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Gift Guide: The 21 Best Tech Gifts for Travelers in 2024

Gift Guide: The 21 Best Tech Gifts for Travelers in 2024

The last thing we need when traveling with kids is more stuff to carry and keep track of. But truly clever travel tech gadgets can make ours lives easier and are worth making room for in our suitcase or carry-on. Those instantly helpful gadgets make the best tech gifts for travelers, too.

Here are 21 gadgets or accessories that I think anyone who travels will find useful on trip after trip. The make great gifts for the holidays, birthdays and more. I list a few stocking-stuffers, too.

I hope you find the best tech gifts and gadgets to give to the travelers on your holiday list. Don’t feel bad picking any of these items up for yourself as well.

More Gift Ideas:
Tech Your Teens Will Take Everywhere They Go
10 Essential Items For Dads Who Love To Travel
7 Experiences That Make Awesome Father’s Day Gifts
7 Girlfriend Getaways Mom Would Love for Mother’s Day

Gift Guide: The 21 Best Tech Gifts That Travel Wherever You Do

Cool Tech Gear For Travelers

Use Bluetooth Headphones Anywhere

I read about Twelve South’s Airfly device in the Wall Street Journal and immediately went onto Amazon to buy one.

I’ve recently needed to pack two sets of headphones when I fly anywhere. I pack my Bluetooth earbuds for my phone and laptop and an old-fashioned audio-plug set for the airplane’s sound system.

Now, I can now pack the earbuds I Iove and this compact device that plugs into the airplane’s sound system. And I have no more headphone wires getting tangled in my carry-on.

Airfly
These binoculars count as one of the bet tech gifts for travelers because they work with your cell phone to give it a telephoto lens.

Binoculars That Help You Take Photos

This is a cool gadget my readers turned me onto: high-power binoculars that come with a phone adapter. Whatever you see through the binoculars you can capture with your cell phone’s camera.

Given the limited zoom on most phones, this allows you to do a lot more, especially when you’re trying to take pictures of birds and animals in the wild.

They’re also waterproof and have an adjustable bridge, so anyone can use them comfortably. Large prism lenses views things clearly at 1,000 meters and work well in low-light conditions.

The perfect gift for someone planning a trip to Costa Rica, the Galapagos or a national park.

Binoculars That Go Anywhere

Several of my readers are buying these Mahauk Travel Binoculars that come with their own case and neck cord.

They can also provide clear views at up to 1,000 feet and have an auto-focus feature to help you quickly zoom in the right amount. This is helpful when trying to spot birds or small animals before they flit away.

They’re lightweight, waterproof and fit in your pocket. The small size also allows both kids and adults to use them comfortably.

Lightweight binoculars with auto-focus and a bridge that works with small faces are one of the best tech gifts for travelers with kids.
Kindles are perennially popular as gifts for travelers.

Kindle & An Endless Supply of Books

I was sitting in the Frankfurt airport, halfway through a very long flight home and didn’t love the eBook I had brought along. So I hopped on the airport Wi-Fi, deleted it and downloaded a different book from my local library.

This is why my Kindle e-reader is one of my absolute favorite travel gadgets.

Also, it’s slim and weighs the same whether you “pack” one book or ten, which is useful on longer trips.

The latest Kindle Paperwhite is waterproof, too, which means it fares better than a regular book by the pool.

It has up to 16 Gbs of memory, a larger screen the older models and can stay charged for up to ten weeks.

Give a Kindle unlimited subscription with the e-reader to the avid readers in your family.

Book Ideas
See what best-sellers people are downloading most to their Kindles.

Smart Ways To Charge Your Gear Away From Home

A power cube for cruise-lovers

Cruise ship cabins often have one outlet. You can’t pack an extension cord and whatever you do pack can’t have a surge protector.

Your friends and family who cruise will appreciate this compact cube from Cruise On that meets cruise-ship standards and has three 3-prong outlets and three USB ports — another great find from my readers.

It’s also handy when your family is traveling with a mix of laptops, cameras and phones and need both USB ports and outlets.

With all your electronics charging in the same place you’re less likely to leave items behind.

