Our penultimate gift guide – and one of our favourites. Introducing our Christmas Gift Guide for Campers & Travel Lovers 2021. We hope you like the products we are showcasing x
** Some (not all) of these products have been gifted to PackThePJs **
Love Leggings Joggers
One of the most important things to consider when travelling is what to wear. I’m talking about comfort. If you have a long-haul flight or coach ride ahead of you, the last thing you want, or need, is a waistband pinching into your side. You don’t want to be too hot, or too cold. You want the comfort of your PJs, but in daywear. Leggings are an option of course, and Love Leggings have every possible option for you to consider. Or you can consider looser joggers. These Recharge Navy Blue Joggers (£30.00) come in sizes ranging from 6 to 28, and in three leg lengths. They are super light and soft, and the 4-way stretch material (with added Lycra) is breathable. The waistband is high, with a drawcord to tie. A bonus over the leggings are pockets 😊
Joggers, with a baggy top and trainers/flat shoes, is the perfect travelling ‘uniform’.
AlcoSense Pro digital breathalyser
Ok, time to get serious. Drink driving is illegal. It’s dangerous. It kills people – often innocent people. You can’t risk it. Simply put, if you have had an alcoholic drink you should NOT be getting behind the wheel of a car, or climbing on to a motor- or pedal-bike. You plan ahead, and you book a taxi, or have a nominated driver who sticks to soft drinks. But even when you’ve done all that, do you realise that you could still be over the legal limit for driving the day AFTER you’ve been out on the town? This is where the AlcoSense Pro (£149.00) is invaluable.
It is a personal breathalyser – really easy to use. Using the same fuel cell technology as several police forces within Europe, it tells you what alcohol is in your breath, and how long you need to wait until you are deemed sober.
To use it, you select the country you are in (this is why it is also really good when you are travelling, as it has data stored for drink drive limits around the world). Then you place a blow tube into the receptor on the machine and follow the instructions on the 1.8” screen. You get the result instantly. The last 128 test results are stored in the memory too.
Check out the AlcoSense website to see other digital breathalysers they manufacture. This may not be the most obvious of Christmas gifts, but it could save lives – including that of the person you gift it to.
Night Owl 3-in-1 Sleeping Bag by The Fine Bedding Company
We recently invested in some new airbeds. We had a double-sized high one, which was good, but not idea for two people using it as it felt like being on a trampoline whenever the other person moved! So we bought two single airbeds, with the intention of also using them together as a double when positioned side-by-side.
So this Night Owl 3-in-1 sleeping bag from The Fine Bedding Company (£95.00) was the perfect bedding accessory to go with our air beds, because it can be used in different ways. You can use it as a double-sized sleeping bag. You can unzip the top from the bottom to be left with 2 x double-sized duvets, and these can each be zipped up to be single-sized sleeping bags. So this one item can be used singly for the kids and as a double for us – either as a sleeping bag or a blanket.
The material is so tactile, so soft. It feels more like a quality 7 tog duvet cover than a 3-season sleeping bag. We will mainly use ours indoors, when we need to use the airbeds.
Travel Chess Set, by Jaques of London
PackThePJs is a huge fan of everything Jaques of London. Our travel backgammon set has travelled everywhere with us, since we took it Eurocamping in France a few years ago. Our children are constantly challenging us to chess (they are quite good), so with a few trips planned over the coming months we thought this wooden travel chess set from Jaques (£6.99) is exactly what is needed.
It is highly portable; the chess board lifts up, giving access to a baize-lined drawer in which to keep your wooden pieces safe. The holes in the board are great at securing the pieces in place for when you ride over a bump or experience some air turbulence … or anywhere really where you haven’t a stable surface on which to play. Chess is timeless – this is a great stocking filler for any travel lover.
Vintage Globe from Cotton Traders
What to buy a travel lover for Christmas? Easy … they need a globe so they can look at all the places they’ve been to, and plan where their next destination will be. Globes are quite infectious (perhaps a bad choice of words in these current times, but I mean it in a good way). You can’t help looking it, picking out countries, testing yourself (and others) about their geography skills! This bronze-coloured vintage globe from Cotton Traders (£35.00) is the perfect size to sit on a desk or a lamp table at 27cm tall by 21cm wide. This is definitely a talking point piece for any household. People will be drawn towards it!
Picnic Wine Cooler
Picture this … a lovely balmy evening, watching an open-air show, or outdoor cinema movie. The picnic you have brought along is lovely, but then you pour a glass of warm white wine. Nooooooo!!! You can’t do that! You need a Wicker Wine cooler (€5.00) from Kikkerland. From a distance it looks like it’s a wicker bag, but it’s an insulated one that will keep your chardonnay nice and cool. Just put the bottle in the fridge a few hours before, and transport in the cooler. Perfect!
Hoodligan Blanket by Kelty
Campers take note of this amazing product …If you like to sit outside in the evening, even after the sun has set, keeping warm is important. This Hoodligan Blanket by Kelty (£45.00) is a super-comfy duvet poncho! It goes over your head and if you sit cross-legged, your entire body can be enclosed underneath it. It’s an easy-wearable sleeping bag! Perfect for any sedentary outdoor activity as it will keep you warm and toasty!
Oh, I should mention that you can also use it as a blanket for 1-2 people … but I think once you’re snug inside it, you won’t want to share (personal opinion)!
Travel Trivia Game
We always travel with small games to play. When we find ourselves in accommodations with no wifi (shock horror) or no satellite TV, the teenagers are forced to communicate with their parents. So I get out a selection of games that we can play. This little Travel Trivia Game tin (€6.00) from Kikkerland is small enough to fit in a pocket. It’s a simple trivia card game, with some fascinating questions, options, and answers. For example, where can you find the world’s largest castle? France, England, Russia or Poland? The answer is Poland … and I now need to find out more about which castle this is!
Shoe Ponchos
When you are camping, especially in the UK when the weather is unpredictable, it’s really important to keep your shoes dry. Wet shoes take forever to dry out and wearing them is miserable. Likewise, if your shoes just so happen to be the latest expensive white trainers, then they really don’t want to have to deal with mud. So Kikkerland have come up with this natty solution – Shoe Ponchos (€10.00)! They are REALLY good! You put your shoe-ed foot into a cover, and zip it up, pulling the toggles to tighten the top. You can walk across that muddy field to the wash block without having to worry about your Air Force One’s getting ruined. A brilliant idea!
Travel Sanitizing Kit
In a year where travel has started to return to normal it has become even more important to protect yourself and your family by keeping hands and surfaces clean. Going through airports, in taxis, and at the destination, it is a really good idea to have some cleaning products to hand. This handy little Travel Sanitizing Kit (€13.50) from Kikkerland will help with all of your requirements. There is a packet of antibacterial wipes to disinfect surfaces you may touch in a hotel room or even on the transfer bus. In addition, for instant use, there is a bottle of hand sanitizer to keep your hands scrupulously clean.
In addition, just to remind you about how dirty bathrooms can be, there is a UV (blacklight) for showing up dirty areas by the fluorescence of bacteria in the dirt. This will show you where you need to wipe (or if someone has peed on the floor). You need to use the torch in the dark, as it needs to be dark to see the fluorescent dirty patches glowing.
This is the perfect kit for the sanitary conscious traveller. Be safe, not sorry.
