When my parents started buying pieces of luggage for me back in high school, I’ll easily admit that I was less than enthused.  A garment bag for a birthday, a carry-on for Hannukah — it really didn’t seem too exciting at the time, but my parents promised that I’d appreciate the pieces later on… and they were right.

10+ years later (*cough cough*), I’ve learned the importance of having high quality luggage.  Not only does it look a lot nicer, but the good stuff will last a really long time which is why it makes for great gifts for travel lovers.  Whether you’re rushing between business meetings or pulling your luggage along cobblestone roads in Europe, the last thing you’ll want is for your suitcases to fall apart.*

As for the brands that I prefer, I am partial to both Briggs & Riley and Tumi.  Tumi luggage tends to be a teensy bit heavier, but only my grandma thinks that the difference is noticeable.

Domestic Carry On Expandable Upright Briggs & Riley (left) and Frequent Traveler Zippered Expandable Carry-On Tumi (right)

If you don’t have a set of good luggage already, it’s not a bad idea to register for some as wedding gifts.  The three critical pieces that I recommend registering for are:

• at least one expandable carry-on upright (like this or this),
• one “large-but-not-too-large” upright (like this or this — the larger it is, the more likely you’ll surpass airline weight maximums), and
• a nice laptop bag (like this or this)

Continue reading →

Need a cute gift idea for someone who loves to travel?  Just before our wedding last year, my best friend surprised us with these awesome maps she bought for us on Etsy:

It took us awhile to actually put them up in our apartment because my husband and I are pretty clueless when it comes to home decor, but we absolutely love them!  The four hearts represent where we got married, where we met (and still live), and the two countries that we visited on our honeymoon.

The Bombus shop on Etsy has tons of creative gift ideas, and their website has even more wedding-specific gifts that you can buy for your friends (or even for yourself – why not?)  Just keep in mind that they’re based in the UK, so allow yourself plenty of time for shipping if you need to receive your items by a certain date.

(Thanks, Alice!)