Your favorite gadgets are useless if the can't be charged, one of the best tech gifts for travelers is a compact way to charge a few devices at once.
Ceptics travel adapter

An Outlet Adapter That Goes Everywhere

Give the global travelers in your family this Ceptics World Travel Adapter kit.We never leave home without one.

It sits flush against the wall, which allows it to fit in places the boxy ones won’t. And you can rest a phone on top of it so it doesn’t dangle from a wall outlet.

It has two 3-prong U.S. outlets, 2 USB ports, 2 USB-C ports and a micro-USB port for your non-Apple devices.

Six interchangeable wall plugs are suitable for travel throughout most of the world. There’s a 2-prong U.S. adapter, too, making it handy on any trip where you’ll need extra places to plug things in.

Better Ways to Carry Your Tech

A Better Dry Bag For Your Phones

I don’t like dry bags that fit a phone exactly because they might not fit my next phone, and no one else in my family can borrow it.

So I’m happy my readers turned me on to these popular AiRunTech waterproof pouches.

They clip around your waist instead of hanging around your neck, which makes sense because phones are kinda heavy!

They have a double zipper that folds over and seals with Velcro to keep water out.

And there’s room for a phone, cash, a credit card and even a second phone or eReader. There are black and clear options, too.

Gift tech gifts this year, and a way to keep them safe, like these dry bags that hold more than one phone.
Travel bag for wires

Organizers For Your Gear

I honestly don’t know why I don’t have one of these Bag Smart electronics organizers for travel. It’s another smart pick on my readers’ part.

It’s water-resistant and quilted to give the items inside some protection.

And it has lots of pockets and elastic bands for an external hard drive, portable battery, earphones, charging codes and plugs, thumb drives, a wireless mouse and more.

And it’s slim enough to easily fit in a backpack, tote bag or carry-on.

CAOODKDK makes a smaller, leather organizer that’s very smart looking and would appeal to both men and women.

It doesn’t hold as many different wires but it pockets for 2 or 3 larger items like a portable battery or mouse. And pockets for the cords and other small items most of us need.

It’s water-resistant. And I think it’s probably slim enough to slide into my laptop bag.

This is yet another reader find and it’s definitely going on my Christmas list.

Famiies who travel with at least a few gadgets will appreciate this organizer to keep cord, batteries and more all in one place.

Tech Gifts For Better & Safer Drinks While Traveling

The best tech gifts for travelers can help them make a perfect espresso on the go.

A portable espresso maker you’ll love

Some of the best tech gifts for travelers—in my opinion— are those that allow us to drink excellent coffee anywhere we go.

The Wacaco Nanopresso portable espresso maker is just one example. Pour boiling water into it and use a hand-held pumping system that approximates the pressure of an electric espresso machine. Be sure to pack your favorite ground espresso beans with you; you’ll be quite pleased with your morning cup.

It comes with a protective case in five colors including classic black and fire-engine red.

Make this NS Nespresso Adapter part of your gift. It allows you to use Nespresso and Nespresso-compatible pods with the press.

Popping a sleeve of pods in your suitcase or backpack is lighter and more compact than packing a pound of coffee, they’re easier to use, too.

This adapter allows travelers to use nespresso pods with the wacaco nanopresso
The best tech gifts for travelers can be those that keep you healthy, like lifestraw's filtering water bottle.

Have safe drinking water anywhere

Readers’ Pick: The best tech gifts for travelers can be those that keep you healthy.

Quite a few of my readers are choosing the LifeStraw Go waterbottle to do exactly that.

It’s lighweight BPA-free plastic with a silicone straw, replaceable filter. With 15 color choices, everyone in the family can have their own designated bottle.

A lot of my travel buddies are loyal to Grayl travel water bottles. Choose the smaller Ultrapress or larger Geopress, and throw in an extra cartridge for a complete gift/

Gray uses a French-press-like filter that rids your water of heavy metals, bacteria and chemicals.

It allows you to have potable drinking water whether you’re going backwoods camping or to a developing country.

Grayl water bottles use nano technology to keep the bad stuff out of water and make it potable.
Stanley quencher cup

The Best Car Cup Ever?

I wouldn’t think it’s possible for an insulated car cup to have a cult following but Quencher cups have huge fans and this cup is on a lot of Christmas lists.

Quenchers are designed to fit virtually any car’s cup holders. It comes in sizes from 14 to 64 oz; this one is 30 oz.

