| Ed Perkins Shopping for the travelers on your gift list is easy - you can find so many good ideas, with prices running from a few dollars to as much as you feel like spending. Here are some suggestions.
* Travel itself. What better gift for a traveler than a prepaid trip, or at least a good start on one? Buying a future air ticket, tour or cruise is as easy as calling a travel agent or getting online. Even if you don't have anything specific in mind, a local travel agent will almost surely take whatever you might want to give as a down payment on a trip to be selected later.
Another option: Most big airlines sell frequent-flyer miles, which you can buy and the recipient can add to his or her account to be put toward a future trip or upgrade.
Or make an advance payment at a hotel or resort, again to be reserved and finalized later.
* Travel magazines. If your traveler doesn't already subscribe to a good travel magazine, a gift subscription will "keep giving all year." Consider Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler and Travel & Leisure - and, if your traveler likes to keep to a low budget, Newsweek Budget Travel (formerly Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel).
Another side to travel magazines is to select one or two that concentrate on gadgets - especially high-tech stuff - that interest your traveler. These days, photography magazines such as Popular Photography focus mainly on digital gear, which is probably appropriate to travelers who like to use the latest technology.
Still another idea is to subscribe to a highly specialized magazine or newsletter. For someone interested in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Eastern Europe, for example, you can't go wrong with a year's subscription to Gemutlichkeit; there are a handful of good London and Paris letters. And for someone who travels a lot - especially on business - a year's subscription to one of the OAG airline guides will be most welcome.
* Travel books and maps. Good guidebooks to almost everywhere are updated every year or two, so unless your traveler has recently hit the travel bookstore, a 2006 guide to his or her favorite destination is sure to be welcome. Is someone on your list headed for Europe? A current copy of the Thomas Cook European Timetable is invaluable for railpassing around Europe, while Michelin Green guides or a detailed road atlas would be great for someone who prefers a rented car.
One of the most attractive gift books I've seen is the new edition of the Oxford Atlas of the World, Deluxe Edition, with great maps covering just about anywhere anyone would want to travel ($150 at bookstores; sometimes discounted).
* Travel gadgets. I hesitate to recommend electronic/computer gadgets: Tech-minded travelers usually have a pretty firm idea of what they like and don't like, and unless you're absolutely sure of the make and model your traveler wants, you could go astray. With that caveat, I would start by thinking about a digital camera for those who don't have one. Digital is in these days, especially since airport X-rays don't ruin digital memory.
(C) 2005 The Record, Bergen County, NJ. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
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