11 great presents to get the adventurer in your life
Ethics statement: We’ve been gifted some of the items in the article for our expeditions. However, we’re not under any obligation to write anything about these products, nor were we provided with any sort of compensation to do so. Within the article, there are affiliate links. If you buy something after clicking the link, we will receive a small commission. To know more about our terms of service, you can visit the link at the bottom of the page. Thank you!
If you’re like us, you’ll want a great filter coffee regularly, however, It’s not easy making coffee on adventures. This little gizmo is robust, lightweight and crucial for those longer trips away. You’ll probably want to invest in the metal filter to avoid having to take paper ones, however you can guarantee the other expedition members will be your best friends if you pull this out and make them a great coffee!
2. Bananagrams
One of our staples for all those time when you’re sat waiting for a weather window, it’s a great way to increase team cohesion and relationships (see our article on ways to improve it for ocean rowing teams here), as well as improve your command of language and decision-making skills.
3. Titanium mug
A useful item for many different adventures, this serves as a simple mug to drink from, but also can boil water inside. Being titanium, it’s lightweight, robust (but try not to sit on it to avoid bending it out of shape!), and most are relatively affordable these days.
4. Power bank - Anker PowerCore 10000
A good staple for normal life as well as dependable for adventure, this one packs a good few phone and bike light charges into one single charge, is relatively light, robust, and is about the size as a credit card (but obviously far thicker). See our review of it here.
5. Aquapac waterproof phone case
This is a no-brainer. You want to communicate with friends, family and supporters before, during (especially if you’re fundraising), and after the expedition. Make sure your phone makes it to the finish line with you. See our review of it here.
We wore these with the Vivobarefoot aqua shoes listed above and had nice, dry feet even when it's super cold (and it does get super cold at night). Other team members wore trainers that ended up stinky and manky after a few weeks. Once they got wet, it was impossible to get them dry again on an ocean rowing boat and so they stayed that way, meaning that infection could get into the body through small cuts on the feet. When combined with inadequate nutrition, a polyphasic sleeping pattern and poor daily hygiene, it's a recipe for disaster. Avoid wearing trainers if you can!
You can always tell an adventure newbie when they try to eat dehydrated meals with a small spork and get their hands covered in the food they’re trying to eat! Save yourself potential embarrassment and opt for a long-handled version, so you can look smug whilst elegantly digging around the corners of the dehydrated meal for the last scraps of food.
Adventure has a tendency to destroy delicate items (especially if you've got a large team that are constantly on the go), so making sure we had a spare multi-use charging cable can prove to be vital.
9. Flexible Mini phone and action camera tripod
You’ll want to get the cool angles to bring your story to life, so this flexible tripod is useful for getting the right angle. Be sure to attach the camera to somewhere secure to ensure you don’t lose all the cool photos and video!
Sleep is a precious and rare commodity on adventures (especially ocean rowing expeditions) so make yourself as comfy as you can to maximise on rest. We never realised how good these are until we used it on our Atlantic crossing in 2017, and now it goes everywhere with us!
11. JBL tune 115BT wireless headphones
We bought these wireless headphones in mid-2022 headphones for using with all of our favourite adventure sports – such as bikepacking, trail running, and gym work however hate getting tangled up in our headphone cables.
They’re highly affordable, coming in at under £40 (especially when compared to big brand name wireless in-ear headphones) and the sound quality is superb. We particularly like listening to podcasts and audio books when we head out on the gravel bike after a long day on the computer.
See our review of them here.
