My friends and family know me all too well. Last Friday was my birthday and so many of the gifts, well-wishes and celebrations I received prove that I have been pretty vocal in communicating my love for travel.

First, my roommate (a fellow travel junkie) organized a surprise party for me at my apartment last Monday. Along with the balloons and streamers, she decorated the walls with the flags of all the places I said I wanted to travel in 2012. Miniature flags from Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Austria, the UK and great state of Oregon were taped on the living room walls, ceiling and television. Too cute! And I can’t bear to take them down yet. They are good inspiration to keep focused on my 2012 travel plans.

As for gifts, my mother got me a much needed “Travel Stub” album, not to collect pictures, but to collect all those great memory triggers you pick up along the way (airline boarding passes, concert tickets, museum passes, loose notes and sketches). PERFECT! I can finally liberate those little things from the piles they have been relegated to all around my bedroom floor. She also got me an American Express gift card so I can use it towards anything I want…which will likely be toward a plane ticket or hotel/hostel/air bnb stay. Mom also found a number of gifts that may not have been travel specific, but that are good for those on the go: warm but not bulky pajamas, gift certificates for clothing stores so I can buy what I need for the next adventure and a Starbucks card to get my caffeine fix at the airport.

One of the nice things about having a birthday in early December is that you have another round of gift giving to go in a few weeks (though often times you are given the “Birthday-Christmas” gift). So in light of this, I am going to work on compiling a short list of “Gifts for the Traveler” which I’ll post this Thursday. If you have any suggestions for must haves that should be on that list, please leave me a comment below.