Six Travel Gifts for $30 or Less
December 11th, 2007 Posted in Travel gear
Early last week I highlighted ten travel gear gifts under $20. Now it is getting close to crunch time if you want to order online and avoid the mall scrum for Christmas, so maybe you’re willing to take it up a notch in your budget. I’m still not going to tell you to go buy the gizmo of the month though, so here are six useful travel gear gifts for $30 or less.
1) The Sigg aluminum water bottles look a lot cooler than those plastic Nalgene ones, plus you won’t spill water down your shirt and you can recycle them when it’s time to say goodbye. They list for around $20, but now and then you can find them on sale at your local gear store or online at REI.
2) While we’re on the liquid bent, this REI vacuum coffee mug I recently got my hands on is a piece of elegant simplicity. You spoon in coffee grounds, add water, and you’re set with a great cup of coffee that will stay hot for hours. I might not spend $25 on a travel coffee mug for myself, but for that coffee-loving camper on my list, yes indeed.
3) As our electronic gadgets we burden ourselves with become more numerous, the number of outlets stays the same. In too many airports and most cheap hotels, an outlet is something worth fighting about. Carry your own plan for world peace with Monster Cable’s travel outlet strip. Only $15 to diffuse tension and make your life easier.
4) Speaking of electronics, an MP3 player is all well and good when you want to withdraw into a cocoon, but what about when it’s time for a party? There are lots of portable speaker systems out there that sound like crap, are too big and bulky, or are deathly expensive. You can get this nice one-speaker compromise from Altec Lansing and crank it up for the crowd.
5) When in remote parts of the world, many people forget that the news is only a shortwave radio signal away. Sure, you could spend your precious internet cafe time 
reading the BBC site, but you can do like outposted people have done for decades and tune into the news almost anywhere with a shortwave radio. The smallest Grundig Mini 300 Shortwave Radio is only $30: about half what one cost when I took off on my first round-the-world trip 16 years ago.
6) Light and compact waterproof jacket. Carrying a jacket around the world “just in case” is a pain, especially if you’re going to mostly be in hot places in Southeast Asia or Central America. It gets cool in the mountains though and no matter how carefully you plan you’ll eventually be somewhere during rainy season. These Sierra Designs Lightweight Jackets ball up into a pouch the size of your hand, but are waterproof (until there’s a deluge) and have a hood. A handy item to give a traveler for less than $30.
