Give a gift! Adopt a polar bear, orangutan or octopus

by Iva Skoch on

If you already exhausted all your travel-related gift ideas this year and personalized photo albums no longer do the trick, consider a non-material, yet meaningful gift. The World Wildlife Fund’s Gift Center provides some interesting opportunities to give a gift and make an impact in some of the most endangered areas of the world.

By donating $50 or $100 you can symbolically adopt an animal, in the name of your friends or family members. They will issue you a certificate with a photograph of the animal. A lot of really weird animals are available to be picked. Hello, three-toed sloth!

The World in Glass Marbles

by Jamie Rhein on

Yesterday I went to the Ohio Craft Museum with my dad and discovered the work of Glass Eye Studio, a Seattle-based company that works with glass blowers in the Northeast. Captured within glass globes are various versions of the world. Hurricanes, tornados, volcanoes, and ocean creatures are part of the Environmental Series.

Tidepooling came to mind when I looked at items from that collection, but what caught my eye first, was the Celestial Series. The planets, stars and sun images are unusual and totally gaze-worthy. If you’re stuck in a cubicle somewhere and need a bit of imagining, one of these would be perfect for transporting you to a point beyond your desk for a minute or two. If nothing else, they sure are pretty and a perfect object for a meditative gaze.

In a Bag Cities: Toy Blocks for Travelers or the Kid Inside

by Jamie Rhein on

At my dad’s house is a bag of wooden blocks. They are vintage Playskol-a present given to my brother way back when but still fun to haul out just the same. I use my son as an excuse. The Japanese company MUJI makes blocks in a bag that are so adult friendly a kid isn’t needed for a reason to play.

Taking the term, “city blocks” to a new level, MUJI’s wooden blocks cross generations by representing the world’s most famous cities. You can own New York, Paris, Tokyo or London-or buy them all to mix it up. The Eiffel Tower joins Big Ben perhaps? The Empire State Building next to Senso Ji?

If you’re looking for a present for the world traveler in your life, these might be it. Or use them as a creative way to drop a “Let’s go there” hint. Or when you’re sitting at your desk wishing your were heading somewhere exciting you can build your destination and pretend. If you live in a city and wonder how suburbia might feel, you can build that too. Suburbia comes with trees.

You can buy In a Bag, New York at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in Manhattan. All of them can be ordered on-line from the MUJI website.