The Gap Year is a rite of passage for many young people, a way for them to shake off the stresses of exam fever, gain some valuable experience for university or to enter the world of work and, of course, see a bit of the world.
If someone close you is heading out on their Gap Year travels soon, getting them a gift to send them on their way will let them know they’re still in your thoughts, even while they’re many miles away.
1. Tinggly Gift Voucher
The Gap Year gift vouchers open up a whole world of experiences for travellers whether they’re heading to Australia, Asia, Africa or Europe. With over 200 activities to choose from such as catamaran cruises, bungee jumps, cookery classes and guided tours led by local people, Tinggly experience gifts enable the gap year traveller to get a real insight into the destinations they’re visiting, develop new interests, and most important of all, come home with some great stories to tell!
2. Money Belt
What we love about this travel money belt is that it looks just like a normal canvas belt, and will go with most outfits while allowing the wearer to keep a few emergency banknotes available in case the worst should happen. It’s just simple peace of mind, for exploring busy places or where there is a risk of crime, to have a back-up on you at all times.
3. Portable Door Lock
Also very useful, for obvious reasons, is a portable door lock which can be quickly and easily fitted into almost any hostel or hotel room door. This is invaluable extra security which can be carried around in the side pocket of a backpack. And if they’re going on to university after their gap year, it can also come in very handy for student accommodation which doesn’t have internal locks.
4.Packing Cubes
Perhaps the greatest travel invention of recent times is – packing cubes. They are absolutely perfect for gap year travel when space is at a premium, because they allow you to squeeze clothes into very small packages. Organisation is vital for travellers moving from place to place constantly, and there is always a need to keep clean and dirty clothing separate in a backpack, so these may not be very exciting, but they will be super-useful.
5. Reusable Water Bottle
A ready supply of clean water is indispensable for any traveller, but not always so easy to come by. We recommend this reusable bottles which use special nanotechnology to remove up to 99.9% of all microbiological contaminants, so they can be used confidently when hiking, or in countries where the water quality in hotels and restaurants cannot be guaranteed. Good for the health and also of course good for the environment, as each of the replaceable filters can treat the equivalent of up to 400 single use plastic bottles.
6. Metal Cutlery
The war against plastics is heating up, and right now there is no bigger battleground than single use disposables. Buying your gap year travellers a set of metal cutlery (hold luggage only folks!) as well as a metal straw can help them make a big difference, especially in countries or on islands which have difficulties disposing of their waste and so see a lot of it entering the environment.
7. Multi-Device Charger
Nowadays your average Gap Year traveller is carrying around more devices than you would expect to find in a small office, and keeping them all charged while on the road is a challenge. The answer is a portable charger that can take care of everything from phones to GoPros to tablets, and if you can get one that’s solar-powered, even better.
8. Gifts to give away
This one depends where the traveller is going, and what they’ll be doing on their Gap Year. Because some may be spending time in communities where the things they bring with them might be easily available at home, but much harder to get hold of in other countries. Basic medical supplies, for instance, that can hold great value to a health project, or notebooks, pens and pencils that will be useful for schools. Inexpensive to buy, they needn’t take up much space in a backpack, but may be very gratefully received.
9. High-quality Ear Plugs
Anyone that has ever spend any time in a multi-bed hostel dorm will know these are invaluable!
Amar was born and raised in England and embarked on an 11-country round-the-world gap year after graduation and then became well and truly hooked. The first gap year inspired a second, which ended up being a 23-country down-the-world trip from Canada to Antarctica. Since then, Amar has spent the last 14 years traveling the 7 continents.