Top Row: Tactical Pants, Packable Rain Jacket Second Row: Passport Cover, Travel Shaver and Travel Backpack Third Row: Travel Wallet, Bluetooth Sleep Mask, and Henley Long Sleeve Shirts, Last Row: Packable Puffer Jacket, Travel Earbuds, Travel Iron (I bought the accessories too)
Shhhh....Sean's Christmas presents ahead.....
Are we crazy for traveling internationally with toddlers for the first time when they haven't even been on a plane yet?! Maybe. Are we still doing it?! Absolutely. Will I be investing in children's sleep melatonin at the suggest of EVERYONE that I talk to about this...also absolutely! I will also be doing a blog about what we are compiling activity wise to take on the plane with us.
Granted we are not leaving until next year, but I am a bit of a preparer if you haven't figured that already. Also, with working a full-time job I know that the time is going to sneak up on us and I am going to regret not thinking of these things sooner and considering how consistently we have been adding to it, I am glad I did it. I actually have a storage container in our garage marked "trip treats" so all I will have to do is dump that in our plane bag and hopefully have them entertained for nine hours (I can hear the collective sigh from you all over here).
I do not know about you all, but my husband puts the 'M' in minimalism. Shopping for Christmas is normally easy since I can get all the things that he normally wouldn't get himself, but with us being home the last year because of the pandemic, it has made figuring out what to get him a lot trickier. Especially since we have been purchasing what we have wanted as we needed it or not. His birthday is a couple weeks before Christmas and the only thing he asked for was new earbuds (the kids misplaced one). Does anyone else have toddlers that are REALLY enamored by earbuds?! He uses them ALL the time and I feel making him wait until Christmas would be torture, so I am gifting him them for his birthday (the link above is for the ones that I got him).
As far as our trip next year, we are finally getting back on the Disney Cruise again, but this time we are doing it Internationally and going to Norway, Iceland, Scotland and thenwe port in Dover where the plan is to take a train to England and stay for a couple days there (Harry Potter tour anyone?). Supposedly we will be in Iceland during the warmest month of the year which is kind of a Catch-22. One, I am a tropical girl, so even warm for Iceland is going to be frigid for me so packing should be a real treat and Secondly, its right at the tail of 'you may or may not be able to see the Northern Lights', which is a complete bucket list for me so I am trying to keep my excitement at bay as the odds of it happening are pretty slim. If you have been, give me all the deets and tell me what not to miss.
You already know what my packing looks like for Disney on the daily, so packing to make sure we have everything for the colder climates, but yet still being minimal since we will have two kids, luggage, a stroller and so on is something that I already feel that I am in over my head with. Any packing suggestions would be highly appreciated. Although I have packed for the Disney Cruise multiple times and I am prepared for that, in the back of my mind I already know that we are going for a longer amount of time than our usual and that we will be limited on our amenities that we are used to packing (even the Disney Cruise does not have a traditional sundries store). Anyway, there will be plenty of time to go over this and blog about what we are packing and taking for the kids
and the digression ends here and on to the gift guide.
Sean immediately knew that for his Holiday present this year, he wanted stuff for Iceland which I was super excited about until he gave me his list of 'tactical pants' and a Patagonia (super specific lol) jacket....thats it...two things! I decided that I would make his gift fun and do a whole travel theme and get him everything he could possibly need, but doesn't know it yet (luckily my home state is Maine so I have some sort of idea of what he will need). Have you ever looked up travel men guides? There are a lot and most of them are for men who actually go out and forage into nature, which Sean does not, so we needed good items for travel, but not living off the land and backpacking through Europe like a twenty-year old.
I wanted to get him a good smattering of useful, but also playful and fun and I am still selecting things, but thought this was a good place start for you all and me.
First are tactical pants (we actually bought two pairs). You all, I thought he was crazy and then they came in and then I REALLY thought he was crazy. The texture is really rough and for sure will make thigh-swiping sounds, but I have to be honest, they look great! The reviews on Amazon were fantastic and if it is cold and blustery by the water or wherever we go, this will definitely keep him from getting chilled (Sean says to let you all know that they are true to size). I feel that if you are a hiker and like to go where there are colder climates, these would be great. If you are a textural person and only want fabrics like butter touching your person, move on to the next item.
Pay no mind to the dirty chipped nail above, I am hard on them and craft a lot with the kids and honestly I do not know why I am apologizing for this, but other people seem to do it...in actuality it is what it is...plain and simple...
The packable Champion rain jacket I thought would be great for Europe where the chances of rain are always high and perfect for Florida where the chances of rain are also very high. For some odd reason although the kids and I all have rain jackets, Sean does not. I like that it had a hood, it was really good quality and that it could be folded up really small and thrown into either his backpack or the bottom of the stroller. I think a rain jacket is a necessity when traveling no matter what and I love that it is an unexpected gift that I know he needs and would never think to purchase for himself.
This just shows you how small it can be folded up
Although we both have Passport covers, I loved this one because it is classy and serves a dual purpose as it has a clear pocket for a vaccination card. We actually have disney covers for our vaxx cards, but I thought with traveling I didn't want us to have to think about taking out multiple travel documents and everything would be in one place here. Stockings are my favorite part of Christmas and always has been for as long as I can remember, so whenever I find cool things for stockings, it always makes my day.