You can drink from it directly or use the reusable straw that comes with it. Insulation keeps cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot for hours.

It also comes in 26 colors; I like the brighter ones because it’s harder to forget and leave what will surely become your favorite cup behind somewhere.

5 High-Tech Stocking Stuffers

Airtag Accessories

The best tech gifts can come in very small packages.

Readers buying Airtags for their families are also buying these Belkin keyring holders.

The case protects the airbag from scratches and damage while the keyring makes it easy to attach airbags to backpacks, dog collars, purses and more.

They come two in a pack in purple, blue or black.

Airtags make great tech gifts for travelers. Be sure to include accessories like the belkin keyring holder.
Glocusent reading light

The Best Little Reading Light

My daughter got this Glocusant reading light as a birthday present and I thought it was so well-designed that I bought one for myself.

It has three shades of light, white blue or amber, depending on whether you want daylight or sleep-inducing evening light, and three levels for each light.

It clips easily onto hardcover and paperback books and the light swivels so I can point it for optimal lighting of what I’m reading.

The battery lasts from eight to 80 hours depending on how bright a light you choose. To recharge it, simply pull off the cover near the clip and plug it into a USB wall plug.

Reading lights are handy in hotel rooms when partners or little kids are trying to sleep nearby. I also use this one on planes, where the overhead lights often aren’t all that bright, and at home.

Forget About Passwords…Really

Do you have someone on your list who is always forgetting their passwords?

They’ll never be locked out of their laptop, phone or tablet again with Yubikey’s clever devices.

Just plug this device into your USB or USB-C port and it serves as a security key that replaces the passwords for your device and numerous apps and websites.

It fits on a keyring, so you can easily always have it with you. And separate from your device.

Yubikey
Powerbeats are the best gadget to get in your christmas stocking: wireless blue tooth headphones that clip securely onto your ears.

Wireless earbuds that stay in your ears

I’ve shied away from Bluetooth earbuds for a long time because I had nightmares of losing them while stepping onto a subway or running for a plane. But Powerbeats Pro Bluetooth earbuds have changed my mind. I love mine.

The clip keeps them firmly attached to your ears and is comfortable, even when I’m wearing glasses. They automatically turn on when you pop them in your ear.

The feature I love most is that if you wear only one, all the sound transfers to that ear; You don’t lose sound quality if you want to listen to something while being aware of your surroundings.

They have nine hours of battery life and sync well with iPhones.

Your phone can tell you how much charge both the buds and the charging case have left. And you can add them to the FindMy app. All this makes them an ideal travel accessory for your phone, tablet or laptop.

Finally, they come with 3 sets of ear pads, allowing me to choose the size that works best with my smallish ears.

A charger for every car

I bought this Teknet Powerdash charger for family road trips. It’s compact, has four USB outlets and uses in the auxiliary power outlet. We could charge all three phones of our phones at once, plus an e-reader or tablet.

I always pack it when we’ll be renting a car, too. Depending on where we are and what cars are available, we have wound up with cars that have few or no USB ports. But they always have the auxiliary outlet.

Keep in mind that with multi-chargers, the more devices you attach, the more time it might take to fully charge them.

Most cars have one or two usb ports, at most. The teknet charger plugs into your auxiliary outlet and can charge 4 devices, ideal for families.
The best tech gifts can help you to not lose your photos on vacation. Back them up and free up space with a memory stick for phones.

Back up phone photos anywhere

If you know someone who loves to use their phone for shooting photos and videos, then you probably also know someone who runs into memory limits on their phone.

Give them a memory stick with plugs that fit both their phone and the USB port on their computer. Choose one made for Samsung or Apple devices.

A Portable Charger You Can Share

Portable chargers keep getting smaller ad more powerful. This power bank from eKrist has 25,800 mAh and two USB ports to charge more than one phone on the go, so you and your kid won’t be fighting over it.

It has six to eight charges in it before it has to be recharged, which is best done overnight.

A good portable charge, is light, can be used multiple times over and can charge more than one device at a time. The ekrist charger does all that without weighing a lot.

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From binoculars that work with your phone to a portable espresso maker, here are 21 high-tech gadgets and accessories that make traveling easier for moms and dads.