You’ve already heard that travel is the most popular gift you can give this season. A recent study reported that 92% of Millennials and Gen Z would rather receive the gift of travel or an experience like a concert or sporting event, over other forms of material items. That makes a whole lot of sense when you consider that young people are willing to go into debt in order to travel. Even when they are the ones who are giving the gifts, an American Express Trendex study reports that 25% of Millennials and Gen Z find gifting inspiration from their travels.
But gifting travel is kind of a difficult item to deliver on – are you supposed to bank roll entire vacations for people in your life? Booking flights as presents is kind of a weird thing to navigate too, especially if you want your gift to be a surprise.
Enter the world of travel gift cards. Hopper, the travel app, is the latest company to catch on to this gifting trend. On November 3, the company announced that it was launching gift cards that could be applied towards flights, hotels, rental cars, and rental homes purchased through the Hopper app. The cards can have a custom amount starting at $25, or you can purchase $50, $100, $200, and $500 cards.
Even though Hopper is the most recent company to offer, it’s far from the only one. The travel and experiences company Get Your Guide offers gift cards that can be used on experiences like tours, tastings, and cooking classes – a way to enhance a trip for someone without having to know the particulars of their travel plans.
If you are seeking out ways to gift travel to this holiday season without having to know too much about what kind of trip your loved ones want, you can find a wealth of travel gift cards at retailers like Walmart and Target. You’ll find gift cards for airlines and cruises, ride shares, hotels, vacation rentals, and even for Disney World and Disneyland.
Just remember though, make sure to select a gift card that makes sense for the person you’re giving it to. A $100 airline gift card won’t do much for someone who can’t afford the cost for the rest of a plane ticket. A Disney gift card won’t do much for someone who can’t afford to get to Disneyland or Disney World.
So, even though the increasingly popular trend of gifting travel is made easier with gift cards, you’ll still want to put in the leg work to make sure you’re getting a travel gift that makes sense.
Opheli Garcia Lawler is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Journalism from NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. She’s worked in digital media for seven years, and before working at Thrillist, she wrote for Mic, The Cut, The Fader, Vice, and other publications. Follow her on Twitter @opheligarcia and Instagram @opheligarcia.
Mexican restaurant chain Mad Mex has dropped a new protein, and it’s one of the most popular street foods in Mexico.
Enter, Chicken Al Pastor. It’s traditionally made with pork and grilled on a spinning rotisserie with a pineapple sitting a top, but Mad Mex has put its own spin on it, serving chicken bathed in an Al Pastor marinade with a touch of juicy pineapple.
You can order the protein-packed filling in your favourite burrito, bowl, quesadilla, nachos, or in a taco.
As always, these things are here for a good time, not a long time. Pop into your local Mad Mex restaurant, order delivery or through the Mad Mex app today.
