This year’s best gadget gifts for the traveler in your life
Published 12:01 am Monday, November 23, 2009
What makes a good holiday gift for a traveler?
If you have big bucks, splurge on an e-reader or a netbook.
But if you’re on a budget, go for clever stocking-stuffers, like a laminated cardboard wine wheel to help wine-challenged foodies instantly determine good pairings, $8.85 from Magellan’s, or a funky $17 passport wallet from Flight 001.
One of the passport-holders, designed by the Anne Taintor vintage humor company, bears the words “I love not camping” along with a picture of a 1940s-style blond with bright red lipstick, in front of a skyscraper and a palm tree.
A Kindle ($260) or other electronic reader is great for travelers who love to read on the road but who don’t want to lug books around.
Netbooks, which are small and less powerful than regular laptops, are another splurge gift, lightweight to carry and easy to use in cramped spaces like tray tables.
For those lugging regular-sized laptops around, a laptop case approved by the Transportation Security Administration can help speed the way through security checkpoints.
Or how about an iPod Nano, which plays not just music but also movies.
Wendy Perrin, consumer news editor at Conde Nast Traveler magazine recommends the Powermat, $100, a new gadget that charges many small electronic devices without all the cords and chargers.
New items this year at Magellan’s (www.magellans.com) include Moleskine City Notebooks, $18.85, for many major cities around the world, with maps and essential destination information added to the inviting blank pages of the classic journals; and pocket-sized fold-out language cards called 30 Words (they actually include 700 words), with pronunciation and color-coded categories, $12.85.
The travel product company Flight 001 — www.flight001.com — has brightly striped neck pillows, $20; a hanging toiletry bag, $28, designed by Hadaki, geometric print on black with four zippered pouches; and an in-flight comfort kit, with an inflatable neck pillow, earplugs, eye mask and wet wipes, $22.
TravelSmart’s holiday catalog — click “Travel Merchandise” at www.travelsmartnewsletter.com/ — shows a $25 umbrella that folds up to just eight inches; the tiny Adventurer’s 7-In-1 Tool, $20, with an LED flashlight, compass, digital thermometer, magnifying glass, safety mirror, whistle and dry storage compartment for matches and medicine; a portable jewelry case, $21; and an electronic dictionary-clock-converter-calculator, $65, that among other things converts temperature and measurements, tracks time and date, and is thin and small enough to be used as a bookmark.
