For many of us, this year has seen travel become an impossible love; the myriad of global restrictions upon movement resulting in trip cancellations, postponed dreams, and confinement rather than intrepid adventure.
For some, this will have allowed a new or deeper appreciation of what's on our doorstep, but there's no denying that 2020 will go down as an especially challenging year for anyone with a true passion for travel.
At time of writing, 2021 will likely prove to have many of the same challenges.
Therefore, in our first ever gift list, we've personally curated a selection of meaningful products we use or like which will help the traveller in your life to better treasure their travel memories of old, get a little closer to those foreign lands from home, or help them travel better at home and abroad when those roads are finally open again.
Here are the best gifts for the traveller in your life.
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We personally realise how tough this year has been for small businesses.
In this list, we have linked directly to a small brand's websites in the first instance, rather than Amazon. If you purchase through these links, a greater proportion of the sale goes toward that company, and that's what we'd like to see happen.
However, we do know the realities of people having a Prime membership, time constraints, and limited budgets to put toward additional delivery fees. Therefore, we have included a link to Amazon where appropriate or necessary.
For full transparency, we may earn a small affiliate commission on purchases made through some of the links to brands or Amazon; this does not influence their inclusion on this list nor how we write about the gift, nor does it increase the price of the gift for you.
We've focussed on including several smaller, independent businesses who are doing things right in the travel space, and the focus in this travel gift list is not on featuring kit list or packing suggestions, but rather small treasures to bring the sense of wanderlust past and future closer to them.
If you want some incredibly practical travel gift ideas, then check out out The Backpacking Essentials | The Things We Couldn’t Travel Without.
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Travel Magazine Subscription
When it's not possible to go anywhere that feels different, nothing is better at transporting you momentarily to another place than beautiful writing and photography; these three magazines do both wonderfully on every page.
Suitcase | A quarterly magazine focussed on thoughtful, slow travel experiences, their latest release - volume 32. Homegrown - suits the mood perfectly. Subscriptions are available to buy online on a quarterly or annual basis. Alternatively, you can purchase curated sets of previous editions of the magazine to present as gift, including their 'Collector's' and 'The Discovery' bundles.
Cereal | The daddy of them all, Cereal primarily focuses on travel, but incorporates hues of style, design, art, and architecture into each gorgeously curated bi-annual volume. As above, you can also purchase several previous volumes to present as a bundle / collection. Visit the shop here.
Hidden Scotland | A new bi-annual magazine, we ordered Issue 01. in the middle of November as we miss Scotland so much (all the restrictions this year have prevented us from going up to Andrew's homeland as much as we would normally). A labour of love for the founders Jack & Karla, the magazine is a beautiful collection of words and photographs to bring you closer to Scotland too. You can buy Issue 01. as a Christmas gift wrapped present here.
Traveller Collective Rings
Although counting countries isn't a travel style we promote, the fact that you've been able to travel in any number of countries over the years has to be savoured.
The Traveller Collective helps travellers do this with their lovely engraved Travel Rings. In silver for countries, gold for continents, you can put them on a clip or create a unique necklace / charm bracelet and always take your travels with you.
If you want to start a bespoke ring collection for the traveller in your life, visit the Traveller Collective here.
Creative Travel Maps and Posters
There is an entire industry around wall maps for those that love to travel, but only one has made our gift list - and that's Bold Tuesday.
With their creative, minimalist maps and travel posters, they want to help travellers keep track of every place and country they've visited, and remind them of all they have seen (and will see), away from their digital screens. You can choose from stylish ones focussed on country capitals or size, or go for a cool scratch map to record where you’ve been. Take a look here, and use the code ADR5 for 5% off world maps + accessories until 24th December 2020.
Coffee Table Books
Whether bought for pretension or joy, most of us have at least a small collection of beautiful coffee table books. To be honest, if they were all a little cheaper we'd probably have dozens!
As with the cookery books below, this is by no means an exhaustive selection, but hopefully you can find something below for the traveller in your life.
Jimmy Nelson | We first heard about Jimmy Nelson six or seven years, but remain as fascinated by his work as always. With the aim of capturing photos of the world's last tribes, his imagery as evocative as it is stunning. You can buy Before They Pass Away here, or the newer Homage to Humanity here.
