Best Travel Neck Pillows

In my search for the best travel neck pillow, I’ve scoured high and low and tried out memory foam, blow up, self-inflating, Tempur-Pedic, lavender smelling, and antimicrobial and realized that it all comes down to personal preference.

If you’re short on space, go with an inflatable travel neck pillow. If you’re more concerned with comfort, go with memory foam or Tempur-Pedic. If you’re going with style, I highly recommend a lion or dolphin shaped pillow.

Personally I can sleep anywhere so I leave the travel pillow at home – I’m plenty comfortable with the airplane pillows or wadding up my jacket and sticking it behind my head. Although I did enjoy the calming lavender scented pillow, I need everything I can to keep calm during takeoff.

Here are some of the most versatile, most comfortable, and most unique travel pillows:

Eagle Creek Comfort Travel Pillow

Eagle Creek’s Comfort Travel Pillow is the classic inflatable travel neck pillow. The Comfort Travel Pillow is deflatable so you can let the air out and pack it away when you’re not using it. The pillow blows up easily in seconds, plus you can adjust the firmness to your comfort thanks to a unique Air Flow valve. The outer fleece covering is nice and soft plus it can be removed for washing.

Therm-a-Rest Neck Pillow

Complete with memory foam, the Therm-a-Rest Neck Pillow offers plenty of padding and comfort. The pillow works much like a Therm-a-Rest sleeping pad and self-inflates. The pillow compresses down small with an integrated compression strap so it doesn’t take up a whole lot of space when it is not in use (although it doesn’t pack down as small as the fully inflatable type). The outer is a nice and soft microfiber.

REI Self-Inflating Travel Pillow

This REI Self-Inflating Travel Pillow isn’t your typical wrap around neck pillow. This bowtie shaped pillow is perfect for the tent or the hammock as well as for long car rides, flights, and bus rides. The pillow also works great for lumbar support, if you’re looking for a little lower back pain relief. Totally inflatable, REI’s travel pillow packs down small and stows away easily in its included storage stuff sack.

Pink Inflight Combo Kit

Why just go with a travel neck pillow when you can get a whole travel comfort kit? How about picking up a travel flight kit complete with travel pillow, eye masks and ear buds. The Pink Inflight Combo Kit includes an inflatable neck pillow, a padded eye mask, ear plugs, and some wet wipes to freshen up post-flight. All the items fit in a handy jersey tote – a perfect gift for the frequent traveler.

Tempur-Pedic Travel Pillow

The cadillac of all travel pillows, the Tempur-Pedic Travel Pillow molds to and cradles your head and neck for the ultimate in comfort. Tempur-Pedic pillows eliminate pressure points and provide the most support of all the travel pillows. If you pick up one of these babies you might realize that it is too comfy just for plane traveling and you might end up using it for your daily commute. Only downside is that it doesn’t pack down as small as the inflatables, but it does squish down a tad for packing.

Noodlehead Travel Buddies Neck Pillow

So there was a time when I used to poke fun at the people lugging travel neck pillows around the airport. I think it is safe to assume that there are still plenty out there that will make fun of you neck pillow wearers. Well you might as well give them more to poke fun at so consider picking up one of these Noodlehead Travel Buddies Neck Pillows.

Noodleheads are actually designed for kids, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be used by adults. They come in all different styles like cow, giraffe, pig, and frog. These pillows are great because they serve multiple functions. If you happen be lucky and get sat next to a screaming toddler, entertaining them with your cutey neck pillow might bide you a few moments of peace and quiet. If you have an especially thick neck though, the Noodleheads may be too small.

Have a fave neck pillow? Share in the comments below.

Photo courtesy of [orijinal]