Hello and welcome to episode 213 of Travel Stories from the Back Again and Gone. Being recorded in the beautiful Hilton Garden Inn in Columbia, SC. If you’re a new listener, a warm welcome; and if you’re a returning listener, great to have you back.
Tonight, it’s the 2025 holiday gift guide.
I am a self-diagnosed early adopter gear nerd, and I have the gear inventory to prove it.
For returning listeners, my standard holiday gift list is still intact. Feel free to indulge an old road warrior with either of these.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II– steel bracelet and starts at $11k if you can get an authorized Rolex dealer to sell you one.
1995 Land Rover Defender– I had a chance to buy one for $30k in 1995, and I’m still bent on passing on it. Seven or eight years ago, you could pick up a gently used one for less than $70k. Now it’s north of $100,000 for one.
As tempting as it is, there are a few road warrior gifts to avoid.
Luggage – Unless you know your road warrior really well, stay away from buying them luggage. Yes, there are some excellent choices out there, but we all have our preferences. A friend returned a backpack because it lacked a strap to slide his luggage handle through. For me, when I buy a new piece of luggage, I do mental Tetris to make sure everything fits inside the way that I need it to.
Stainless Steel Tumblers – Yeti, Rambler, Rtic, or any of those tumblers that keep ice intact for 3 weeks. We’ve all got one, three of them to be exact, and while it’s a great gift, they’re not great for traveling. Hanging out on the boat or at a neighbor’s cookout is what those behemoth steel tubes are made for.
Blacklight Flashlight – While this sounds as practical as it gets, no one wants to know what germs are lurking in their hotel room. Besides, if the place looks that sketchy, I’ll check out and find some other place to stay.
Anything Associated With Washing Clothes In Our Room – We don’t need a clothesline that stretches across the bathtub. Nor do we need some kind of sink stopper soap contraption. Most hotels have a washer and dryer hidden somewhere. Yet a Tide To Go Pen is a great gift.
RFID Blocking Anything – I never understood the hype over this. With the introduction of chipped cards, this is even less of a necessity. Besides, if they want your information, they’ll get it.
Most gifts with “Travel” in their name are useless. Travel scale, travel wallet, and travel vest immediately come to mind.
Several years ago, we enacted a gift policy here at Chateau’ Relaxo. No blankets, no candles, and no tumblers were to be given as a gift. Somehow, we have more blankets, candles, and tumblers than ever before.
Seriously, when buying road warrior-themed gifts, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Gift size and gift weight, and your job is to find the balance between the two, because your job isn’t to fill their suitcase or weigh it down. In addition, look for gifts that serve several functions. For example, no road warrior should carry more than one charging cable; find one with multiple connectors.
When we lived at FrickFord Farms, the house was cooled with window-shaker air conditioning units, which produced a consistent hum that lulled us to sleep each evening. When we moved into Chateau’ Relaxo, we had central air, and that hum was gone, replaced by difficulty falling asleep each night. The easy fix was to purchase a sound machine, which lulled us back into La-La land. For years, we tried to remember to pack this when we traveled. One day, I stumbled across a Portable sound machinewhich measured 2’ X 2’, the perfect size for travel. A portable sound machine offers several distinct advantages for travelers, especially those needing restful sleep or stress reduction in unfamiliar environments.
* Improved Sleep Quality - Portable sound machines help mask disruptive noises—such as traffic, hotel hallway noise, airplane engines, or voices.
* Reduced Stress and Anxiety - By providing soothing background sounds or white noise, these machines encourage relaxation and help minimize stress or anxiety caused by new surroundings.
* Versatile and Portable - Modern travel sound machines are compact, lightweight, and often rechargeable via USB, making them easy to pack and use anywhere.
* Consistent Environment - Creating a familiar background sound can help maintain a consistent sleep routine, making it easier to adjust to new time zones or travel schedules.
A portable sound machine enhances travel comfort through better sleep, relaxation, adaptability, and convenience, making it an essential item for frequent travelers and those who value restful nights away from home.
This falls into the size vs weight equation, a Travel-Sized Wireless Keyboard, which I am using to write most of these show notes for this episode. The main reason I never purchased one was, get this, the price, which is north of $200.00. I found one for less than $30.00, and while I was at it, I threw in an iPad-compatible pencil for $13.00. While I don’t use these every single day, it was well worth the $45.00 I spent.
As I’ve gotten older, my sinuses have apparently aged as well, and for some reason, when I travel in the winter, my sinuses dry out, yeah, I know, probably TMI. If there’s a road warrior in your life with this same issue, there is a solution: a portable humidifier. Find one that uses a water bottle, since most hotels give you one or two when you check in instead of an actual water tank.
