The Travelling Pillow

There is a utensil well-known among the travellers, that it supposes to make the trip more comfortable for everyone. This utensil, let's call it pillow (that kind of thing with the shape of a U), is used for holding your neck during a trip in order to make it more comfortable and, at the same time, it has a small format so it doesn't take up too much space. This is the pillow we are talking about:

There are several different models; the most common are those inflatable, those with little relaxing balls and those rigid, more like a cushion. As always happens in this cases, they have their advantages and their disadvantages:

-Inflatable one: it's really small, so it doesn't take any space, but it's the most uncomfortable thing in the universe. I can not regret more to have bought one. I used it only in one trip I think and probably during the first 10 minutes. What an awful bad-made thing! I never found comfortable inflatable pillows in general, but this one especially has the detail to offer you a seam which cut your neck while trying to sleep. It's definitely better to use nothing than this.

-Little-relaxing-balls one: we are getting here in Agata Ruiz de la Prada's house. I think this cushions got so popular because there are many colors and designs, but that's all they have, they are cute. The end. I'm not saying they are not comfortable, they are, but they take much more space than the inflatable one and, apart from that, they are made out of a similar fabric to tights, that every time you are going to close your bag you think “I hope it didn't get stuck in the zip”. I don't think its life expectancy is to high.

-Rigid one: from my point of view, the most comfortable one. It's rigid but soft. You can find the position perfectly well in that U and it doesn't get squashed like the balls one. This one has a big problem though, it takes too much space. It can't get as small as the others, so it's possible that we don't have enough space to carry it with us.

The space that they take is directly proportional to the comfort they offer, just like that, so the problem here is that we have to give up something. We can be a little bit more comfortable or we can have a little bit more space in our bag. In my case I don't give up anything.

At the end I never take any pillow with me and I found a little wonderful trick that helps me not to twist my neck. A little bottle of water. It's maybe not very glamorous, but If you put it in one side of your neck and hold it with your head is pretty comfortable and you don't have to worry about bringing other stuff with you. Maybe some people would stare at you, but that's a little price you have to pay.

Although, no matter what happens, I can't help wondering: Am I going to pass out next time I wake up in a plane scared thinking that I'm in my bed?

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To Travel by Plane

To travel by plane. That thing you will have to do “If you wanna go far away in this life”.

There are people scared of flying and don't even want to talk about it. Some of them could never take a plane for this reason. But there is also people who say they love it... I say that it's just not possible! One thing is that you don't hate it or that you are not scared of it, but to love it? You are flying at I-have-no-idea-how-many feet, in a metal device, which weighs a few tons. One goes there “Packt like sardines in a crushd tin box”, not able to move during the journey, not able to find a comfortable position and if there is turbulence it's not exactly a party. If you travel first class, with the champagne and the caviar served by Mister Alfred, then I have to shut up, but if you travel like most of the mortals... There is no way you love it.

If you are not used to travel by plane it's normal that it catches your attention and that you like it the first few times. Or if it has been a while since you last took a plane, you can even miss it. But if you are one of those who are always travelling by plane, you get really SSSICK, with three “S”.

There are a few hatreds that we all share:

-The line to check-in. If it's “Happy Hour” or “Happy Day”, you can perfectly spend more than an hour waiting in the line. That if you are lucky.

-To take off the boots to pass the control. And sometimes the regular shoes too. Inspection of little holes in the socks before leaving the house, please.

-Opening and closing the suitcase the whole ducking day. Cause you have to take your laptop out in the control, to put your little bag inside in the boarding line and to take it out again once inside the plane. (Resounding applause to those companies who let you carry a small bag outside your hand-luggage)

-To get the middle seat. If it's already difficult to find a comfortable position in any seat, to have to sit in the middle is just the worst. You have absolutely no advantage. It's like a cruel punishment for not paying the extra money to pick a seat.

-Squashing. From the front, from behind and from both sides. Just like that.

-Takeoff. Headache, clogged ears or dizziness. Take your pick.

-To go to the toilet. The bigger advantage of the aisle seat, totally freedom to go everywhere whenever you want. If you are sat in any other seat, there is always somebody you have to bother. If you have a little problem in your trip that makes you go to the toilet every 10 minutes it's going to be hilarious.

-Turbulence. Sometimes you can see people praying. And it's just not the fact that it can be really scary, the problem is all the tottering. Once I was about to eat a yogurt and when I opened it I threw it all over my seatmate. I think that was my most embarrassing moment on a place. Surely the guy got a nice memory too.

-The kid crying like there is no tomorrow during the whole trip. It's not his parents's fault and it's not the kid's fault, but you are suffering like it it's your fault.

