Today is the official start of the 2011 holiday shopping season. Some people will shop and some will have a “no-shopping day”. Me? I’ll be hanging out with friends and studiously avoiding all shopping opportunities because I do all my holiday shopping online. But, in the spirit of the season, I have some travel-themed gift ideas for you.
Murph and sat down towards the end of our trip around the world with kids and, like good project managers, critically review the trip – particularly the products we carried and depended on for a full year. If we were to start again tomorrow, the products listed below are what we would bring with us. I can’t think of higher praise or a better recommendation for great gifts for travelers.
This list is in priority order.
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Kindle Keyboard 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6″ E Ink Display – includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers We could not have completed our trip (sanely) without our Kindles. This wifi-enabled vanilla-plain 3G Kindle is our top pick for a travel gift. |
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Sennheiser PXC 250 II Collapsible Noise-Canceling Headphones On long bus journeys, in noisy hostels and on airplanes with chatty seat-mates a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones can be the only thing you have to preserve your sanity. Sennheiser make headphones with audio quality that makes you feel like you’re in Carnegie Hall. The collapsible style helps conserve important backpack space. |
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Canon G12 10 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.8 Inch Vari-Angle LCD The G12 is a great compact camera that takes dSLR-quality photos. If you don’t want to fuss with lenses and the complications of aperture and ISOs, this is a souped-up point-and-shoot that’s worth the extra cost. (We started our trip using a G11 but it was stolen in Santiago. We upgraded to a Canon EOS XSi but I still haven’t figured out how to use it!). |
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ASUS Eee PC 1015PX-PU17-BU 10.1-Inch Netbook (Blue) You don’t need a netbook to travel – or a mac or a laptop. There are internet cafes everywhere and sometimes it’s just easier to use an internet café than futz about with trying to get wifi access on your own computer. But, I love my ASUS netbook. It’s small, light and easy to use – and affordable at $275. In it’s neoprene sleeve it fits in the top of my backpack. |
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