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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