Gadling’s Gift Guide: $0 – $50

by Grant Martin on

iStik Magnetic iPod case: $20
Need a good way to secure your iPod or minipod to your jacket or running shorts while you’re on the road? Try out the Magnetic iStik. This little device lets you stick your music box almost anywhere on your body without having to worry about it rolling around or falling out of your pocket. For running, its a necessity. Check out Gadling’s review of the iStik then get one for about twenty bucks at goistik.com.

Sigg Water Bottles: $18 – 25
Its true, Nalgene bottles are officially out of style. The new big thing? Sigg water bottles, the metal miracles that don’t (potentially) bleed into your Gatorade and that are also pretty hip to carry around. Every good adventure traveler needs at least a couple of water bottles to carry on the road, down the slopes or up the pitch, so you can’t go wrong with an investment in one of these. Plus, a portion of all sales to back to the environment. Pick them up at Amazon or Ebay for a good price.

In-Ear Headphones: $10 upwards

In-ear headphones are the new big thing in noise abatement technology — rather, you can do it two ways, with a noise cancelling circuit or by flat-out plugging your ears with these earbuds (or, sometimes both, but you usually won’t need that.) The advantage to this tight-fitting method, of course, is that the audio can be softer, and thus better for your ears. And without a noise cancelling circuit, the technology is quite affordable.

Having spent a lot of time in airplanes this year, we can tell you from experience that all you need to ensure a quite ride is the ear-plugging technology — the noise cancelling stuff works ok, but its probably not worth the investment.

Usually, pairs start at $10 and can get as costly as over $100, and each person reacts differently to each headset. CNET is a great place to start your research.

Orbit MP3 speaker: $40

If you’re planning on having people over to the hotel room to have a few drinks and grease the wheels, you’re going to need to be pumping some tunes. And we know that your iBook is God’s gift to technology, but you just need more oomph behind your speakers if you’re going to be making an impression.

Try out Altec Lansing’s Orbit MP3 speaker, a compact little device that produces a room full of happiness. You can read how well the system works in Gadling’s review and if it strikes you, pick one up at Altec Lansing.

The Moleskine: >$12

A good travel notebook is a key component to any prolonged travel, something that will hold up on the road, not take up too much space and maybe, if you’re lucky, even look pretty snazzy. Italian company Moleskine‘s notebooks do just that, and they’ve recently expanded their product line to include a variety of formats including city notebooks (with maps!)

While you can’t get a Moleskine directly from their website, Amazon has a wide variety of products. You can start your research from their search page.

Patagonia Men’s Capilene 1 T-Shirt: ($36 before 20% off with coupon code)
No one wants to hang out with the sweaty guy. But you can still jog, hike, mountainclimb or stroll in the park while staying dry if you throw on a Patagonia Capilene shirt. You can stay cool, dry and stylish while hanging off of a cliff or hanging out with your friends. They’ll appreciate your improved hygiene and you’ll appreciate the price if you use coupon code 87211 at Moosejaw.
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Gadling’s Holiday Gift Guide, 2008

by Grant Martin on

Fresh out of ideas for what to get for that person who’s got everything? Give the gift of travel, the ephemeral present that doesn’t necessarily keep on giving, but creates everlasting, strong memories.

This year, Gadling travel bloggers spent a record amount of time on the road, and in our travels we proved out the best damn gear and gadgets out there.

Take a scroll through some of our favorite travel paraphernalia out there in three categories: $0-50, $51-250 and $251 – ridiculous.

Gadling’s Gift Guide: $250 upwards

by Scott Carmichael on

Recession reschmession.

If the current economic mess does not bother you one bit, or you were able to snag yourself a piece of the $700 Billion bailout pie, then this list of travel gifts is just for you.

Forget cheap luggage, as part of the traveling elite you should only settle for the best of the best. Here are some gifts that should help give you some ideas on what to get yourself, or a loved one who was really, really nice this year. I’ll start at $250, and make my way up to cool $1 Million.

Timbuk2 Checkpoint Ballistic fabric rolling suitcase

We’ll start off with our feet firmly on the ground, and offer a couple of reasonably priced travel products. Timbuk2 have been a very popular luggage and bag manufacturer for quite some time, but they only recently introduced their first rolling suitcase.

The bag features removable skateboard wheels, internal secret pockets and is available in 2 sizes. The medium bag is suitable for carrying on board with you, but the large one will have to be checked.

At just $250 ($275 for the large), it is very nicely priced, and certainly something I’ll be adding to my “been a good boy” list this Christmas.

Where: www.timbuk2.com
Price: $250 for the small, $275 for the large

Watch HDTV on the road with the Slingbox PRO-HD

The Slingbox has long been one of my personal favorites. With Sling, I can watch my home TV, no matter where in the world I am. If I am stuck in an airport lounge, I can tune into local home channels on my PDA. When I arrive at my hotel, I open my laptop and watch some stuff off my DVR.

Until recently, the only limitation was that the streamed content was in a fairly low resolution. The $299 Slingbox PRO-HD changes that.

This remote TV streamer can finally capture your home TV signal, and send true HD content over the Internet. Of course, you’ll need a very beefy home broadband connection, as well as a sturdy connection at your destination.

But once you have it all setup, you’ll be able to sit back in your hotel room, and watch some HD content streaming over the Internet from thousands of miles away.

Where: www.slingmedia.com
Price: $299

Suunto X10 wrist-top computer

GPS, digital compass, barometer and altimeter. These may sound like the instruments used on the flight deck of your next trip, but they are actually a couple of the features in the new Suunto X10 wrist-top computer.

The watch features a Google maps compatible GPS receiver, PC connectivity, an internal rechargeable battery and can even tell you the time in up to 330 feet of water.

