now How do I Find Money for It?"


For info on how to stick to your travel budget, check out "Five Things that Will Bust Your Travel Budget in a Hurry" Part 1 and Part 2.



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