If you’re buying a gift for your travel friend and you aren’t sure what to get them, then keep reading! After travelling full-time for almost a decade, we know what every traveller needs – and more importantly, what a traveller doesn’t need!
In this blog post, we’ve compiled a list of the items we personally use (and can actually fit into our suitcase and carry-on) and the things we have on our wishlist.
We hope this guide helps you find the perfect gift for your friend or family member who loves to travel! Without further ado, here’s the ultimate gift guide for travellers in 2024!
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Here are the best gift ideas for travellers in 2024
Prefer to browse on Amazon? We put together a storefront with all the items from this blog post!
Check it out here.
Packing Cubes
After 9 years of travelling, packing cubes are now a staple in our suitcase. They help us stay organized as we travel between places, and they make it so much easier to find your stuff. Honestly, once you start using them you’ll never be able to go back.
It’s so nice having different compartments in your suitcase. You can organize it any way you like from socks and underwear in one or some people even put things they use more frequently in certain cubes and less frequently in the other cubes. This will for sure be a good gift! Check them out here.
Scrubba Wash Bag
The Scrubba wash bag is the perfect on-the-go “washing machine”. It especially comes in handy when you’re doing a van road trip, or you’re staying at a hostel and don’t want to wait until the washing machine is available, or you’re simply travelling light and don’t want to run a full load but just wash a few items.
It takes less than 3 minutes to wash your clothes because of the flexible, internal washboard, and it requires zero electricity and minimal water to use! The wash bag is also super lightweight (150 grams or 5.28 ounces) and takes up very little space in your backpack or suitcase (16x6x6 cm or 6.3×2.4×2.4 inches when rolled). We can’t recommend it enough!
Check out their colours and pricing here.
Insta360 X4 Camera
If you’re into content creation or capturing fun adventures the Insta360 X4 camera is a revolutionary gadget! You might’ve seen some of those funny videos where people look round and funny and their forehead is really big – or where the edge of a mountain looks super drastic and scary..? Well, those are recorded on an Insta360 camera!
We bought one recently and have been experimenting with ours for the past few months and absolutely love the footage it gets! The content and videos you get are completely different from what you can get on your phone and in such high quality (the Insta360 X4 shoots in 8K resolution).
PS: Don’t forget to buy a selfie stick, memory card, and lens guards with it as well! You can buy an Insta360 bundle where it’s all included with the purchase of your camera.
Travel Pillow
A travel pillow is a great gift for travellers – especially for people who travel longer distances or for extended periods of time as they’re likely to get into situations where they’ll be sleeping on the go.
There’s nothing worse than getting to your destination, all excited to explore, and then not feeling good because of neck and shoulder pain. It’s sadly happened to us quite a few times at this point.
This travel pillow is a newer design style which, supposedly, is more comfy than the traditional travel pillow and also smaller and more lightweight. A great gift for any traveller!
Water Bottle
We always travel with our own water bottles (we have both a LifeStraw and a Nalgene). The Lifestraw is great when travelling to places where clean drinking water isn’t as accessible. When clean tap water is available, we use our Nalgene – and we love to add stickers to them to remember our travels (like in the picture above).
Neither of these bottles is too big and fits perfectly on the side of a backpack. A water bottle is such a simple thing but it’s also such a travel staple and something every traveller brings with them. It’s usually a good conversation starter as well when you have stickers on them!
Shop on Amazon here | Shop on REI here
Kindle
If you’re looking for a gift for someone who loves reading then a Kindle is probably the single-handedly best gift you can get them! A Kindle comes in super handy when travelling because it takes up very little room (especially compared to a stack of books) so you can bring it everywhere with you.
The only downside is of course you have to charge it (but check the next item on this list and we have a solution for that). Some people also say they don’t enjoy reading as much on Kindle as they do with a “proper book” but now that I’m used to it, I actually prefer reading on my Kindle.
I prefer my Kindle for travelling because it’s super easy to buy new books (as long as you have Wifi), buying books is often cheaper too, and you can read in various situations without disturbing other travellers. For example, when we do multi-day hikes, I can read without using a light, so I don’t disturb other travellers in the hut who are trying to sleep.