I have no idea if this travel shaver works as I did not open it or if it will be a benefit, but it is a perfect size to throw in his toiletry bag and the reviews were actually quite decent so I feel pretty good about it even with the 70% coupon I was able to apply (ummmm...maybe not lol). I also like that this is something he could potentially throw into the glovebox if we are going out with friends and rushing and he just wanted to do a quick clean up. Again, I just felt this would make a really cute stocking stuffer and hopefully it lives up to some of the reviews and according to the photo, you can throw it into water.
I loved the backpack and the reviews. I felt it was on brand with the Vera Bradley that I got myself. It came highly reviewed and the reviews I read seemed to love it for all the reasons that we needed it and it definitely does not disappoint. I adore that it has plenty of pockets, straps that are comfortable and padded and that Sean would be able to throw a couple of outfits in here. I am in a complete panic that our luggage is going to get lost. I also like that it is backpack size and not cumbersome so it should be something that is easy to manage, comfortable to have on his back, all the while also wrangling the kids and a stroller. Many of the travel backpacks that were highly reviewed and that I was looking at seemed to focus mainly on the laptop compartment and while that would be something that would normally be very important to me, I will be on my vacation, I never pay for wifi when on the Disney Cruise and do not plan to do any work whatsoever as I promise my MIL everytime we go on vacation , so it was more important to have space for actual travel/plane items than it was for the laptop. Therefore, this 100% fit the bill. Oh, and it is understated, so it checked all of Sean's boxes too lol.
You all know I am a sucker for ALL the pockets and this bad boy has them ALL!
The back of the backpack. I love all the secret compartments and I am a big fan of all the personal items being against ones back versus in the front where hands could go rifling through it and no I am not talking about our kids although that is helpful too.
Sturdy clips and a hand handle for easy maneuverability.
You know that the Commodore loves to model how things work and special features.
Yes, this is another travel wallet and honestly this was a little bit bigger than I expected, but honestly I should have looked closer at the picture because what was I expecting went its purpose is to house, credit cards, airline tickets, passport, phone and other misc. items. Even with the sizer being bigger (there is a Doctor Who joke on the tip of my tongue) it is really slim and felt that it could hold everything Sean would need it for and slip right into a pocket in the backback while being understated (again). Again, perfect as a stocking stuffer and something completely useful for what he would need it for. With everything we will be taking, I do not want him rummaging around for anything and getting stressed as I am sure traveling with two kids 5 and under is already going to come with challenges.
Whooo there is that chipped nail againg. The wallet is super slim for how much it is supposed to hold. I didn't open it since I wanted to have some things still closed for Sean to open himself.
This next thing was the most unnecesary of the items, but I thought the most fun. I cannot sleep on a plane to save my life, so there was no need for me to get one, but I figured if Sean could catch a few Z's it would be worth it. Not only is this a sleepmask, but it is a bluetooth sleep mask and a highly rated one at that. I thought it would be perfect for the plane and he wouldn't be worried about one of his buds slipping out of his ear while trying to sleep and being able to enjoy whatever he is listen to while he slumbers (which will more than likely be one of his geeky australian podcasts that we love). I am hoping he loves it and that it works well because quite frankly, it is my favorite.
There is nothing special about the next piece other than I find nothing sexier on a guy than a henley (okay maybe a baseball hat), I love the two tones and it was a really good price. I believe the Goodfellow line at Target has theres from anywhere between $8-$12 (when on sale which is quite frequently) and they are a waffle fabric and can be layered quite nicely. Target recently had a 20% off all of their apparel with the Cartwheel app, so I ended just buying one of the two tones off of Amazon (above) and three from Target (the Goodfellow line is amazing).
I love this next piece because one, it is packable (it comes with a little travel bag that hooks to the back/inside of the jacket) so it can easily be stored in the bottom of the stroller or in a backpack without taking up any room at all and two, the puffer jacket is perfect in that it can easily be layered and definitely feels that it would be warm enough but still light enough (not too thin material) if not layered and just with a light shirt underneath (does this even make sense), plus the quality was surprisingly nice. It looks Navy but I actually bought this in black and it is VERY black.
The replacement earbuds that I got for Sean for his birthday are linked above. The reviews were excellent and it looks like the other ones he had were no longer being sold so I am hoping that they are a great replacement. Fingers crossed.
Lastly, is the mini-travel item. We used to have a travel mini steamer (and if anyone has a good suggestions, I am listening), but every single one had issues where sooner or later it has started sputtering hot water everywhere and for any one with kids, to not be able to leave this unattended while warming up is ridiculous and then to have to worry about hurting the kids or ourselves on top of it, doesn't even make it an item I want to travel with anymore. Taking out a hotel iron and ironing board can be cumbersome, so I purchased this. Again, the reviews are really good and I bought all the travel accessories, such as the case and the travel mat to go with it. I would have a picture, but I just ordered it, so just click on the link above
And there you have it. A really good compilation of travel gifts that you can purchase for your travel loving person that is not backpacking through the Adirondacks and needs soemthing specific or if there is a trip on the horizon to somewhere that is not 80 degrees and where you can have a drink with an umbrella in it (what is wrong with me).
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