Bring that homey feeling along on your travels

There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re displaced. It’s actually one of the major reasons people don’t travel more; they feel they’ll miss that ‘home’ feeling too much.

While a big part of the fun of travel is embracing the unknown, there’s always something to be said to being able to come back to a space that feels like it’s yours, no matter how far away from home you might be.

Whether you’re travelling alone, with friends or with family, one thing is always certain: you will have a sleeping space to negotiate.

We’ll be focusing on stays rather than flights or transport in this post, but that’s where the distinction ends. It can be in a fancy hotel or a simple hostel, a B&B or a rented apartment. Your stay may span weeks or just one night.

It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you're going to be calling this space 'home' for the duration of your stay.

Related read: Wonderful wanderlust: how do your adventures inspire your interiors? >

We’ve compiled the top tips and tricks from our sales team out in the field to make your own travelling as comfortable as possible. The office in the 21st century may be wherever you want, but home is where you rest your head, and this is why we all need a little more comfort in our lives.

Even if your hotel isn’t hygge, you can cosy it up with our experience-honed tips below.

Travel tips for life on the go

1: Bring slippers when you travel

Fancier hotels will provide slippers and bath towels for their guests, but most of us will have to bring them along. Save space in your luggage by using cloth slippers, but we guarantee you, your feet will thank you for it.

2: Favourite snacks and drinks are your travel buddies

Minibars or in-hall vending machines can be a disappointment at the best of times. If you find yourself stranded in a hotel in the middle of nowhere or the dead of night, snacks can go a long way to making your stay more enjoyable.

Same goes for tea and coffee or hot chocolate. While hotel and hostel rooms the world over usually provide access to a kettle, the quality of the beverage itself can vary wildly.

There’s nothing quite like waking up to the smell of your favourite blend, so slip some packets of tea or coffee into your luggage.

They won’t take up much space and you’ll thank us for it. Go ahead, spoil yourself.

3: Sweatpants are your best friend

There’s nothing quite like the warm, snuggly feel of your favourite fabric (think: that FibreGuard feeling), especially when it’s on the most comfortable clothing known to humankind!

Not the most glam of fashion choices, we still have a soft spot in our hearts for sweatpants because they are just pure comfort. Bringing your sweatpants along for the trip will help a long way towards making that hostel or hotel room feel just like home.

4: Close the curtains of your hotel room

Curtains in hospitality settings are used to being yanked around and therefore many of them just have trouble closing properly at all.

Never fear!

Use a hairpin or a clothes hanger with clips (the kind for skirts or trousers) and close those curtains. A good night’s sleep never looked so simple.

Related read: Creating the perfect bedroom sleep sanctuary >

5: Sleeping accessories you might just love

Getting a good night’s sleep while travelling has been the subject of many, many articles online, so we’re not going to be covering it in depth here today. What we would like to share though is our own favourite products and gadgets that help us sleep on trips the same as we would in our own beds:

• Noise machines. You can get one of these online, or use one of the many apps available for smartphones to soothe you into dreamland with relaxing nature sounds or white noise.
• Sleeping masks are a must, just so you know. If that curtain clip trick above isn’t helping you, having one of these in your luggage to fall back on will save your night’s sleep from itself
• Earplugs, if necessary. There’s a lot of comfortable ones out there nowadays: go foam and you’ll never look back.

Bringing 'home' along on your travels is easy

If you’ve made it this far, we have one final tip for you: unpack. It’ll genuinely help you feel more settled.

A place for everything and everything in its place, just like at home. We hope these tricks we have learned the hard way help you on your travels, no matter how long or short they may be.