Great Wedding gifts for travelers?
August 5, 2010 12:30 PM Subscribe
Help me put together the perfect wedding gift for 2 amazingly cool world travelers.
So, my sister has recently married, and thanks to the kind generosity of our family and friends, she and her husband are not wanting for anything on their bridal registry.
Since they both love to travel, I'd like to put together a wonderful packaged gift for them on the theme "Traveling Through Life Together." And I'm looking for good ideas as to what might make a great part of such a themed gift.
Practical items are nice, but quirky/memorable things are also warmly welcomed. For example, I would have definitely included something like this, if it were a product rather than someone's design thesis.
So, how about it, hive mind? Any good ideas about how to pull this together in an awesome way?
Asked anonymously because I suspect that my sister's husband might be an occasional MeFi reader (though you better not be reading it during your honeymoon, buster!)
So, my sister has recently married, and thanks to the kind generosity of our family and friends, she and her husband are not wanting for anything on their bridal registry.
Since they both love to travel, I'd like to put together a wonderful packaged gift for them on the theme "Traveling Through Life Together." And I'm looking for good ideas as to what might make a great part of such a themed gift.
Practical items are nice, but quirky/memorable things are also warmly welcomed. For example, I would have definitely included something like this, if it were a product rather than someone's design thesis.
So, how about it, hive mind? Any good ideas about how to pull this together in an awesome way?
Asked anonymously because I suspect that my sister's husband might be an occasional MeFi reader (though you better not be reading it during your honeymoon, buster!)
Jesus. Don't get them a $0.25 travel adapter.
We turned the photos and blog posts from a trip my wife and I took into a hard-bound book, and it's seriously awesome. I think we used Blurb.com. Maybe if they do the same, you could offer to do it for them, or get them a gift cert. for the service.
posted by nitsuj at 1:02 PM on August 5, 2010
We turned the photos and blog posts from a trip my wife and I took into a hard-bound book, and it's seriously awesome. I think we used Blurb.com. Maybe if they do the same, you could offer to do it for them, or get them a gift cert. for the service.
posted by nitsuj at 1:02 PM on August 5, 2010
no no. not alone, obviously, agreed! I am guessing the idea is as part of a kit of stuff that gives the message that they'll go places together. Ignore if not.
posted by calico at 1:07 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by calico at 1:07 PM on August 5, 2010
Well there's The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. More information about it at wikipedia.
posted by Yoshimi Battles at 1:13 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Yoshimi Battles at 1:13 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
A beautiful, tasteful globe would be perfect.
My family got me one for Christmas last year from World of Maps in Ottawa (mail order) and it's one of my most prized possessions.
posted by fso at 1:27 PM on August 5, 2010
My family got me one for Christmas last year from World of Maps in Ottawa (mail order) and it's one of my most prized possessions.
posted by fso at 1:27 PM on August 5, 2010
I've said this on other questions about travel gifts, and I'll say it again.
I would use restraint when going down the "nifty travel gadgets" road (unless you know they are crazy for that sort of thing). My sense is that people are really mixed about this, and the difference between vital and useless is really individual.
This travel related photo book (or one of the many out there like it) would be a good component, for "travel inspiration" purposes. This particular title is also pretty apt. You wouldn't take it on a trip, but they're a lot of fun to flip through and either think "I want to go there!" or "Remember that trip?"
If you know what kind of travel they usually do or how they usually pack, what about some totally sweet luggage?
posted by Sara C. at 1:43 PM on August 5, 2010
I would use restraint when going down the "nifty travel gadgets" road (unless you know they are crazy for that sort of thing). My sense is that people are really mixed about this, and the difference between vital and useless is really individual.
This travel related photo book (or one of the many out there like it) would be a good component, for "travel inspiration" purposes. This particular title is also pretty apt. You wouldn't take it on a trip, but they're a lot of fun to flip through and either think "I want to go there!" or "Remember that trip?"
If you know what kind of travel they usually do or how they usually pack, what about some totally sweet luggage?
posted by Sara C. at 1:43 PM on August 5, 2010
Love the globe.
A membership to an executive club in the airport - pick something that has a club at your local airport and make sure it's widespread enough and/or has enough sharing privileges to get them in anywhere else. It's the kind of thing they'd never spring for themselves but it is a lovely, lovely, lovely perk & one that heavy duty travelers would enjoy.
Flight 001 has cool, quirky, interesting, helpful travel gadgets, not all expensive, although some are.
