I have recently doubled down on some travel gear, and it has made trips over the last few months quite a bit more pleasant. Of note, I can recommend a travel pillow, a dedicated outfit for plane days, and modern noise-cancelling headphones (my last ones were showing their age and had already had several ear pad replacements).
@pganssle Ah, no, sorry I see now that's probably the more common usage. I got a Purple travel pillow for the hotel. It's now cheap, but it's cheaper than neck pain and more portable than my home version. The "original" purple pillow is also ~10lbs, which is not the most packing-friendly weight. https://purple.com/pillows/harmony-anywhere
@pganssle Probably worth noting that I did try the "Turtle Pillow" (a sort of half neck brace?) for a recent plane ride on the recommendation of a bunch of people, and it was very much not for me.
@jonafato I might need this. Hotel pillows are always the worst, somehow.
@jonafato When people see my bag though they already think it is a comically large bag, so I really need to be slimming down not building out. 😢