Roo Around The World

We all know someone who loves to travel, and most of those travellers are quite frugal people who are used to living on a shoestring budget. So Christmas is always a special time for those people (and I speak as someone who IS one of those people)…it is a time when they can make a wishlist of all the things that they would love to have accompanying them on their travels, but can’t justify spending the money on. And that’s where you come in, you lovely Christmas gift giving friends and family. So to help you out this festive season, I’ve compiled a list of items that your nomadic loved ones would be oh-so-happy to find under the tree this Christmas.

1. Olloclip. These little camera lens attachments for the iPhone are an amazing product, transforming the standard camera on your phone into 3 different lenses – fisheye, macro and wide angle – creating fun and impressive photos, great for a quick (or long) trip away for those moments when you don’t want to carry a ‘real’ camera.

2. Notebook/Journal. A must have for every traveller to jot down their day to day life or just to make notes about travel plans, hostels or a new friend’s information. I always use the (somewhat pricey) Moleskine notebooks because I love the way they look and feel, but there are hundred of different varieties out there.

3. Washbag.  A no-brainer really. Every traveller needs somewhere to keep their toiletries. I really like this one from Muji, as it has lots of different compartments for all your washing needs and a way to hang it up in the shower. Bonus.

4. iPad World Map case. I saw one the other day in Urban Outfitters and fell in love. For the travelling iPad user, this case suits their personality and might even help them out with their geography too! Oh and it’ll keep your iPad nice and protected too. (There’s also one for the iPhone here).

5. Backpack. This can be a little difficult for a new traveller. Wheels or no wheels? Top loader or front loader? Boring black or brightly coloured? The list of choices is endless, so to narrow it down I’m going to suggest either the Berghaus Jalan Backpack (which comes either with or without wheels), the Lowe Alpine TFX Annapurna which can act as both a top AND front loader, or the Vango Contour which is the bag I had on my recent trip around the world and i LOVED it.

6. Camera. This is where it gets complicated as there are just so many different cameras out there and what you get really depends on what suits your needs and travelling style. When I went on my trip I knew that I’d be spending a lot of time in the water, either snorkelling, scuba diving or just generally messing about, so having a waterproof camera was particularly important to me. I also needed something with great video quality as I pretty much filmed my way around the world, so in the end I went for the Olympus TG-610 and it never let me down!

7. Portable speakers. An absolute gem in a dorm room…your travelling loved one will be the life and soul when they can produce some tunage before a night out. I love these ones from X-Mini as they are small and compact yet create a great sound.

8. Scratchable map of the world. These things are so cool…scratch off where you’ve been to reveal a fun and colourful map.

9. Online language learning course. If your lucky traveller is going somewhere they don’t speak the language, a great gift would be a language course so they can brush up on their skills before they go (or even while they’re away). Rosetta Stone provides fantastic courses for a number of different languages and you can even get the course downloaded onto your iPad so you can keep learning while you’re on the road.

10. Voucher for bungy jump/skydive. On most traveller’s bucket lists you will usually find at least one extreme thing that they want to do. Whether that be throwing themselves off a bridge attached to a bouncy rope, or chucking themselves out of a plane, these adrenaline sports never come cheap, so how about sorting it for them before they go? Most companies offer some sort of voucher so all your traveller has to do is pick a date suitable for them and away they go.