With the holiday season fast approaching, spare a thought for your traveling friends and family. Think of:
Gifts that make traveling easier, more relaxed and more fun, like -

• Great Gadget Gifts for Travelers
• 10 Great Gadget Gifts Under $50
• MP3s, iPods, Portable DVD and Video - Great Electronic Entertainment Gifts for Travelers

Gifts that save time and money, like -

• Top Discount Passes for UK Visitor Attractions
• Hotel Gift Cards - A Great Anytime Travel Gift.

You might want to put a few of these on your own wish list.

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The full line-up for Edinburgh's rockin' Hogmanay Street Party has just been announced. If you're thinking of heading for Edinburgh for Hogmanay, the city's four day New Year's bash, you'll need a ticket for the New Year's Eve street party and all its concert stages - and they are already selling fast.

Loads of local, UK national and international acts are planned for each of the party's stages. Each stage will have a different musical theme but one Street Party Pass is good for admission to all three:

• The Waverley Stage - The Enemy headlines, along with Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetpacks and Stanley Odd.
• The Party Stage - Guest DJ The Great Calverto hosts The Cuban Brothers and Glitterbanditz.
• The West End DJ Stage promises the world's biggest dance floor, with DJ MYLO, Gary & Tom (Snow Patrol) and guest Richard Colburn (Belle & Sebastian).

All this and one of the biggest street parties in the world.

• Buy a Street Party Pass online to guarantee your place in the action
• Find out more about Edinburgh Hogmanay before you decide

One of the very coolest UK webcams springs into life at the end of this month to capture the winter solstice.

The Sun and its transit through the seasons seems to have been essential to ancient worship. On Orkney, several Neolithic monuments are aligned with sun and moon to suggest some ritual purpose. At Maeshowe, the island's awesome Neolithic chambered burial mound, the setting mid-winter sun lights an inner chamber for about three weeks before and after the winter solstice. You can watch it happen via the live Maeshowe webcams. They're scheduled to come to life on November 30 and will continue transmitting until February 6, 2010.

The interior webcams will operate from 2 to 4p.m. GMT and an interior camera will be aimed at Maeshowe from 9a.m. to 4p.m. GMT. Remember to make note of the time difference because when it's dark outside, there's no light inside Maeshowe. And dates are always approximate, so keep checking in to make sure.

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Traditional British cooks have already started collecting the ingredients for their Christmas puddings and British Christmas cakes. These things take time. Unless you are teetotal, you want to have several weeks to "feed" your favorite alcoholic tipple to the masterpiece. And, even if alcohol is off the menu, a traditional pudding needs a few weeks to mature.

Find out more about Christmas Customs and Traditional British Christmas Foods, along with recipes from About.com's own experts.

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