Sleep Tight (Upright)

You know how you know a travel pillow works? Because they’re still around despite looking this fucking stupid.

Like, seriously, we’ve had these things in our lives for how many years, and they are still shaped like this. Meanwhile, the Pontiac Aztek? Dead. The PT Cruiser? No more. Pizza from Subway? Never had a chance. The Segway? More like the Seg-went-a-way, amirite? The Snuggie? Remember the Snuggie? Just a backwards-ass bathrobe posing as a blanket? It exists no more.

Wait, what do you mean they still make Snuggies? UGH!

Well, you at least see them a lot less than you see travel pillows. And that’s what we’re getting at: the travel pillow is one of the stupidest-looking yet ubiquitous items in the world. If you saw someone wearing a Snuggie at the airport, you’d be like, Yikes! But you see someone wearing a travel pillow while drinking a margarita at a Chili’s Too near gate B25, and you’re be like, Hope you sleep well, stranger!

Now, are travel pillows actually comfortable?

Of course not.

To use a travel pillow for sleep in any situation other than travel would be INSANE. That being said, there’s nothing about air travel that is comfortable. And anyone who’s tried to sleep in coach without a travel pillow knows the nod-off-fall-forward-snap-back-awake routine that results in something like 15 minutes of actual sleep per 4 hours of flight time.

The travel pillow ups the number a little bit, which is nice on a flight any time of year. But it becomes especially indispensable during the holiday season, when you’re heading home to see family, and you have no idea if your mom and dad will get you straight from the red-eye to your childhood bed for some much-needed rest, or if they’ll stop to grocery shop for two hours along the way.

Get one, is what we’re saying. It won’t make your flight fun, but it might make it slightly less shitty.