When all someone wants in life is to wander the world, buying them gifts for Christmas can be something of a nightmare (unless you have the cash for a one-way ticket that is). However, if you delve a little deeper, there are plenty of great things you can get a travel lover. The trick is to break it down into two key areas: gifts to inspire and gifts that are useful. Here are some of our top presents to give the traveller in your life this year.
Travel planner: This is such a useful gift for someone who loves travel but isn’t necessarily going to go ‘travelling’ for a few months. In the planner you can put all of the places you’ve been, all the places you want to go and all the things you want to see. Essentially, it’s a way to organise your travel throughout your life, allowing you to tick things off as you see them and prioritise where you want to go. The best planners will also have category breakdowns, so you can select holidays based on what you’re looking for at any given time, such as European city breaks for example.
Scratch map: If your travel lover is also partial to some travel-inspired interior design, you can’t go far wrong with a scratch map. Invented in 2009 by Luckies of London, they have a gold foil layer that can be scratched off once the country has been visited. Underneath the foil is the nation in colour and its capital. Pop these in a glass-less frame to make a really beautiful and unique gift.
Travel guides: Part of the joy of travelling is learning about new cultures and countries, but this has to start before you begin your travels. Travel guides are brilliant for inspiring people, helping to plan a trip and learning important information about a given country. There are loads out there too, covering everything from standard tourist stuff to information about going off the beaten track.
High quality camera: A more expensive gift, a high quality camera is often the tool a traveller needs to inspire them to take their next trip. Once you’re able to capture the places you visit and the experiences you have in high quality technicolour, suddenly your desire to explore the world becomes a mandate to record and communicate to others through visuals. After all, it is through powerful images that we get an understanding of cultures and events.
Care package: When you’re travelling, it’s often the comforts of home that you miss and need the most. If you have a loved one who’s currently wandering the world, send them a care package with all of their favourite things they can’t get overseas. This might be Yorkshire Tea, Cadbury’s chocolate, a certain hair product or perfume, or a good book (finding a decent book in a hostel book exchange can be a nightmare).
Trek towel: You can’t travel without trekking and trekking is hard work. Consequently, you sweat. However, lugging around a normal towel isn’t practical. A trek towel is lightweight, antibacterial and can be folded up and put in a rucksack.
Tablet: A tablet can be really useful for a traveller, especially if they go away for short periods of time. They’re more lightweight than laptops and easier to use than smartphones but still allow you to surf the net, use apps, take images, email and read. It also means you can better track your travel and keep in touch with life back home.
Subscription to online streaming services: Netflix (or Prime – whatever you choose) is the dream when you’re on the road but it’s an unnecessary expense for many cash-strapped travellers. Consequently, giving this as a gift would be very much appreciated, as it means people can still kick back and watch movies and shows on the other side of the world – a welcome break from trekking, night buses and lugging your luggage around everywhere.
Our experienced personal travel consultants will ensure you find the most suitable holiday, whilst taking care of every last detail. Everything from start to finish will be effortless.
We can use any hotel, in any destination, so we will craft an itinerary to suit your exact needs. Also, as we can provide any itinerary, the only holiday we'll offer, is the one that's right for you.
Our ATOL bonding provides you with the financial protection you need and as a member of the Travel Trust Association, you'll have 100% financial protection. Covering you for any eventuality.
As a tour operator & travel agent, we'll search the market to ensure that we find you the best price. Also as an online business, we can ensure our prices are as competitive as possible.
The staff, especially Anna have been excellent, so helpful and professional. Thank you
Thanks Claire for helping us to find our dream itinerary for the Caribbean. You really helped us work out the best places.
Excellent service that offers such a wide choice of holidays. In fact they'll try their best to fit wharever you want into a hiday package!
Very pleasant, helpful and knowledgeable
My experience with e shores has been brilliant, nothing was too much trouble, Rob ensured that we had the perfect hotels for our trip to Greece.
I always find eshores to be very helpful and efficient, we have never been disappointed with their recommendations and our travels have always been a success. We have recommended them to serveral of our friends who have been equally happy with the service and experties provided.
Claire was unbelievably helpful. She listened to what I was looking for and then spent time putting together a great package. I made several requests for adjustments and alternatives were sent. Nothing was too much trouble and I will certainly use Claire again for my next holiday.
Hannah was very helpful and informative about our requirements. Very professional and easy to communicate with.
Extremely helpful. Provided some great suggestions for an itinery in the Caribbean. Nothing was too much trouble. Very competitive price. We will certainly use them again.
Just booked with eShores, Rob was very helpful and knowledgeable, the whole process was very professional. Excellent service.
We have just booked our first trip with eShores and first trip to Sri Lanka. The help and assistance we received from Andy was second to none and made the whole experience easy going. We’ll leave a second review once we’re back. Thus far; highly recommend eShores
Reliable friendly service, follow up good, cheapest quote for the Philippines.Contact quick and easy
Excellent customer service, happy to adjust as your needs require. Delighted with speed of response, and value for money. Highly recommend
I have used eShores for a good number of years now, and have always found them excellent, both in terms of organization, range on offer, and first class, friendly customer service. What I love about them is the flexibility they offer. You can use a pre-planned trip, extend days on certain parts of it, miss…
We have dealt with Chris at eShores for over two years now and we keep going back to him as he consistantly delivers. We have been to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, The Gambia & Colombia every time we have been happy with the quality or service and communications. We have also recommended eShores (Chris in…
Absolutely love eshores just booked my 3rd holiday for September...Matt who deals with all my holidays is absolutely a great guy he looks for the greatest deals for you and always helps you with your itinerary on the phone even if I call eshore all staff are all lovely and helpful. 5 stars *****
Anna was so helpful in helping us sort out our Thailand trip. We ended up getting it cheaper than expected and also for longer taking in Kuala Lumpur. Highly recommend them.
Chris helped us plan our honeymoon to the Caribbean. We’ve never been to the Carribean before but Chris was really knowledgable of the different areas & resorts and helped us decide on what islands to visit. He also found us a great hotel & arranged all flights / transfers. Overall a really great expedience and…
Such a great experience booking with Claire at eshores. Clair spent ages helping us create the perfect city break. It made the whole thing so much easier to do as all parts of the travel and hotels were sorted out for me. Great service.
Our contact and handler for our Thialand itinerary Michelle is very knowledgeable and give id sound advice on our trip and itineraries. She went above and beyond to get what we wanted. We just have to wait for November now to enjoy it. Highly recommend and very reasonable price for what we are having.