A Kindle is seriously one of the best presents you can buy!
Power Bank
A power bank is a traveller’s best friend. We’ve had this specific power bank for 5 years now, and use it at least a few times a week – when we have long travel days or are out hiking – and it’s still going strong!
Another scenario where a power bank will come in handy is on a long bus ride or an overnight train ride in Europe, South East Asia, or even South America. Power banks are another must in any traveller’s carry-on and, while they usually weigh a little, they don’t take up much room!
Tripod
A tripod is perfect for solo travellers who want to capture their memories on their travels – as well as couples who want to snag some photos and videos together. Sure, you can use 0.5x zoom and flip the camera around to get a selfie, but having a tripod just makes it a lot easier to capture the moment.
This tripod weighs almost nothing and is super easy to travel with to the point you won’t even notice you’re carrying it around. We just ordered it after travelling with a friend who had been using it for a year and it is great!
A tripod is one of those things you kinda think you don’t really need but as soon as you have it and use it for photos and videos, you’ll never want to travel without it. It helps capture those core memories you maybe wouldn’t be able to otherwise. This little (lightweight) tripod is a perfect little gift for any traveller!
Universal Adapter
Another one of those travel gadgets that is a game changer when it comes to travelling is a universal adapter. These can be used in almost any country around the world, so it’s a great gift for your travel friend! We’ve yet to travel anywhere where it hasn’t worked.
This universal adapter also has room for a regular charger to be plugged in as well as 4 USB cords at the same time, so it’s also great to have when staying in hostels or somewhere with minimal outlets. We’d say this is one gadget any traveller absolutely needs.
Lonely Planet Travel Guide
People love a good travel guide to wherever they might be going! If you know the person you’re buying the gift for is going to a specific country like New Zealand you can get them The Ultimate Travel Guide for New Zealand.
Another thing that’s great about these guides is they are a great keepsake after the trip. A person can highlight and leave notes at the stops they made and can even pass them on to someone in the future who is going to the same country. Truly an awesome gift for anyone visiting a specific country or region.
Fun fact: We were actually featured in the newest version of the Bulgaria Lonely Planet guidebook!
Noise-Cancelling Headphones
Another great gift you can buy someone is some cordless and noise-cancelling, wireless headphones. We’ve personally use the Apple headphones but nowadays there are so many other ones on the market as well (at a lower price point), like these Anker Noise Cancelling Earbuds.
If you know the person you’re buying this gift for doesn’t have cordless, noise-cancelling headphones then these will be perfect for traveling. As they block out sounds, they’re great for flights, commutes, and just general day-to-day activities!
Apple Airtag
This is one of our most recent additions to our suitcases, and we’re so happy we have them. Earlier this year, Jo’s luggage went missing for a few days after a direct, domestic flight in New Zealand (I really don’t know how this happened), and it took over 3 days before she got it back.
While we were waiting for her luggage, the airline couldn’t trace it and wasn’t sure which of the two airports it was in. This obviously was a bit of a bump on the road in our travel plans, so once the luggage arrived, we decided to buy Airtags.
Now, we can track our suitcases at all times so we know where they are and can even help the airline staff locate it in case (knock on wood) we get into a similar situation again. Check out the Airtags here.
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Recap of the ultimate gift guide for travellers
This list of different items and gadgets is all travel-related and a perfect gift for anyone who is heading on their next trip. You’ll know the person you’re buying the gift for quite well. So you’ll have an idea maybe of what they already have or what they may need.
Most of these gifts are simple yet incredibly practical things to have with you while you’re on the road. We hope this list helps and inspires you when trying to find the perfect travel gift for your partner, friend, or family!
Lastly, we just want to say thank you for taking the time to read this post. We hope you found it helpful! If you ended up making a purchase through one of the links, we appreciate your support!
Also, if you have any other questions feel free to DM us on Instagram @redwhiteadventures or leave a comment below!
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