Take Good Care of Your Gift List

Travelers are the easy people on any holiday shopping list. Finding gifts to keep them healthy and comfortable is simple, thanks to a steady stream of new, better and more portable products. Here, our suggestions for the intrepid travelers on your gift list:

For those who worry about germs on airplane blankets and pillows, there’s the Travillo Travel Blanket. The washable, synthetic blanket, in red, black, maroon or green, can also be folded up into the attached case (with carrying handle) and used as a pillow. It’s $34.95 at Distant Lands--A Traveler’s Bookstore & Outfitters, 56 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, (626) 449-3220, www.distantlands.com.

To make sleeping on the way even easier, consider the Eagle Creek quarter cube pack, a small travel pack with earplugs, an inflatable neck pillow, soothing lavender aromatherapy lotion and Dental Dots (discs with preapplied toothpaste on one side and adhesive on the other that sticks to your fingertip, to clean teeth without a brush). It’s $28.78 at Distant Lands.

There are lots of clever supplies for dental care on the go. The Dental Medic, $13.95 at Distant Lands, is the next best thing to taking a dentist along. It includes temporary filling material, numbing gel, floss, toothpicks, cotton pellets and information on handling dental emergencies. For routine hygiene, there’s the Swissco dental set, $4.99 at Distant Lands, with brush, paste and floss, packed in a case that serves as a drinking cup.

When brushing isn’t possible, travelers can turn to Dental Dots (about $2 a six-pack). Another option is disposable Toothettes, a substitute toothbrush consisting of foam heads impregnated with dentifrice and attached to sticks. A pack of 20 is $4.85 from Magellan’s Travel Supplies, (800) 962-4943, www.magellans.com.

For minor medical mishaps, there’s the Ultralight Traveler first-aid kit from Adventure Medical Kits, $29.95 from Travel Medicine, www.travmed.com or 800-TRAV- MED (872-8633). The 61/2-by-11/2- inch case weighs 8 ounces and includes a first-aid pamphlet, moleskin, pain relievers, antidiarrheal medicine, an antihistamine, bandage and wound management materials and other supplies.

Also from Travel Medicine, the MEDport Medication Travel Case, $24.95, includes a refreezable gel pack to keep medications cool in hot climates.

Travelers who want to stay fit whatever their destination might want to pack Aquabells, collapsible weights that fill with water (the dumbbells can be weighted to 16 pounds each, the ankle weights to 8 pounds). Dumbbells $49.95, ankle weights $24.95, or the set for $65 from Going in Style, Century City Shopping Center, (310) 277-0209, www.goinginstyle.com, or from www.bodytrends.com.

For travelers who want to know if sightseeing really is taking the place of their usual workout, the Sun pedometer, $24.95 at Going in Style, notes the number of miles or kilometers covered, speed, time elapsed, calories burned and steps taken--along with the time of day.

For hikers, a Sun altimeter tracks increases or decreases in elevation and provides barometric information to forewarn of weather changes. At $65.95, it’s available online from Going in Style.

Traveling yoga devotees would appreciate the Yoga Travel Kit by Gaiam/Living Arts, available for $30 online at www.gaiam.com, with a 6-foot strap (used to achieve certain postures), an “A.M. and P.M. Yoga for Beginners” CD and a mat that is only half as thick, about 1/16 inch, as traditional mats.

To help travelers stay hydrated, pick up the Platypus 34-ounce travel bottle, $5.50 (or $27 with insulated cover) at Going in Style. It collapses when empty.

Once at the destination, relaxing is easier with the Mini Spa kit, about the size of a deck of cards. It includes honeysuckle bath salts, a vanilla aromatherapy candle and a 32-page book with tips on making your environment more spa-like. It’s $5.95 at Distant Lands.

For better sleep in an unfamiliar place, there’s Badger Sleep Balm, $7.85 from Magellan’s. It includes balsam extracts with essential oils of ginger, lavender and bergamot and is rubbed on pulse points.

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Healthy Traveler appears twice a month.