Pillows

I’m so picky about the pillow I sleep on that I used to unzip the extension zipper on my suitcase, just to make enough room to pack my own pillow to take with me…whether traveling across country, or going camping…that pillow came with me.  I did forget it once and had to take the offered pillow out of its case and then fold up 2 bath towels and put them in the pillow case. It wasn’t the best, but it had to do.  Needless to say, I didn’t forget it after that.  Toothbrush…maybe; eye liner…sometimes; debit card, possibly…but never again, the pillow.

It takes time to break in a good pillow.  If it’s too thick, it kinks my neck all night and I end up with a migraine.  If it’s too thin, then is doesn’t support my neck like it’s supposed to and I wake up with a stiff neck…oh and usually a migraine.  If it’s lumpy, my head rolls around between the bumps and lumps, which poke me in the ear, and no sleep, followed by a migraine.  See how it goes?

What changed this pillow packing person, was the trip my daughter and I took to Ireland in 2009.  I only wanted to take 1 small suitcase and my backpack and we were going to be gone for over 2 weeks, so I needed the room.  My love for Ireland and need to pack another pair of jeans won out and the pillow stayed home alone. 

How brave was that! Up until now I hadn’t even trusted American hotels to provide the right pillow, but now I was traveling to parts of Ireland, rarely visited and who knows what my head would be forced to fall asleep on.  It’s not like you’re traveling around America where the hotels give you 8 pillows per bed…this is Ireland, where their quilts don’t even fall over the side of the mattress—they just cover the top.  I didn’t care, this was all an adventure, so ‘adventure on’ I did.

I don’t know if it’s because we’d walked so much every day or if it was the fresh air we were breathing in every day or just the absolute beauty that surrounded us, but I slept on whatever pillow was given to me and slept every night like a baby.  I took a step out in faith and was rewarded. 

Now I find myself in a very nice, fancy hotel in Memphis, with a king size bed that has 7 pillows on the bed and 3 extra in the closet just in case and I’m the only one in the room.  I spend every night trying to punch, push, unstuff, squeeze, soften and de-migraine-ify pillows until I find one that I can sleep on…and then when I get back to the hotel after working all day, the bed is re-made and all the pillows are back tightly stuffed into their cases and hard as rocks.  I even tried hiding” thee” pillow last night, but alas, it was found and is now back on the bed, somewhere in the pile of pillows.  So the ritual begins again.  And just in case you think I'm joking...

 

Moral of the story…if you really want a good night’s sleep and are a picky pillow person yourself…do yourself a favor, leave your pillow behind and go to Ireland.  They take care of you there and that’s why I’m going back in August…just so I can get a good night’s sleep. :)