Things I never buy for myself:
--A passport case
--Luggage tags
--Cashmere travel slippers
--Cashmere travel throw
Put everything in an old, cool suitcase you pick up at the local antique store or Goodwill.
posted by micawber at 1:46 PM on August 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
A membership to an executive club in the airport - pick something that has a club at your local airport and make sure it's widespread enough and/or has enough sharing privileges to get them in anywhere else. It's the kind of thing they'd never spring for themselves but it is a lovely, lovely, lovely perk & one that heavy duty travelers would enjoy.
Flight 001 has cool, quirky, interesting, helpful travel gadgets, not all expensive, although some are.
Things I never buy for myself:
--A passport case
--Luggage tags
--Cashmere travel slippers
--Cashmere travel throw
Put everything in an old, cool suitcase you pick up at the local antique store or Goodwill.
posted by micawber at 1:46 PM on August 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
A gift card/gift certificate for a travel agency. (I know that most agencies don't have this as a product, but my cousin & her husband arranged with a local agency to do this, and it worked smashingly.)
posted by Kololo at 1:47 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by Kololo at 1:47 PM on August 5, 2010
Sort of like a globe, but how about a lovely framed map with pins they can place for places they've been? My husband and I just have a big-ass laminated map on our wall and three colors of pins: one for me, one for him and another color for us. It's cool to watch the places we go together outnumber the places we've been apart.
posted by mckenney at 2:26 PM on August 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by mckenney at 2:26 PM on August 5, 2010 [3 favorites]
How much do you want to spend? Why not one or two nights at a B&B in some nearby, interesting place?
posted by bluedaisy at 3:55 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by bluedaisy at 3:55 PM on August 5, 2010
I would personally be interested in a good GPS device that I could also use to populate the exif GPS info so that I know exactly where all of my photos are taken. Some people aren't as interested in geotagged photos, but I am good at forgetting where I take pictures after I come home from trips.
posted by that girl at 5:08 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by that girl at 5:08 PM on August 5, 2010
Things I never buy for myself:
--A passport case
--Luggage tags
--Cashmere travel slippers
--Cashmere travel throw
You don't buy them because you don't need them. Your friends probably don't need extra bulk and weight.
Lovely framed map with pins they can place for places they've been?
We received one of those a a gift. No offense, but it's terribly douchey, and it ended up in a donation bin, unopened.
As far as gifts go, I'm of the opinion that you can never go wrong with liquor and wine. Why not give them bottles of good stuff local to each of the countries they've visited together?
posted by halogen at 5:25 PM on August 5, 2010
--A passport case
--Luggage tags
--Cashmere travel slippers
--Cashmere travel throw
You don't buy them because you don't need them. Your friends probably don't need extra bulk and weight.
Lovely framed map with pins they can place for places they've been?
We received one of those a a gift. No offense, but it's terribly douchey, and it ended up in a donation bin, unopened.
As far as gifts go, I'm of the opinion that you can never go wrong with liquor and wine. Why not give them bottles of good stuff local to each of the countries they've visited together?
posted by halogen at 5:25 PM on August 5, 2010
along the lines of mckenney, you could include this scratch map. (uk site)
posted by alice ayres at 5:49 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by alice ayres at 5:49 PM on August 5, 2010
came in to suggest access to an airport lounge - looks like micawber beat me to it.
perhaps a lot of luxurious, travel-sized toiletries (if you know the places where they may stay might not provide them)? or frequent flier miles so that they can upgrade their airline tickets?
also love that girl's idea of the gps device!
posted by jus7brea7he at 5:53 PM on August 5, 2010
perhaps a lot of luxurious, travel-sized toiletries (if you know the places where they may stay might not provide them)? or frequent flier miles so that they can upgrade their airline tickets?
also love that girl's idea of the gps device!
posted by jus7brea7he at 5:53 PM on August 5, 2010
Mod note: This is a followup from the poster.
I just wanted to confirm 2 things: 1) I'm not looking for any one thing so much as several interesting ideas that I can combine. 2) someone asked about budget, and I think the most useful thing would be to have answers without a budget in mind. I'm willing to be very flexible about budgets, given the occasion.posted by cortex (staff) at 7:18 PM on August 5, 2010
Also, I was thinking that maybe some of The Top 10 Travel books of the Century might make an interesting contribution to whatever else I put together? Or, if books seem too heavy for travelers, maybe a Kindle with some of these preloaded? Can you even pre-load a Kindle? Is this a good/bad idea?
