Where can I find a birthday present for my friend who just quit her job and is backpacking the world?

Question

She does not need stuff, I am on an extremely limited budget, but I would like to either do something nice for her, or, give her something to make her travels easier. Any ideas or suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!

Answer 1

maybe a journal or something she could use traveling

Answer 2

Get her a luggage alarm. It's what I always buy my friends when they go off somewhere. It's the usual padlock and loop affair, to be tied to train seats etc when sleeping/dozing.. but it has the added bonus of a piercing alarm if anyone tries messing with it.

Very useful for travelling indeed, and not more than $20 - try ebay.

Answer 3

REI!

Travelers checks or metro passes!

Answer 4

REI.com

Answer 5

a journal

Answer 6

d**k's Sporting Goods maybe? umm or u could travel w/ her on a buddy pass if she wants! hope that helped! =D

Answer 7

A crazy creek chair, a camelbak, hiking socks and liners, copressor sacks! I went on a week long backpacking trip in Joshua Tree Desert and all of these things were little things that made it so much easier and more enjoyable!

Answer 8

Does she use a radio or PDA? Why don't you send her a song delegation?

Answer 9

If she is hiking or doing out door activities you could get her a gift card to an outdoors center

or you could give her some money to help her learn a new language.

Hope this helped you some

Answer 10

A great idea for a present if your friend is going travelling and you do only have a few quid to spend is to get her a travel log. A book where she can write down all her new experinces and adventures she does as shes travelling around the world.

It can cost you very little or even alot depending on what sort of quality book you want to get her! i know if i was going to travel i'd want somebody to buy me this!

Answer 11

Give her yourself.

Answer 12

You could give her a gift certificate to a camping store so that she can buy some supplies she will need.  Or, you can treat her to a pedicure if she is girly, take her to a movie, spend time with her... you want to give her an expendable gift.

Answer 13

You can offer her to receive her e-mails and text messages and spread them to all your common friends.

In case of e-mail no cost for you.

If you have a no cost website you can even make one work for her.

I know friends who have one G-mail account between them and both the traveler and the people at home can go to the attached website and place info.

Mostly the person traveling will dump a lot of photos and the friend at home will take those photos, organize them into nice looking pages.

But this will take a lot of time and long term dedication.

Do not offer unless you are sure you can handle it.

A cheaper offer in terms of time is to keep some of the things she will not take with her in your house, access them for her if needed. A set of copies of all paperwork she takes with her, like passports, visa and insurance papers.

You will not have to do anything, unless she has problems and needs a fax with the info.

If you have space you can even offer to store things for her.

And in any case, you can offer her to be one of the people she can phone when she is homesick or has an off day.

It seems little, just being there to get a phonecall, but if she is like me, she will have a day when nothing will work out and she needs to talk to a good friend. Be that friend and she can go on afterwards. It is good to know who you can phone in those circumstances, and I personally have a very short list of people to phone then. (Most people want calls if everything goes well.)

Answer 14

I know that you can buy travel mugs where the bottom unscrews and you can insert pictures in them... this would be fairly inexpensive and she's have something to remember the good times by :)

Answer 15

moist towelettes

Answer 16

Traveler's Cheques

Answer 17

a compact very warm blanket.

a few rolls of toilet paper (well part of the gift anyway)

a protected gift card, one that can be replaced easily, where ever she is if lost and does not deduct money every month, make sure when purchasing that it can be used where she will be backpacking through, like a visa that can be used in the uk, the us, china, rome, mexico where ever.

even if it is 50 bucks that will get her a few meals when needed, or a room and a shower (if only for an hour or two)

anything that can help her in a pich, a calling card so she can keep in touch with you and other loved ones.

a few journals so she can keep records of her travels (these can be spendy but are worth the money) smaller and compact ones (but good and thick, lots of pages)

a memory card for her camera, to make sure she takes plenty of photos of the sights (but without looking too turisty)

but definatly a big hug and a guarentee that you will not change your number or address without first telling her well in advance.

Answer 18

You can get her one of those travel size toiletry sets so she can carry/re-fill them wihout having to carry big bottles.  They are pretty cheap too, like under $10.

Answer 19

http://www.rei.com

Maybe a few of her friends  and you can get together to get something really handy... A hand held gps or a good compass

Answer 20

An electric adaptor! Electricity is different in different countries and she will need one of those for anything she brings that needs electricity such as a blow dryer or whatever. It is necessary and looks like you put thought into it. Also, when I travelled all over Europe, I absolutely HAD TO HAVE a journal with me. I wrote about my travels everytime I was on the trains. Get her a nice leatherbound journal and pen

Answer 21

get her a mini pocket torch light, or give her a put together mini medicine kit, fill it up with miniature things u need in an emergency like handy plus, ointment for sores,..etc..?