Gifts for somebody who travels, and none of it is luggage
The part nobody equips is the return: coming back at eleven at night into a cold flat with nothing in the fridge and a week of being three hours out of sync ahead of you. That and the flight itself are the two parts of travelling that are genuinely miserable, and they are what this page is for. I do not sell luggage, packing cubes or anything that goes in a hold. I pack every box myself here in Canada and write your message onto the card by hand before the lid goes on.
No luggage and no packing cubes. The flight, and the week after it. I pack every box by hand here in Canada.
Seven boxes for the flight and the week after, at $99 and $119, and six of the seven come in two sizes.
Check they are home before you send it. A box on a doorstep for ten days is not a gift.
Saoirse. For the flight, not the suitcase. Sleep on the plane.
Love, Fin
The boxes I would send somebody who travels
None of these is a travel box. They are the ones with something to sleep in, something insulated or something for coming home in, which between them is most of what a trip costs a person.
The Rest & Recharge Box
From$99A contoured sleep mask, a neck pillow and something calming. The one built for a long flight.
The Coffee & Appreciation Box
From$99Ground coffee and a double-walled cup that holds heat from a hotel room to the gate.
The Premium Fuel Box
From$99Whole beans and an insulated cup, for the half of travelling that happens at home first.
The Desk Hydration Box
From$99A glass bottle with a sleeve, loose leaf and the thing to steep it in, for the weeks between.
The Warm Hug Box
From$99Something soft, something for cold feet and a scent, for the week after a long flight.
The Leisurely Morning Tea Box
From$99Tea, a mug thrown by hand and honey, for the first slow morning back in their own kitchen.
The Coffee & Fuel Box
$119Coffee, a cup with a lid and something savoury. The cup is the part that goes with them.
Which one, then
There are three moments worth buying for and they are not the trip. Getting there, the working days in between trips, and the first slow morning back. Pick the moment and the box picks itself. If it is the amount you are stuck on, how much to spend on a gift in Canada is the read.
For the flight itself
One box from $99 to $119: the Rest & Recharge Box. Something to put over the eyes, something for a neck that has been at the wrong angle for six hours, and something calming. This is the one box on the page that genuinely goes in a carry-on, and it is the one I would send.
The cup that goes with them
Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Coffee & Appreciation Box, the Coffee & Fuel Box and the Premium Fuel Box. Three insulated cups and the coffee to put in them, which is the most travelled object anybody owns. The last is whole beans and stays at home, for the half of travelling that is the early start before the airport.
For the week after
Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Warm Hug Box, the Leisurely Morning Tea Box and the Desk Hydration Box. Nobody buys anybody anything for the coming home part and it is the harder half. Something soft, a slow morning in their own kitchen, and a bottle for the ordinary weeks in between.
Two sizes on a box, and where the bigger ones are
The boxes on this page run $99 and $119, and six of the seven come in two sizes. The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. On this page the larger size is one more thing for the same flight or the same morning. None of it ever becomes a bag.
Eight boxes on the site run a ladder of three sizes instead, and the luxury boxes at the top of it are the fullest things I pack. If you came here meaning to spend more than this page asks for, the links under this are the shortest way there.
A card is the one thing that fits in any bag.
You type the message when you order, up to 280 characters, and I write it out in pen on a real card. Most of what is in these boxes stays at home while they are away. The card is the part that gets photographed and sent back from an airport.
If you are stuck, people write things like:
"Sleep on the plane.""For the week you get back.""Send a photograph of somewhere."
The card, the tissue, the tape and the rest of what happens to a box before it leaves.
For the flight rather than the suitcase. Sleep on the plane for once.
Love, Fin
Other things they might be into
A traveller is usually a coffee person and often a desk person, and both of those pages are fuller than this one.
The insulated cups on this page are the same ones on the coffee shelf, where there are more of them and the coffee is the point rather than the container.
If the travelling is for work and the rest of it happens at a desk, the desk boxes are on their own page with nothing electronic in them.
And if the problem is that they never sleep and never sit down, that has a shelf written about it rather than about the flight.
Questions people ask me
Is there luggage or travel gear in these?
No. No bag, no packing cube, no adapter, no organiser. If that is what you want, this is the wrong shop. What is here is the one box with a sleep mask and a neck pillow in it, the insulated cups, and the things for coming home. Each box has its own page, and that page says what is in it, so you can check that it really is what this one claims.
Will any of it fit in a carry-on?
One box on this page is genuinely built for a flight and the things in it go in a bag. The rest are for the house: the cup goes with them, the coffee and the blanket stay. I would not describe a whole box as carry-on sized, because it is not.
Should I send it before or after the trip?
Before, if they are home to take it in and there is a week of margin. After is often the better gift and nobody does it: the week somebody gets back from three weeks away is the week nothing arrives for them. There is a field at checkout where you pick the delivery date you would prefer.
What if they are away when it arrives?
Then it sits wherever the courier leaves it, which is the one thing worth checking before you order. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. There is no same-day option and I do not promise an arrival date, so if they are between trips, ask them when they are back and send it then. All sales are final, so check the address before you order.
What are the two sizes?
The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. The boxes here run $99 and $119, and six of the seven come in two sizes. No price on anything inside the box, so it opens as a gift rather than as a number.
Nobody buys anything for the coming home part
Travel gifts are all aimed at the departure. The bag, the organiser, the neck pillow, the little bottles. It is the exciting end of it and it is also the end where the person already owns everything, because they have done this forty times and refined their kit down to the gram.
The part nobody equips is the return. Coming back at eleven at night into a cold flat with nothing in the fridge and a week of being three hours out of sync ahead of you. A blanket, a proper cup of something in their own kitchen, an early night that was already paid for. That is the half of travelling that is genuinely hard and it is completely unbought.
Every box here is packed by hand in Canada and sent with a card written by hand in your own words. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. If none of these is right, every box on the site sits in one grid sorted by price.
While you are here
- Gifts for Travelers & Frequent FlyersThe longer version, including what not to buy.
- Gifts for a Long Distance RelationshipFor when one of you is always the one leaving.
- All the boxesThe whole catalogue in one grid, by price.
If you are not sure which box to send somebody who travels, tell me who it is for and roughly what you want to spend and I will tell you what I would pack. I read every message myself, at team@swipegifts.com.