One Year On A Bike | A Christmas gift to us no less, One Year on A Bike chronicles one man's journey form Amsterdam to Singapore. Guaranteed to make you yearn for a dusty road and a go-to option for us if we’re ever yearning to be far from home (that’s happened a lot this year).
Forever Wandering | Unless you've been hiding under a rock, chances are you're aware of @helloemilie and her stunning imagery. Well, she's released a book documenting the beauty of our natural world and it's just breathtaking - buy it here.
36 Hours Europe | For us, a familiar stop when planning a European city break is '36 hours in...' series by the New York Times - a great mix of food recommendations, things to do, and local-tips. Well, they've taken 130 of these articles and created a book. And now we need to buy it! Find it here.
The Atlas of Beauty | A stunning collection of photographic portraits of women from across the globe, this book shows that beauty is everywhere, regardless of money, race or social status, and comes in many different sizes and colours. Buy it here.
On This Earth a Shadow Falls | For more than 20 years Nick Brandt has sought to capture the destructive impact of man on the natural world. We were fortunate enough to see his work in a gallery several years ago and have never forgotten the impact of his large scale black and white imagery. On This Earth a Shadow Falls contains 90 of Brandt's preferred photos from two now out-of-print books to create this poignant look at East Africa’s remaining populations of large mammals and the demise of their habitat at the hand of man.
The Flightless Traveller | Flying less is something all travellers should be considering, and the events of this year have made it even more relevant. The Flightless Traveller is a fantastic option packed full of ideas for planning great adventures, mostly in Europe, where land, sea, or rail is the only form of transport required - buy it here.
A Language Course
Few people can master the language of every country they pass through, but something certainly all travellers can agree upon is that learning even a little of the local lingo makes for a more fulfilling adventure.
So, whether the traveller in your life has visited and fallen in love with Brazil, always dreamed of exploring Italy or quite fancies polishing up on the French, the gift of a language course will always be appreciated.
We love the Michel Thomas Method, having used it to learn Spanish and starting Italian with it this year. An audio-only method with no requirement to memorise, it's the perfect way to master a new language whilst on the train, at home, or on a walk in the park.
Stephen Fry called it "a unique and perfectly brilliant way of teaching languages ", and Stephen Fry is always, always, right. You can get 30% off a course by using the code ‘MTMADR’.
If you think they'd prefer something a little more app based, with more interactive features, then consider Rosetta Stone. It's an entirely different learning method, but one we have used to learn Portuguese (just don't ask us to speak it - we never mastered the pronunciation!). At time of writing, they are also offering lifetime access for £199 - find out more here.
Limited Edition Travel Prints
Oh, what's that you say? Shameless self promotion about our new print shop? Well, yes.
However, hopefully you can forgive us this one plug given that our print shop just launched and it's very dear to our hearts. The first limited edition collection, 'Our Late Italian Summer', is all about sense of stillness and summers in Italy. Printed on the heavyweight, fine art museum-grade paper we personally selected, they'll brighten up any traveller's walls. We are also donating 10% of all profits to our selected charity in Bolivia.
View our full print collection here, and you can get 10% off orders using the discount code 'GIFT10' at checkout. If you’d like a bespoke print from our Instagram or an image you’ve seen on the blog, message us at hello@alongdustyroads.com
An Instax or Polaroid Camera
Speaking of photography, an instant camera is a great way to inject a little more fun into your travels closer to home. Beyond the novelty factor, the creation of small, presentable mementoes of trips are invaluable (especially if you're buying for a GenZ traveller who has no conception of the physical form of photography).
We have two vintage Polaroid cameras (an 80s version discovered in a cupboard at Andrew's family home and a 70s one that used to be Emily's great uncle's), as well as a newer Instax. The best options for new purchases are the Instax Mini 11, the Instax Mini 70, and the Polaroid Originals 9010.
It is worth noting that for these camera types, film can get a little pricey. It's much cheaper and more available than it used to be, but we'd still recommend including a spare pack in your gift if you can.
Cookbooks to Satiate Your Wanderlust
We always say that you can't properly appreciate a new country until you've experienced its food. And whilst our varying food preferences tend to mean certain things are out of bounds, it hasn't stopped us from inhaling anything we deemed appropriate to eat.