-Landing. Headache, slipping out of the seat or dizziness. Take your pick.

-Everybody up. Probably what I hate the most. I can't stand when people get up in the moment the plane lands, just to spend another hour waiting there for the door to open. Maybe there are free lollipops for the first 20 people who get out of the plane. I'm always the last one to get out so I didn't solve the mystery yet. I'll keep you updated.

-The eternal wait to take the suitcase. And you get to the conveyor belt and wait. After half an hour it finally starts to move. Luggage and luggage and luggage and you don't see your suitcase. Of course! It's the last one to show up (if it didn't get lost). Flight: an hour and a half. Get out to the airport: 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Now well, I have to recognize that there are a few pleasures and joys in travelling by plane as well:

-Flight attendants's choreography. Nobody pays attention anymore though. I always think that the day something actually happens no one is going to remember anything and it's going to be a “the last one is a rotten egg”; but it's always fun to watch how they perform the initial choreography. I miss them a lot when I travel in one of those planes with the little computer in front off you that explains everything.

-The courtesy snack. If it's a really long trip, you know that the food is included in your ticket, but in normal flights of 2 or 3 hours duration normally you don't expect anything. When they pass offering those little crackers or the famous peanuts your face just go illuminated. Is it for me?, is it for free!? It's the excitement of the day.

-Window seat. Awful if you wanna go to the toilet, that's right, but the best one to find a comfortable position. I think I only could sleep a little bit in those flights where I was sitting on the window seat. And, of course, the view is amazing.

-The empty seat. An empty seat by your side is comparable to get 2 surprises in your cereal box. Some space in a plane, God! (tears)

-My luggage is the first one to show up. I can't believe it, in the moment that the conveyor belt starts to move I SEE MY SUITCASE!

Little hatreds and silly joys, sure, but they are always there no matter how use to fly you are. It's not that I hate to fly, but more than once I really wanted to shoot myself.

Although, no matter what happens, I can't help wondering: Why is always me the one who has to beep in the damn control?

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Top 10 Famous Characters on a Bus

I'm that kind of person who can even talk to plants, I become friend with anybody in 5 minutes and once I start I can't stop. Nevertheless, contrary to what it may seem, I have these 2 hatreds in my life: to talk on the phone and to talk in means of transportation.

Specially the last one. No matter if I'm travelling alone or with friends, by car, by plane or by bus; it is something I can't stand. What I like to do is to put my headphones on or to read my book and done, forget about the journey, which is the most annoying part for me. But I have to say, without a doubt, that the mean of transportation that I hate more than any other is the bus, where everything is blown out of proportion like in Big Brother, and where you have always one of my most hated character as a seatmate:

1.- He who sleeps on you. It's a total stranger who is literally sleeping on you and drooling all over. How are you not gonna hate this guy?

2.- He who doesn't stop talking to you. If I said before that I don't like to talk when I'm on a bus, and even less with people that I don't know at all, it's really easy to hate this person. There is a point when you don't know how to show, with courtesy and good taste, that you just “don't give a ship”.

3.- He who snores. I hate him and everybody on the bus does.

4.- He who is always standing up. To go the toilet, to take off the jacket, to put it on, to take something from the bag, to put it away, to go to the toilet again... Each 5 minutes. Seriously? It has been only 20 minutes since we started the journey and there are still 4 hours left, it's gonna be really easy to hate you if you keep doing that.

5.- He who hates you for taking the seat beside him. That awkward moment when you walk though the bus hoping to find a free dual seat, but there is none. You end up asking to somebody if he pleases to move his bag because you are going to take that seat, you have no choice. The person moves it, but with an unfriendly face. In this situation the hatred is mutual.

6.- He who looks over your shoulder if you are reading or with the laptop. Like the guy in the subway reading the newspaper over your shoulder, what a nightmare. I must admit that if anybody is watching a movie in a laptop and it's in my viewing angle, I'm the kind of person who can't help watching it. If I were you, I will hate me.

7.- He who eats oranges or chorizo's sandwiches or in general something that impregnates the whole bus with its smell. Once again, we all hate this guy.

8.- The two annoyings behind you who never stop talking. Not even your mp3 can keep them quiet.

9.- He who doesn't stop kicking your seat. He apologizes, of course, but 10 minutes later he kicks your ducking seat again. It is what it is.

10.- He who leans back in his seat, as he pleases, crushing you without any regard. Mmm, hello?, Do you know there is life behind you?

It happened to me certainly the most bizarre things while travelling in general, but my stories on buses are worthy of a hidden camera. One day I have to do a top 5.

Although, no matter what happens, I can't help wondering: If the bus is practically empty, why is there always someone who has to sit by my side?

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