The Worst Gifts for People who Love to Travel

It is December, Christmas is near and now is the time that all of the travel blogs are filling up with their gift guides for travelers.  “Top Ten Best Christmas Gifts for those who like to Travel”, “Gift Ideas for Travel Addicts”, “Favorite Travel themed Gifts”, etc., etc. I myself have even made one of these lists previously however I am constantly surprised at some of these lists and how horrible / unusable (in my opinion) some gifts actually are.

To make your gift buying for the travel lover in your life a bit easier this holiday season I have made a quick list of what I think are some of the WORST gifts for people who love to travel. So whatever you do avoid buying them these things.

 

 

Packing Cubes

 
I HATE PACKING CUBES. Some (most) people love them. If you are thinking about buying them for someone, find out if they already have them or try working them into a conversation to learn their thoughts on them first. When I got my first set of packing cubes, I was so excited. I knew people who had them and LOVED them. I couldn’t wait to use them. They were easy to pack, and seemed to hold quite a bit. However unless you filled one up to the max, it seemed kind of useless. Also while filling up the third one while packing for a trip it ripped! Boo.
I was impressed with the light weight material and it initially seemed like a great idea. Then I went on my trip. I was traveling with carry-on luggage like I always do and experience that with these I might as well of been traveling with a backpack. Everytime I wanted something out of the packing cube I had to almost unpack the whole thing to find what I wanted. This was annoying. When I just normally pack my suitcase I can move one or two things and find what I want and the majority of my suitcase stays conveniently packed.

The packing cubes also caused me to not be to fit my tripod in my carryon because of their shape AND I think I also packed way more than I needed for my trip because I was just focusing on filling it up rather than what I actually needed. Packing cubes = FAIL.

Travel Guide Books – flickr image credit Let Ideas Compete

 

Guide Books

 
It’s 2015, lets save some trees. They are also a bad idea for a traveler because they take up extra space. Yes it is nice to have something physical in your hand and to be able to highlight things and write on them, but printed guide books just aren’t that useful anymore. Especially with wifi being available on almost every corner where anything you want to know is just a google search away and more up to date then a printed book. A better idea is to give someone an iTunes gift card so that they can download electronic guides directly to their devices. Guide books can still be a good idea, but gift them electronically instead.

Luggage

 
If you are buying for a seasoned traveler, unless they have specifically told you about a piece of luggage that they want, please do not buy them luggage. Travelers often treat their luggage like its their first born and can be very particular about what they are looking for when buying a new carry-on, roller bag or backpack. From the right weight, fit, pockets, accessories, features and so on it is best to leave luggage purchase up to the person who is traveling. Otherwise your present could end up living in the back of someones closet.

Luggage can also be very expensive! Perhaps instead you can get your friend a gift card instead to the luggage shop. You can’t go wrong with a gift card.

image by flicker user Whatleydude

Even this guy doesn’t know why the heck he is wearing this vest

Clothing with a million pockets

 
In the past couple of years this type of clothing has become popular and touted as “must haves” for every traveler. However honestly unless you are on a crazy challenge who is ever actually going to utilize all of those pockets at once? Who goes around with all of that shit in their pockets? This also can’t be that comfortable to wear when full and if you aren’t using it to full capacity then what is the point? Lastly a lot of them are vests. Who wears vests? Unless you are fly fishing or maybe a photographer, vests just aren’t necessarily the best travel friendly item.

Passport cover & image by the Earhart on Etsy

 

Passport Covers

 
When traveling, customs officers and airport gate agents always want to see your full passport and 9 times out of 10 if not all the time will ask you to remove your passport from the cover if you have it in one. Having a passport cover can then in return become extremely frustrating as you constantly have to take your passport in and out of it. Instead I opt for a brightly coloured passport case or pencil case that I can put my passport, tickets, nexus card and more in so everything is always kept in the same spot. A cover is like a book cover. A case is like a small bag/case. Go for the case if you must.

The above products can all be useful and of course are popular for a reason. You might be thinking to yourself that so and so would love one of the above mentioned items. I bet they probably would. But if you really want your Christmas present to win with the traveler in your life this year it might be best just to opt for something else.

THINGS I DO LIKE

 
Scarves, gift cards, power adapters, gift cards, memory cards, portable phone chargers and batteries, gift cards. To see more of my recommendations for “The Best Gifts for People who Love to Travel” check out this list and happy shopping!

Have you ever received an awkward or bad travel related present for Christmas? Tell me about it in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it!