New Traveler Gift Guide

Packing & Luggage, Planning & Travel Tips

The holidays are coming! If you know someone who wants to travel or likes to travel, they’ll love one of these gifts. And if you’re a new traveler? Add some of these to your wish list! Here’s the Travel Made Simple new traveler gift guide.

gifts for travelers

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Give the gift of experiences

The items in this gift guide can certainly make travel easier or more convenient, but travel experiences will stay with you for a lifetime.

Give the traveler in your life a tour or another meaningful experience they can choose themselves. Experiences make great gifts for backpackers.

Viator small group tours

With Viator, you or your travel-loving friend can take a tour almost anywhere in the world. Click here to purchase a Viator gift card. Or browse through tour reviews on Travel Made Simple.

Here are some of our favorite tour reviews:

Food Tours

Food tours are a great way to learn about a city, its history, and the important role food plays in its culture. Most cities have them, and most companies offer gift certificates. Read more about food tours here.

Or read reviews of some of the best food tours we’ve taken:

Carry-on size luggage

I believe traveling carry-on only is the best way to go. It means no baggage fees, no chance the airline will lose your luggage, and having less stuff to lug around also means less stress on the road.

Get your traveling friend a suitcase or backpack that will fit with most airlines’ carry-on restrictions. Check out our recommendations for the best carry-on luggage.

Here are some great options other Travel Made Simple readers have purchased:

Or check out reviews of some great luggage:

Fun ways to track your travels

For some of us, tracking where we’ve been is part of the fun of traveling. Help the new traveler in your life start planning with this scratch-off world map.

Travel Books

Travel books are the perfect way to get inspired about traveling. Get a location-specific guidebook if your friend has been talking about a certain destination. The unconventional guidebooks with interviews from locals are a great option for inside tips on several locations throughout Europe.

Or try a travel memoir. Reading about the firsthand experiences of someone else who’s done it before can be just the motivation you (or your new traveler friend) need to get out there and take that trip you’ve been dreaming of.

Not sure what book to get your friend? Why not get an Amazon gift card so they can load up their Kindle! Or try one of these travel books I recommend.

Non-liquid toiletries

That liquids bag can be tough. In order to comply with the carry-on liquids rule, you are only allowed a one quart bag of liquids, and each item in the bag must be 3.4 ounces (100ml) or less. Having some non-liquid toiletries helps reduce the number of liquid items in your bag.

There are more and more solid options available all the time. I have solid shampoo, solid bug repellent, solid sunscreen, and solid laundry detergent sheets, to name a few.

Check out a full list of suggested non-liquid options for carry-on travel.

I hope this new traveler gift guide helps you shop for things and experiences that will help your loved ones explore this holiday season, or any time of the year!

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New Traveler Gift Guide - what to buy for the traveler in your life