Perfect Holiday Gifts for Travelers on Etsy

When searching for unique gifts for family travelers, Etsy is a good place to begin. A marketplace of online shops owned by craftspeople and collectors, Etsy is filled with handcrafted works in all mediums, often one-of-a-kind or custom-made. It’s like an open studio, a place to share the latest creations directly to people who appreciate handcrafted things.

Any traveling friend would be delighted to find handcrafted custom leather luggage tags or a beautiful hand-tooled leather passport case. While monogrammed tags are not uncommon, most are machine-made tags with initials or names stamped on. These Defarge tags are handcrafted and hand-sewn, with the name, initials or inscription of your choice included.

Passport cases and matching tooled notebook covers are also handmade, designed to fit credit cards. And if your traveling friends are Dr. Who fans, you can even choose a Tardis River Song hand-tooled passport case or luxury journal.

Other Etsy shops specialize in antique and vintage collectibles, often selected from personal collections. Antique maps are a natural gift for travelers, and smaller ones are surprisingly inexpensive. An 1895 Baedeker map of Pisa, Italy, for example, is only $21.

© Lura Seavey

Smaller maps begin as low as $10 for an 1895 map of Aranjuez, Spain, for instance. If your traveling friends love exploring historic cemeteries, they would treasure an 1896 map of the famed Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. These maps are perfect for framing and include information on their provenance, authenticity and how to care for antique maps. All maps are sent in archival paper and can be gift packaged. A group of several maps is a good beginning for a map collection.

Edna’s Maperie has a vast store of antique maps, especially of cities and regions in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Germany. At least two of these will be included in the Deluxe Vintage Travel Ephemera Kit, a custom curated collection featuring more than 100 different pieces. Each kit is unique but will include maps; guidebook pages from 1896–1970s; and a worldwide collection of vintage tickets, travel advertising, vintage postcards, antique and vintage travel book illustrations, hotel memorabilia and other colorful pieces to brighten up a travel journal or scrapbook. The deluxe collection is gift-ready, beautifully packaged in a folder crafted from a recycled map. For a really special gift, pair this travel ephemera collection with a hand-tooled notebook, everything needed to create a beautiful personal travel journal. If it’s going to someone very special, why not include an airline ticket?