Even in this digital age, I still use an ink pen and a journal, actually multiple journals. When it comes to an ink pen you don’t have to spend a bunch of money; you can, but you don’t have to. You can pay $50.00 at websites like Jet Pens or Yafa and end up with something far nicer than your father’s Cross or Parker ballpoint pen. I’ve had my first real pen for over thirty-five years, and it’s still hanging in there after having to have it repaired twice. Yes, you can break a pen and have it magically brought back to life. When it comes to a journal purchase, something that’s hard-sided, like a book with nice thick paper, so the ink doesn’t bleed through. For work, I use a Finisher’s Journal, a quarterly journal with a system very similar to a Bullet Journal. For non-work notes, my go-to is the Field Journal with Lochby cover with a brass Fisher Space pen.
If you have a road warrior who travels by air and has a pair of those fancy noise-cancelling headphones, consider an AirFly Bluetooth Transmitter. It connects those fancy noise-cancelling headphones to the in-flight entertainment system. Plus, if your road warrior travels internationally, they can charge the AirFly while it’s in use, which means they could watch most of the Fast and the Furious series during the flight.
Compact Travel Games - Yes, we all have smartphones with plenty of games installed. However, there’s nothing cooler than an old-school handheld game controller. You can get one from Miyoo or R36Max . The R36MAX has over 18,000 games to pick from. These run anywhere from $50.00 to $100.00.
Portable Second Monitor - When COVID hit, and I became a stay-at-home worker, one of the first things I bought was a second monitor. I was amazed by how much more productive I became, or thought I became, since I could watch YouTube videos on it. When travel picked back up, it was highly frustrating to work on just my laptop’s screen. The CEO ordered me a SideTrak second monitor that hung off my laptop. It wasn’t inexpensive, and it was heavy. Fast forward five years, and you can find these for well under $100.00 and weighing less than 2 pounds.
AirTags - I have recently become a fan of AirTags. All three of my dogs wear them. Two of which are Husky’s which is the Siberian word for escape artist. I have one in my backpack and in my truck. I recently came across the Elevation Lab AirTag Extended Battery Case. This is a case for your Air Tag, which is powered by 2 AAA batteries. It’s bulky, so it’s not ideal if you’re looking to conceal your Air Tag, but you won’t have to replace the batteries for 10 years. If you’re not a fan of Apple, there are plenty of other companies producing AirTag-style devices.
Medicine Bag – This one isn’t exciting till you need it.
* Benadryl – Great for skin irritations or making children or grandchildren go to sleep. AirBourne – I’ve fended off more colds with this stuff than I can remember.
* Zyrtec – for allergies.
* Zantac – for heartburn.
* Top it off with some aspirin and bandages. If you want to take a medicine bag to the next level, add a sewing kit, some wet wipes, and some collar stays if they wear dress shirts.
These gift guides offer genuine insight into our progress, for example, in travel.
In 2016, I posted these gifts.
* Amazon Fire Stick – Most hotel TVs have HDMI slots, so why not use that Netflix or Hulu account on the road? Currently, most TVs are smart TVs, which makes this useless for travel.
* How about a Travel Router? When traveling, I rarely leave home without one. It converts a wired network connection into a wireless one so that everyone can enjoy. Guess what, in 2025, WiFi is everywhere, and most cell phones are hotspots.
In 2017, one of the items was an Amazon Echo Dot—still an excellent item for the home, but it’s doubtful I would ever travel with one again.
The 2017 highlights
* WiFi Display Dongle – Whether you’re doing presentations or wanting to watch Netflix in your hotel room, a WiFi Dongle can save the day. This crazy little contraption lets you display most everything in 1080p wirelessly, which means NO HDMI cable. Again, in 2025, most TVs will allow you to screen cast to them wirelessly, but still pack a fifteen-foot HDMI cable.
* Phone Tripod, UBeesize Portable and Adjustable Camera Stand Holder – This tripod will easily hold your Smartphone or GoPro, and they includes a remote so you can control your device from 30′ away—still a helpful item.
In 2018, one item was the Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket – I hate jackets; first, they’re bulky, and second, they’re bulky. In 2018, I picked up a Nano Puff, and I like the fact that it’s thin yet keeps me warm. I can put it in a compression bag, and it reduces to nothing. Retail is $200.00. Seven years later, I still have and wear this jacket; however, it’s no longer $200.00, but $230.00.
In 2021, I suggested a pen, the Retro 51, for a rollerball, and Lamay makes a great fountain pen for less than $50.00. I have traveled with a Lamay and have never had a wet-ink accident while flying.
When it comes to notebooks, I like ruled pages, no calendars, no grid patterns, and no bullet-journal-style checkboxes. I like the varying cover design of the Field Notes brand. They even offer a quarterly subscription, the gift that keeps on giving.
I have traveled with a classic Moleskinenotebook for at least the last 15 years, but recently switched to the Finisher Journal for work, which does have checkboxes, and I use Field Notes for personal things.
These gift guides really offer a timeline into the road warrior tools. I’m sure that next year, there will be a mention of an AI product in the 2026 gift guide.
Well, there you have it, Episode 213, the 2025 holiday gift guide.
For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.
If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/
You can also leave me a message on Anchor or email me at TravelFrick@gmail.com.
As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.
