5 Compact Gadgets That Will Help You Sleep Better When Traveling

When you go to sleep in your own home, there’s a certain comfort in the familiar. Maybe it’s the impenetrable blackout curtains you spent months researching, or perhaps it’s snuggling into your crisp sheets, the perfect you-sized indentation in the mattress cradling you into deep rest.

That familiarity can be harder to come by in a hotel room. For frequent travelers, red-eye flights, time zone changes, and strange hotel beds can wreak havoc on sleep quality, even when hotels go to great lengths to create relaxing environments. And there’s nothing quite like the anxiety of staring at a foreign ceiling at 2 a.m., counting and recounting those dreaded sheep, while fearing the jam-packed itinerary waiting for you in the morning.

As a travel writer who is sometimes on the road multiple times a month, I’ve learned that the secret to sleeping better in a hotel isn’t booking the most expensive room or choosing the property with the highest thread count sheets—it’s bringing a little bit of home with me. By giving my brain a few recognizable cues, the journey to winding (and staying) down becomes a little easier. Below, you’ll find the five portable products I pack in my carry-on to recreate some of the sensory comforts of home right in my hotel room. These small-but-mighty travel accessories work hard to help me (and those sheep) get some rest, wherever I am.