One Of Samantha Brown's Favorite Holiday Gifts Is A No-Brainer For Park Lovers

Longtime travel host Samantha Brown, one of our favorite travel experts, offers many helpful tips on topics like how to avoid losing your luggage and how to pick the perfect day trip destination. Now, she's shared a list that breaks down her favorite things to give and get over the holidays, and we're not talking about luggage accessories or socks — they're experiences. At the top of her list of presents are annual park passes, and with 63 national parks across America and thousands of state parks to choose from, there's bound to be one that's suitable for the park lover in your life.

There are a few important details to keep in mind when buying a park pass as a gift. The America the Beautiful park pass currently costs $80 and gives the holder entrance to all federally managed lands, including national parks. Unlike digital park passes, physical passes can be gifted. While the pass can be used only by a single cardholder, that information can be assigned after you receive the physical pass if you purchase it from an authorized reseller such as REI or U.S. Park Pass.

If you order a physical America the Beautiful Pass online through the USGS Store or Recreation.gov, it ships as an unsigned card that can be mailed directly to anyone as a gift. Only the digital version purchased on Recreation.gov is tied to the buyer's account and cannot be transferred or gifted. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you're looking for a gift for a traveling retiree, the Senior Pass, which is just $20 for the year or $80 for a lifetime, can't be gifted since it requires age verification when it's issued.

National park passes aren't the only ones that make for good gifts. You can also consider purchasing a state park pass for your loved one, but make sure you do some research and read the fine print to ensure you get a pass that works best for the recipient. For example, some passes require the holder to be a resident of the state where the park is located, while others only apply to those entering without a car.

Other Samantha Brown-approved experiential gifts include art museum memberships, concert tickets, hotel or restaurant gift cards, and a craft class. It's all about considering what that person likes to do or wants to do in their free time — or, potentially, something you could do together — and seeing how you can make that easier for them. Plenty of people in the comments of Brown's post were big fans of the idea, with one person saying, "Amen!! I always love a fun activity and don't need more stuff!! It's also a great way to be a tourist in your own city!!"

More than just being different, there's science behind why an experience makes for a great gift. An article in the Journal of Consumer Research found that "experiential gifts produce greater improvements in relationship strength than material gifts, regardless of whether the gift giver and recipient consume the gift together." And isn't being closer to your loved ones what the holidays are all about?