These days, it’s no longer enough to say you love traveling. It's too nebulous, too vague. The way someone travels reflects their interests and needs. It's not just about comparing luxury with budget travel, or between off-the-beaten-path and must-see destinations. In recent years, a never-ending parade of more specialized travel vibes has emerged.
There are the restless backpackers, who seek to reconnect with the natural world and disconnect from others. The two in five travelers who book their hotel based on sleep needs. Letterboxd obsessives who live outside cowboy fantasies and search White Lotus filming locations. Then there's the social media-obsessed traveler, who is as concerned with documenting their experience as they are with sharing it.
Although many millennials and Gen Zers say they prefer experiences over material goods, it can be difficult to treat someone to an entire vacation. Plus, it's just not as exciting to unwrap an envelope. So how do you bridge the gap between giving an entire vacation and giving someone something they don't really want? To put it simply: travel equipment.
This is where it will be important to determine what type of travel vibe your loved one is experiencing: are they looking for well-being or adrenaline? Are you obsessed with TV shows or do you post your own videos? Here are the perfect gifts for all of these archetypes.
The sleeper
The sleeper just wants to sleep well and have a restorative experience when traveling. According to Hilton travel trends for 2025 report, one in five travelers worldwide enjoys lounging in bed all day on at least one of their travel days. And in 2024, we witnessed the rise of “sleep retreats.” But you don't have to offer an entire retreat to give the sleep-conscious traveler in your life the tools they need to get some rest.
