The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL, December twelfth, with a guide to giving gifts of travel.

This may be the main season for presents, but there are lots of other occasions for gifts, from weddings and anniversaries to birthdays and graduations. Rather than a new tie or sweater, more people are giving others the gift of travel, and doing it in new and creative ways.

For example, "family reunion" may conjure notions of grannies on folding chairs and plates of potato salad, but more multi-generational gatherings are being held at ski resorts, seaside spas and dude ranches. Often, these trips are bankrolled by grandparents with a "we can't take it with us" attitude.

Or Honeymoons. Today's couples can register for all sorts of wedding presents, including their post-nuptial vacation. Several on-line services let a couple pick a honeymoon itinerary and pay a deposit. Well-wishers can either contribute cash toward the trip's grand total or pay for a specific portion, such as a night at a resort.

Wedding anniversaries have long been an occasion to take a romantic trip, but these days adult children often get together to send their parents someplace special. Some may make all the arrangements for a particular trip, others buy their parents airline tickets or a gift certificate they can use anytime.

Other parents give their high school and college graduates trips that take them to new experiences and expand their world knowledge. Parents and grandparents may give younger children the gift of travel and take them on similar forays into the wide world.

FMI Honeymoon registry websites: www.honeyluna.com; www.4honeymoons.4anything.com; and www.afterido.com

 

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