Where: www.suunto.com
Price: $499

Archos 7 multimedia Internet tablet

When it comes to multimedia on the road, Archos have one of the best products on the market. The new Archos 7 combines multimedia playback with Internet and email access. The device has a high resolution 7″ display and can be purchased with 160GB or a whopping 320GB of storage.

With that much storage, you’ll be able to carry enough TV and movie content to keep you entertained for over a month. The built in browser and online media tools allow you to surf the web or download more content when you are in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot.

With the optional accessories, you can even add a helmet mounted camcorder or an FM radio remote.

Where: www.archos.com
Price: From $449 (160GB) to $549 (320GB)

Sony Vaio TT ultra portable notebook with Blu-Ray player

Laptop computers do not get much sexier than this. The Sony TT has it all; 4GB of memory, 256GB SSD drive, an LED backlit display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, webcam, noise canceling headphones, carbon fiber frame, a Blu-Ray player/recorder, fingerprint scanner and an HDMI video output.

All these goodies make it the most expensive ultra-portable notebook in the world. When you add a second battery and a laptop case, you’ll pay just under $4500 for this 2.8lb beauty.

When everyone else on your flight is watching the latest Rob Schneider flick, you can pop in a Blu-Ray disk of the Dark Knight (or Wall-E if you are traveling with kids).

Where: www.sonystyle.com
Price: From $2095 up to $4500 depending on the configuration

How about a nice picnic in the English countryside?

As a young lad, I absolutely loved picnics. There is something magical about having jam cakes and lemonade surrounded by nature. If you have someone special in your life you’d like to impress, then why not hop on board your Gulfstream and have Harrods deliver one of their magnificent hampers.

For a mere $7300, you can purchase the Harrods “Chairmans Choice” hamper. Filled with delicacies like Beluga Caviar, 30 yr old single cask Macallan and a bottle of dry Y de Château Y’quem to rinse it all down.

Of course, Harrods will gladly cater to the less well off, and have hampers starting at just $80. If things are the other way around, and this hamper seems too cheap, then check out the “Snow Queen Hamper” from Fortnum and Mason. The Snow Queen retails for a staggering $37,000.

Where: www.harrods.com
Price: £5000 ($7300)


Henk Suitcase

The “Henk” suitcase is without a doubt one of the most expensive pieces of luggage you’ll ever own.

Even if you are used to dragging your Louis Vuitton through the airport, the $31,000 Henk “travel friend” is surely able to impress even the most luxurious traveler.

Henk suitcases are handmade from technology usually reserved for Formula One and aerospace parts. The suitcases feature innovations like retractable shock absorbing wheels, a central locking mechanism and several anti-theft measures.

Each case can be completely customized to match your desired color, inside and out. The case can be made from a variety of leathers as well as carbon fiber. The end result is the kind of luggage simply too valuable to ever consider ha
nding over to the airline, so make sure you have access to a private jet.

Where: www.henk.com
Price: EUR 25,000 ($31,000 USD)

Netjets Marquis card – the ultimate giftcard

Some people celebrate Christmas with a giftcard for Starbucks, others might be more content receiving a Netjets Marquis card. This fractional ownership card is perfect for those of us that do not want to commit to a long term plane leasing program or if you just need a backup plan when your own Gulfstream is getting an oil change.

The card comes with 25 hours of prepaid flight time on one of the planes in the Netjets fleet.

At just $126,000 it is one of the quickest ways of gaining access to your very own private jet. As with most giftcards, this one also comes with some hidden fees. The recipient will have to pay for his or her own landing fees, deadhead fees and you will even have to pay the same $2.50 September 11th security fee as the commoners at the airport.

Where: www.marquisjet.com
Price: From $126,000

107 day Cunard cruise with a 24 hour butler service

Fancy getting away from it all? How about a pleasant cruise on board the Queen Victoria, the newest liner in the Cunard family. Once a year, this magnificent vessel departs Southampton for a 107 day/night cruise around the world.

You’ll get to spend some time in fantastic places like New York, Curacao, the Panama Canal, Cabo, Auckland, Sydney, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Istanbul and Athens.

The “cheap” rooms for this 107 day cruise start at a modest $22,000, but to travel in true luxury, you’ll have to fork over $72,731 (per person). This may seem like an insane amount of money, but that works out to just $680 per day. And when you realize that this includes your room, all meals and the impeccable service, it isn’t that bad a deal at all.

The suite is one of the “Queens Suites”, and comes with a 24 hour complimentary butler service, fully stocked personal bar, personalized stationary, board games, a computer games console and fresh fruit delivered to your room every morning. You even get to pick your own kind of pillow and duvet.

You’ll need to start packing soon though, the ship leaves January 2nd 2009. If you really, really like to spend some time on a cruise ship, you could consider buying your own 4 bedroom suite on the Magellan. This residential cruise line will gladly sell you their top of the line home on a ship for a cool $18,000,000.

Where? www.cunard.com
Price? $72,731 (per person, based on a 2 person occupancy, single occupancy is $145,349)

Leading Hotels of the World round the world trip

There are many “experience” packages out there for travelers, but none of them come close to the “round the world in 80 days” experience put together by the Leading Hotels of the World group.

$1 Million dollars gets you an 80 day trip where you will travel from continent to continent in the luxury of a private jet. Forget the hustle and bustle of the airport, or the horrors of the security checkpoint, this is the true way to enjoy seeing the world. Of course, that price is per person, so unless you plan to travel alone, you’ll need fairly deep pockets.

While you are burning through your money, you’ll even be able to say you were doing some good, because 10% of the price will be donated to the Elton John AIDS foundation.

Where? www.lhw.com
Price? $1,000,000

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