You can't preload a kindle, but
1. A kindle is AMAZING at shrinking your luggage if you're a voracious reader like me.
2. You can buy gift cards/credits similar to the way you can with iTunes.
3. Travel writing, if you know they dig that sort of thing, is a great idea. Just don't choose The Sheltering Sky. Maybe not the best example of a traveling couple... (Though it is a great book.)
posted by Sara C. at 7:56 PM on August 5, 2010
1. A kindle is AMAZING at shrinking your luggage if you're a voracious reader like me.
2. You can buy gift cards/credits similar to the way you can with iTunes.
3. Travel writing, if you know they dig that sort of thing, is a great idea. Just don't choose The Sheltering Sky. Maybe not the best example of a traveling couple... (Though it is a great book.)
posted by Sara C. at 7:56 PM on August 5, 2010
Oh, and just about every book on the list you liked is fantastic. (And it seems The Sheltering Sky isn't directly mentioned there, probably because it's technically fiction.)
posted by Sara C. at 7:58 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by Sara C. at 7:58 PM on August 5, 2010
Solar powered gadget charger. I ran into a guy that had one of them in Thailand and it blew my freakin' mind.
posted by sacrifix at 9:48 PM on August 5, 2010
posted by sacrifix at 9:48 PM on August 5, 2010
I've gotten this book as a gift for people, and it's gone down well.
I also suggested to a friend the following, and apparently it went down a storm. It's more temporal than geographical, although you could change to suit.
Ideally, you'd have an "end" gift - I suppose if you could stretch to it, it would be an actual journey, although it could always be something to help them travel. However, you could just have an end sentiment.
You create a book listing chronologically their travels/time together. You could do a scrapbook, which was easy for my friend as she had access to ticket stubs etc., but you could just as well do with photos and bits of info about the countries inserted - imagine brief travel guide/wikipedia extracts with lots of photos illustrating their travels. She did it temporally, but you could make some kind of countries A-Z with blank pages for them to fill in. Up to you.
Anyway, this book is a reflection on the past/places travelled in the past. She used it to tell a story ("this is how we met. We did X. I'll always remember Y"). You could do it to tell the stories of their travels (and, sappily, their relationship). Then you lead up to the future - she enclosed tickets to a new thing (the "end" gift), you could always say "wishing you many happy years travelling").
Anyway, the thing with that is that it's the effort you've gone into and the personalisation that makes it special. It's not practical, but hey - if I got that and some travell-y gift, I'd be blown away with how thoughtful my sister was.
posted by djgh at 9:37 AM on August 6, 2010
I also suggested to a friend the following, and apparently it went down a storm. It's more temporal than geographical, although you could change to suit.
Ideally, you'd have an "end" gift - I suppose if you could stretch to it, it would be an actual journey, although it could always be something to help them travel. However, you could just have an end sentiment.
You create a book listing chronologically their travels/time together. You could do a scrapbook, which was easy for my friend as she had access to ticket stubs etc., but you could just as well do with photos and bits of info about the countries inserted - imagine brief travel guide/wikipedia extracts with lots of photos illustrating their travels. She did it temporally, but you could make some kind of countries A-Z with blank pages for them to fill in. Up to you.
Anyway, this book is a reflection on the past/places travelled in the past. She used it to tell a story ("this is how we met. We did X. I'll always remember Y"). You could do it to tell the stories of their travels (and, sappily, their relationship). Then you lead up to the future - she enclosed tickets to a new thing (the "end" gift), you could always say "wishing you many happy years travelling").
Anyway, the thing with that is that it's the effort you've gone into and the personalisation that makes it special. It's not practical, but hey - if I got that and some travell-y gift, I'd be blown away with how thoughtful my sister was.
posted by djgh at 9:37 AM on August 6, 2010
Sorry, anon, I've assumed you're female. Substitute sibling for sister.</small.
posted by djgh at 9:38 AM on August 6, 2010
posted by djgh at 9:38 AM on August 6, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Universal travel adaptor
A good leather travel wallet & perhaps matching tags might be nice - I don't know where you are but the sort of thing I was thinking about can be found at Pickett amongst many other suppliers.
I'm trying to think because this is the sort of present I really love to arrange...maybe something will come later. Inflatable Globe? (UK site again, sorry)
posted by calico at 12:45 PM on August 5, 2010