O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, Christmas is nearly upon us. It’s the time of year for love and peace and happiness, relaxing with family and friends, and counting our numerous blessings.

Or if you’re anything like us, running around your local shopping centre at the last minute in a cold sweat, desperately trying to find “the perfect gift” on a severely restricted budget, with the incessant jingling of those crappy christmas tunes on an eternal loop getting on your last nerve.

But it doesn’t have to be that way! Especially not if you’re after affordable gifts for a travel lover in your life. Simply pick one off the list below and job done. Then you can kick back with a well deserved glass of eggnog and a Greggs festive pasty before demolishing that tin of Quality Street.

Water filter bottle

If you’ve not heard us championing these before then where on earth have you been? And if you have, sorry not sorry because they’re an absolute travel essential.

A good water filter bottle will make water from virtually any source (minus the sea) perfectly safe to drink. The best ones remove viruses, bacteria, metals and chemicals among other nasties.

Gift one of these and you’ll not only save the lucky recipient a load of money on bottled water, but you’ll also be saving the world as they’ll never have to buy h2O in single use plastic again.

Travel cord organiser

Ever noticed how electrical cords have an uncanny ability to knot themselves into a ball whenever your head’s turned? This effect is tripled when they’re in a suitcase or backpack, scientific fact.

Save your friend or loved one the unwanted hassle of hours spent untying their phone charger cables with a travel cord organiser. There are some super stylish ones on the market with slimline designs which incorporate numerous pockets, pouches and elasticated slot jobbies.

Every wire, cable and plug can be kept perfectly catalogued in its own designated place. Hello orderly packing, goodbye jumbled mess.

Travel journal

Remember when writing with a pen and paper was an actual thing? Funny. While it’s horribly inefficient and gives most people severe hand cramps after completing two badly scrawled, barely legible lines these days, it’s also a great way to preserve your travels for evermore.

There’s a certain romance to writing a travel journal by hand rather than just word vomiting out of your fingertips while captioning that perfectly posed Instagram snap. And let’s face it, one day Instagram will end up going the way of myspace and friendster and Google+, then what will happen to all of our precious memories?

Give the gift of reminiscence by bequeathing that special someone a travel journal that will furnish them with reminders of their greatest trips forever more. Unless they lose it, get it wet, or it gets caught up in a fire.

Scratch map

If your friend is a bit of a braggart and loves nothing more than droning on about all of the wonderful, exotic places they’ve been in their oh-so-exciting life, this should be right up their street.

With a scratch map they’ll be able to display their worldliness for everyone who visits them to admire by scraping off every single country they’ve ever visited. Plus, if it’s literally stuck there on the wall, then hopefully they’ll quit going on about it so much. Winning.

Scratch maps are actually a really cool and fun gift, look great in a frame, and are a truly great present for a wanderluster. They’ll also get that visceral satisfaction that can usually only be achieved with a lottery scratchcard. Albeit without any chance of ever winning a cash windfall.

Travel quote mug

If the travel lover you’ve got in mind is one of those people that floods their social media feeds with “inspirational quotes”, probably because they suffer from an unfortunate case of boundless creativity deficit, or alternatively lack the requisite intelligence to dream up anything witty or interesting to say in the cavity where their brain should reside, then fantastic.

A travel quote mug is both practical and motivational. Something like “We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us”, “Don’t quit your day dream”, or the equally pithy “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list” should do the job. In all seriousness, mugs are something that most people use every day and you’ll be providing them with a welcome dose of inspiration every time they sip a cuppa.