6 last minute travel gift ideas for the frequent flier

There was once a time when if you hadn’t finished your Christmas shopping by now, you’d be, well, pretty much screwed. But now, thanks to the ole Internet, you can order up virtual gifts and deliver them by email or print-out card with just a few clicks. And with all the free wifi specials in airports and airlines (thanks Delta, Skype, and Nintendo) you can even take care of your shopping while flying home! Here, a selection of great last minute travel gift ideas.

Travel experiences
For some, diamonds are forever. I personally prefer experiences: catching a show at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, swimming with dolphins in Hawaii, taking a helicopter ride over Manhattan. Gift these unforgettable travel experiences and more with gift vouchers from online travel activity booking companies like Viator and Isango.

Priority Pass membership
Airport hoppers will appreciate access to more than 600 VIP airport lounges worldwide through a membership with Priority Pass. A standard annual membership starts at $99 with a $27 per visit additional fee.Virtual travel books
With the proliferation of the iPad, Kindle and other e-readers, big bulky guidebooks are going the way of the Walkman. Give your favorite traveler a virtual travel book, or literature from their next destination, through the Apple iBookstore or Kindle Store.

Frequent flyer miles
The travel hacker in your life will flip over the gift of frequent flier miles. You can transfer miles that you have already accumulated, or directly purchase miles as a gift. Fees for these services vary from airline to airline. At United, it costs $15 per 1,000 miles to transfer and $35 per 1,000 miles to give.

Custom travel playlists
The perfect music mix can be an excellent companion for the solo traveler. iTunes makes it easy to create and gift a custom travel playlist — Gainsbourg for a jaunt to Paris, or maybe some electrotango for a trip to Argentina. Just create a playlist in iTunes, populate it with songs, then select the “Store” menu and the “Share Playlist” option. When prompted, indicate that you want to gift your playlist, then choose how you want your gift to be received.

Gifts for others
What do you get for the guy/gal who has everything? Something for someone else. Chances are, the traveler on your list has witnessed poverty and hardship in the places they’ve visited. Kiva gift cards provide a way to sponsor micro-entrepreneurship projects in developing countries, while a donation to charity: water provides clean drinking water in poor rural areas. Both sites offer printable gift cards.

Ajungo, the new social network platform just for travelers

Sick of searching through advice sites and hearing reviews from who only knows? Wish you could connect with other travelers about past or upcoming trips and events? Love social networking but wish you could interact with others in your travel niche? Then there is a brand new social media website just for travelers that brings together all of these platforms into one site.

Ajungo, created by Ben Barton and Steve Shea, is a brand new networking site that allows travelers to connect before, during, and after a trip. Here is how it works:

1) Create a profile and link all of your social networking sites. What this does is allows the site to funnel through your social networking platforms to pull information and funnel it around specific
destinations.

2) Find others who have been to your destination of choice and look through their posted trip or ask them for advice. Or, you can find others who will be in your destination of choice and plan to meet up or travel together.

3) Create your trip canvas, which consists of enabling the sites real-time travel guide feature so that the site can pull your photos and updates while you’re on your trip. This allows other travelers to learn from your experience as well as acts like a blog or trip journal by keeping your trip memories organized and sharing them with friends.

The goal of the site is to make travel more social as well as more comfortable for people going to new destinations. And, if there is any information that you do not want shared, the site will not post it without your permission.

Make connections with travelers, view their trips, find travel buddies, or just interact with others in the travel community. It is all possible on Ajungo.

Blogger Jessica Festa

Introducing another new blogger at Gadling, Jessica Festa…

Where was your photo taken:

On Manganari Beach in Ios, Greece

Where do you live now:

Long Island, New York, but planning to move into the city by the end of the year

Scariest airline flown:

To be honest, I have never been scared to fly, even on really turbulent flights. If you asked me what my scariest plane ride was, however, I would definitely say the one right before I skydived in New Zealand!

Favorite city/country/place:

That is really tough, as I love every place I have ever traveled too for a different reason. However, if I had to choose I would probably say Sydney, Australia, because I studied abroad there and really felt like I got to know the city having an apartment there, a job, a gym membership, my favorite cafe, etc… The street I lived on was filled with bars, galleries, restaurants, shopping…It was just such a lively area. I also never got sick of walking to Darling Harbour in the mornings, sitting by the water, strolling through the Botanical Gardens, and passing by the many street markets in Sydney.

Most remote corner of the globe visited:

Hmmmm, I’d have to say in Chiang Rai, Thailand, when I stayed in the Akha Village. Just to get to our teaching placements, which were also in very rural areas, we had to walk 2-3 miles each morning. I absolutely love getting away from the big cities, though!

Favorite guidebook series:

I have actually only used guidebooks to plan one trip, as I usually wait to get to a place and ask locals as well as other backpackers what they recommend, or sometimes I’ll read some travel blogs. However, I will say that I love Rick Steve’s guidebooks. I used his as well as two others when I backpacked Europe and I felt that his recommendations and advice were a lot more useful and thoughtful than the other books.

Hotel, Hostel, or Other:

I’m a huge fan of hostels! Not only because they are cheaper (even if they were more expensive than a hotel I would stay at them) but because they are so social and fun. I have met many other backpackers in hostels that I have ended up traveling with in other places. I will also say that I am a big fan of home stays. I have done two of them and loved the experience of really getting to see the region I am in through the perspective of a local.

How did you get started traveling:

Growing up my family always liked to do road trips to different states. Then when I was around 15 my best friend Jenn and I got our families to plan a joint cruise to Bermuda, and from there we ended up going on cruises every summer together until we graduated. I got started on international travel after I studied abroad in Sydney, Australia, backpacking on the weekends and stopping in New Zealand and Fiji on the way home. I literally became addicted and started planning my next trip (which ended up being teaching English in Thailand backpacking South East Asia, China, and Hong Kong) immediately.

Most Recent Trip:

I actually just got back a couple weeks ago from Ghana in Africa. I did some orphanage work there, which I absolutely loved, and also got to travel to some of the historical as well as natural areas of the country. What was really appealing to me here was the rich culture of music, dancing, and drumming. I seriously wish people in New York danced in the streets more, and that there was always music playing in the background.

Worst Hotel Experience:

It was actually in a hostel. My FIRST hostel, of course (and honestly, I have not had a bad experience in the 100 other hostels I have stayed in, go figure!). My friends and I were in Brisbane, Australia, staying at this hostel that immediately seemed really sketchy when we walked in. There were clumps of hair all over the bathroom floor and everything seemed damp and had bugs. It was so bad that I refused to pee all night. The people in our room seemed a little shady as well, and at 2 AM I was woken up to a drug deal going down on the bed below me. Let’s just say I slept hugging all my stuff the entire night.