It took a long time for me to be able to fall asleep on an airplane. Decades. Even afterward, it wasn’t so much that I fell asleep but that I passed out on a few long flights because I’d been up all night packing, hanging out with friends, or trying to do both at the same time.
When the world opened up like a slow-motion oyster after the Covid lockdowns and I began indulging in regular flights again, I knew my old-fashioned airplane sleeping position of “limp crash test dummy” wasn’t going to fly any longer. I needed a good neck pillow.
No, I needed a great neck pillow.
Travelrest
(opens in a new window)
Available at Amazon
Buy Now (opens in a new window)
Available at Walmart
Buy Now (opens in a new window)
finding a neck pillow that didn’t suck
Like most people, I wasn’t much of a connoisseur of neck pillows. Asking friends and family what they liked was met with blank stares. They either slumped forward as I’d been doing, or they just used “one of those big, donut-shaped ones” they’d get out of an airport vending machine.
So I Googled. Or more specifically, I Googled but added “Reddit” to my search query. People were raving about the Travelrest Nest, maybe because it rhymed. After reading enough praise heaped onto a chunk of blue microfiber-covered foam shaped like one of those toilet donuts in the hospital, I figured that was good enough for me. I bought one in preparation for an 11-hour flight.
I was into the peaceful, tranquil blue microfiber. I was up in the blue sky, most often flying on airlines at the time decked out in blue interiors (jetBlue, Delta, United, KLM), and perhaps I was just in the mood for more blue. You can get it in gray, if you like.
Much more than its looks, I cared about how it felt. The back is flat and has grippy rubber patches so that it sits flat against the seat’s headrest, rather than pushing your head forward at a weird angle like the donut-shaped neck pillows.
A Velcro-style clasp closes around the front to pull the two side bolsters tight against each other, which provides support for your chin to keep it from drooping when you nod off. The side bolsters are high and let me, a side sleeper, rest my head to the side without it moving much from its vertical position.
Overall, the Travelrest Nest does a good job at keeping your neck upright, which reduces the chances of you waking up with a sore neck after a few stolen hours of sleep.
It still can’t match that one time I got an entire row to myself on an overnight flight aboard an Airbus A380, when I made a little bed with sheets and everything, but it’s a heck of a lot better than the other neck pillows I’ve used over the last 30 years.
Travelrest
(opens in a new window)
Available at Amazon
Buy Now (opens in a new window)
Available at Walmart
Buy Now (opens in a new window)
The post I Fly a Lot. This Neck Pillow Finally Let Me Sleep on Planes. appeared first on VICE.
