Last Minute Gift Ideas
Last Minute Local Gift Ideas
- Small Book and Task Lights
- Little bitty book lights are a great travel accessory -- they can be used to read maps in a darkened train, check guidebooks on a dimly lit bus or clipped to a journal for late night writing in a hostel dorm. Your local book store probably has at least one variety of little book lights, as do superstores like Walmart (which are open on Christmas Eve day).
- Backpacking / Dorm Food Packets
- Backpackers who once had to make do with gorp and powdered eggs that tasted like wet dust have a whole lot more choices these days - how about "Beef Stroganoff With Wild Forest Mushrooms"? Packets of freeze dried gourmet food can be boiled up in a hostel kitchen and you can find these easy backpacker stocking stuffers at the grocery or health food store.
- Pocket Sized Travel Notebooks
- The perfect travel journal with pre-printed spaces for what to do and where a traveler went is nice, but finding one just before Christmas may not be a snap. Instead, buy three pocket sized spiral notebooks from the local drugstore or any superstore carrying school and office supplies. Buy a couple of packets of stick-on letters in the same place, and label the covers:
- Itinerary
- Budget
- Highlights (or contacts? Use your imagination!)Thread a nice pen through the notebook's spiral (a Fisher space pen is a great option, but can only be found at a stores like Office Depot or Staples), tie the notebooks together with a ribbon and tuck into a box with a tiny booklight (above), both of which can be gotten in the same dimestore or superstore.
- Rail Europe Youth Pass
- Put a Rail Europe youth Eurail train pass in the box with any of the above gifts to make a really big hit -- pick your pass, buy online and immediately call 1-877-456-RAIL. Rail Europe will then email you a confirmation which you can print out. Seal it an envelope and tuck it into one of the notebooks, clip the book light to it or slip it between two packets of food.
Not sure where your traveler may be gadding to in Europe? Get a France and Italy Pass -- most students want to cruise those countries at some point, and this pass gives four days of travel anywhere in France and Italy served by Eurail during a sixty day period. Travel plans need not be carved in stone to get plenty from this pass. About $200.
- Airline gift cards can be purchased last minute online and receipts printed for stocking stuffing. Get the latest on air travel gift cards and remember to choose one that will give the most bang for the buck in your traveler's neck of the woods.
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