Gift ideas for the travelers in your life

Cue the cliché: Christmas is fast approaching, and if you’re still wondering what to give your traveler friends, here are four items you might want to consider.

Leyende Holiday Travel set

If your friend has been bitten by the travel bug, she’s probably got a pile of tickets bought during one of the seat sales. Some budget airlines charge for check-in luggage, so if they’re traveling on a shoestring budget, they would only be toting carry-ons. There’s a 100ml limitation on liquids you can bring on the plane, so this set is a great gift for the kikay traveler. The Leyende Holiday Travel set comes with either a shampoo and conditioner combo, shampoo and shower gel combo, or shower gel and massage oil combo. All sets come with a lip balm (cleverly labeled “Kiss kiss balm balm”) in a handcrafted box made of recycled materials.

Speaking of handcrafted, Leyende products are all handmade, uses organic and eco-certified ingredients and yes, Philippine made. I’ve used the shampoo, conditioner and the shower gel and I love it. It doesn’t dry out the scalp, hair and skin and smells pretty good too.

The holiday travel set retails at Php 350. Leyende is sold in select stores in Metro Manila and around the Philippines. List of their distributors and resellers available in the Leyende website.

Cuddle Up travel pillow

I love my Muji Neck Cushion, but Go Travel’s Cuddle Up travel pillow is a close runner up. The clear advantage this pillow has over my cushion is that it’s inflatable — less hassle to tote around when you’re traveling. So how does this differ over other inflatable travel pillows? While the general shape is the same, there are indents in the middle, so it doesn’t puff up like the others. It’s more comfortable on your neck — provided you positioned it properly (or however is best for your body). And it has a fur cover. Feathery soft fur. Cuddle Up retails for Php 990 at The Travel Club and R.O.X.

Ounce Smart Tubes

I have a collection of Muji P.E.T. tubes that I use for my toiletries, but my biggest frustration is that if I lose them (I’ve already lost 2), I’d have to ask friends and families from overseas to buy them for me as it’s not available in the local Muji stores. Here’s a good alternative: the Travelon Ounce Smart Tubes. Each tube can contain up to 90ml of liquid (just under the 100ml limit) and thanks to its lid design, there’s very little chance of it spilling or squirting too much. It’s also very squeezable so you can get all of those cream or gel out.

Travelon products are available locally in The Travel Club and R.O.X. stores.

Shoulder Wallet

For the paranoid traveler, gift them with a hidden travel wallet. A variation of the money-belt, the shoulder wallet is a pouch that can carry your extra money and documents under your clothes. This gives assurance that your cash and passport remain in a secured place. As paranoid as I am, I never really warmed up to money belts. After five years of traveling, I’ve managed to keep my wallets and passport even without using them once. If you think this can bring peace of mind to the first time traveler and get him out the door and into the world, the Go Travel Shoulder Wallet is available in Travel Club and R.O.X.

Thanks to Leyende, Go Travel and Travelon for providing the products!