Problem Presents - gifts for the girls to make holidays perfect

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Sights and Sounds

Heading off to different places means you see and hear different things, not to mention encounter different smells. So these are our suggestions for ways to capture all of these whilst you are away, or summon them back up on a cold wet day back in Blighty!

Smile please!

If you've not gone digital already, or are looking for an upgrade, then we quite fancy the Olympus X820. You might have seen the ad for it, it's the one with the group of nuns, showing off the camera's nifty face recognition system, so no more background in focus, your loved one very blurry. Not unless you prefer it that way.

Remember when every video camera looked like something off a BBC news report and that would take shoulders of steel to carry around? Not any more! The Canon MDV101 Digital MiniDV Camcorder will hardly make it's presence known until you're ready to shoot some great footage, with stunning playback quality too.

Gorilla Pods for adventurous cameras and travellers

If you want your photos to show all your adventures, then you might need a tripod. And these are about the most compact, not to mention toughest around. Gorillapods will cling to many things, and ensure a steady aim, even in the shakiest of surroundings! There's a mini for digital cameras, and a bigger one for SLRs and video.

Here's another great gadget, to help make it really look like you were on holiday together, without having to accost strangers to take your picture. Attach the Quik Pod to your camera, and hey presto, you're both in the pic. Beats drunkenly holding the camera at arms length, which is yet to produce a flattering pic! You should see our wedding photos, a lot of this went on!

Long Lasting Memories

Don't leave your travel photos stuck on a memory card, not when there are so many ways to show them off now! Never mind a dodgy old photo album, now you can create your own travel book with great reproduction of your photos and even your own comments and memories. We've been really impressed with PhotoBox, great quality, fast reliable service, and a great choice of colours, layouts and styles, in either hardback or softback.

Got a great beach shot, or one of your own water babies? Well, show it off all year round with this tote bag, and make every one around you jealous as you show off tropical climes, particularly if it's a wet February morning. This one is from Getting Personal, who have a wide range of gifts to allow you to show off your photos on.

If you really are proud of a shot you've taken, then don't be shy, go large! Put it on your wall and let everyone else admire it to. Whether it's a stunning landscape or a romantic shot of the two of you, if it's great, get it up there! Photobloc have a great range of sizes, and also additional effects and extras to really show off your shot.

So, you're sat back at your desk, it's a wet Monday, and it's not good. So when you brew up a cuppa, make sure you have something cheerful to drink it out of, to remind you of great times, and great places. Order his and hers matching pairs from Jessops.

The Scent of a Trip

Find ways to bring back, or conjure up the fragrances and smells that sum up your trip (although possibly not if you've been to Venice in August). If you've been to somewhere around the Med, then think about treating yourselves to some fragrant rosemary or lavender. Surprisingly, these both grow really well here too, so no excuse! Order now from Crocus.

Candles work on two levels, the romantic lighting and great scents. Vie Luxe have three great scents summoning up different places, including Istanbul, which is a blend of Turkish tea, amber and black orchid, or Cote D'Azur with lots of sophisticated white flowers. Lie back, take a deep breath, and summon up the memories. Available now from HQ Hair.

A quick spritz all over with something like this will summon up the tropics in an instant. Cool Tropic Turquoise from Comptoir Sud Pacifique is like a tropical sea breeze combined with exotic flowers, all captured in a bottle. Perfect! And cheaper than a return trip to the tropics, even with the dollar at pretty much an all time low!

Taste and smell are very closely linked senses, and hence we have summoned up both the smell and taste of regions, and what better way than with the local wine or spirit? So many choices, and such a great way to recapture the holiday. One tip, ouzo does not travel well. Australian Chardonnay does! Check out Oddbins for a very global range!

The Sounds of the Underground or Metro or Subway...

How about creating your own soundtrack for your holiday? You can either create it before you go, based on songs that already sum up the place to us or put it together when you come back. So it could be a touch of Billy Joel for New York City, Beach Boys for the West Coast, perhaps a touch of Puccini for Italy or Ryukyu Underground for Tokyo. Create your own mix and either download to your MP3 player, or burn a disc.

No need to put up with crummy hotel radio anymore. You shall have music wherever you go, particularly if you pack something like the TravelSound Portable Speakers from Creative Lab. Just under 300g, you'll hardly notice them in your luggage but can guarantee great sounds wherever you land!

In case you're not sure what it's going to sound like in advance, then we like the sound of this French Cafe CD. Or there's an Italian one too. So brew up a coffee, round up a croissant, shrug your shoulders and enjoy the sounds of classic and contemporary songs from the caffs!

With this Belkin FM Tunecast FM Transmitter, you can use your iPod or MP3, to listen to your favourite tunes through any FM stereo receiver. It connects quickly and easily to your home or car stereo, More sound with fewer wires, got to be a good bet!

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