Besides a few extra kilos, this has meant returning from adventures with borderline curry obsessions, ongoing hankerings for pasta a la norma, and a love of all flavours Mexican that can only be quelled by a solid collection of cookery books that reflect our past travels - and an ever growing wish list of hardback tomes written by those that know the cuisine best.
They makes some of the best travel gifts out there!
We won't list every cookery book we've bought or desire here - that's a different list, for a different day - but below you can find a selection of our favourites, that will transport any traveller right back to that bustling South Asian market, out-fo-the-way Italian restaurant or simple taco stand:
Pasta Grannies | Last year's Christmas gift to Emily, this book catalogues pasta recipes straight from an Italian nonna's kitchen and is as heartwarming as it is temptingly tasty - buy it here.
Fresh India | The second offering from Meera Sodha focussing on the best of India's vegetarian culinary delights, this is the cookbook which has helped Emily perfect her Indian recipes - buy it here. For meat eaters, Made in India would be an excellent alternative.
Green Kitchen Travels | What do you get when a vegetarian family, who know a thing or two about food and take amazing photos, travel the world together? A beautiful cookbook inspired by their favourite culinary finds, with a subtle nod towards the healthy - buy it here.
The Nordic Baking Book | First things first - chez Along Dusty Roads is not known for its baking prowess, but this beautifully curated cookbook certainly makes us wish at least one of us could learn! Definitely one for those that love a bit of Scandi-cool - buy it here.
Baan: Recipes and stories from my Thai home | Created by a woman who spent more than half her life in Thailand, this book weaves the traditional foods she grew up on with tales from her home. Buy it here.
Taverna | For those that love sun-kissed recipes even during the winter months, this book offers up Greek Cypriot food in the most wonderful format. One that is definitely on the Along Dusty Roads Christmas wish list - buy here.
Noise-cancelling Headphones
This is obviously a big splurge for a gift, no matter the reason or occasion, but there are several reasons why every traveller will truly appreciate these beyond the monetary gesture.
1. Not always closing yourself off to conversation and the outside world is essential to a good travel experience, but sometimes you really really really can't be bothered.
2. Big adventures mean lots of dull long bus or train journeys, sleeping in noisy dorms, or trying to focus in busy environments - a set of these headphones would make the world of difference.
3. If they haven't already had invest in a pair to make 2020's home working palatable, or to give music and podcasts a whole new dimension, then now's the time.
Andrew bit the bullet a year or so ago*, opting for the Sony WH-1000XM3 (buy here) and has never regretted it, but they have recently released the new WH-1000XM4 set.
*Note that they are not the headphones in the picture below!
The Eco Travel Washbag
If the traveller in your life has a washbag which, after a decade of backpacking adventures and city breaks, has seen better days, then this Christmas may be the right time to invest in an eco-conscious replacement for them.
OneNine5 is a young British company which crafts modern, stylish and functional uni-sex washbags whilst prioritising a commitment to sustainability. The exterior is vegan leather, the lining is made from 100% recycled plastic, and they commit to ensuring their durable products are reused or recycled once your'e done with them. You can find out more and buy here.
We're looking forward to properly using ours on the road in 2021, fingers crossed...
The Outdoors Lover
If 2020 and lockdown has given the traveller in your life a new appreciation of walking or camping in the outdoors of home, and a venture in foreign lands isn’t on the cards for 2021, then here are a few thoughtful essentials to add to their kit:
A Stanley Thermos or Food Jar | Andrew gets overly excited about flasks, and finally made the decision to buy one by Stanley this year. Hard-wearing but stylish, they look great and do the job perfectly, as well as coming with a lifetime guarantee - buy here. The Food Jar has also been a great addition to our bags for long day hikes in the UK - buy here.
Aeropress Go | We don’t have one of these, but many of our friends swear by them for making excellent coffee when travelling, camping, or hiking. Buy it here.
A Swiss Army Knife | The absolute classic, our trusty red Swiss Army knife has accompanied us on every backpacking trip and paid for itself along the way multiple times. You can’t go wrong with the Huntsman (which we have) as a long-lasting and thoughtful travel gift for men or women - buy it here.
GetYourGuide Voucher
If you're really struggling for a traveller gift, or time has got the best of you, then a voucher for GetYourGuide is a good, safe option to fall back on. With thousands tours and experiences available globally, from cooking classes to street art walks, it'll make sure to make their first trip of 2021 even more worthwhile.
Buy a gift card here.
