About Practical Travel Gear

The Practical Travel Gear is the most popular travel-gear-only content site on the web, posting a new detailed review each weekday.

We appear in the #1 spot of search engine results for “travel gear reviews,” are in the top-5 results for 190 keyword phrases, and are on the first page for 595 of them. Our four experienced writers and travelers evaluate gadgets, shoes, clothing, and luggage based on real-world tests in the field.

Tim LeffelWe serve 25,000 to 35,000 unique monthly readers, with more than 1,000 of them tuning in regularly by RSS and social media.

The original Practical Travel Gear blog was started by Tim Leffel as a one-man show on Blogger for many years before branching out as a standalone blog in 2009. Tim was able to expand the site, adding new writers, and greatly expanding the number of articles and reviews.

Tim Leffel decided to move on from Practical Travel Gear and sold the site to Chris and Leah Guill in the Summer of 2015.

Here’s who is checking out all the great travel clothing, travel shoes, gadgets, and gear each week. Reach any of us with [firstname] @ practicaltravelgear.com. Follow this blog’s Twitter stream @practravelgear or you can become a fan at our Facebook page.

Leah GuillLeah Guill, editor in chief, is an avid traveler who loves sharing travel with her children. Leah splits her time between Boise and McCall, Idaho where she enjoys mountain biking, rock climbing, running, skiing, wake surfing and spending time in the outdoors.

The mother of two very adventurous boys, Leah is always on the move looking for exciting travel opportunities and the best gear to take with.

Leah Guill Family


Amy Whitley
is a freelance creative and travel writer and founding editor of the family travel website Pit Stops for Kids. An avid lover of the outdoors, Amy makes her home in Southern Oregon, where she, her husband, and three school-aged children spend much of their time backpacking, camping, skiing, and hiking.

When not exploring her own backyard, Amy and her family hit the road for travel reviews of resorts, tour operations, and hotels across the country and abroad. Follow Amy Whitley on Twitter and Facebook.

Ramsey Qubein

Ramsey Qubein is a travel journalist who has visited 123 countries covering the hotel and airline industry from every corner of the globe. His work appears in consumer and industry publications like Travel+Leisure, Business Traveller, Airways, Singapore Airlines’ Silver Kris, US Airways magazine, Northstar Travel Media, and Expedia’s AirfareWatchdog.

He serves as the National Hotels Travel Examiner and writes for numerous blogs and web sites. He travels more than 300,000 miles a year and is highly recognized as an expert in loyalty programs, business travel and the luxury travel segment. Follow him on Twitter at DailyTravelTips or at www.RamseyQ.com.

Tim LeffelJill Robinson is a freelance writer who lives with her family in a small California beach town near the big wave surf spot, Mavericks. She divides her time between writing about travel, running a kayak business and trying to wring awe-inspiring adventure out of every day.

Her articles have been featured in National Geographic, AFAR, Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Outside, Sierra, and more. Catch up with her adventures on dangerjillrobinson.com or Instagram.

Tim Leffel, founder and guest contributor, is author of several travel books (including The World’s Cheapest Destinations) and is editor of Perceptive Travel, an award-winning webzine with stories from book authors on the move. He has a second home in Mexico and frequently travels internationally on assignment.

See more at Tim Leffel’s portfolio site. (And you can follow Tim Leffel on Twitter.)

Past contributors:

Pam Mandel – Find her at Nerd’s Eye View, her blog about travel, life in the Pacific Northwest and her love affair with the ukulele. She’s on Twitter, too, @nerdseyeview.

Kara Williams – Find her at The Vacation Gals or follow Kara Williams on Twitter.

John Gordon –  a Texas-based video producer who travels extensively in search of interesting stories.

As Seen In…

Practical Travel Gear in the Media