After staying at so many hotels on the UK trip, I’ve learned quite a bit about what I like when it comes to my sleeping arrangement. I’ve also been noticing I need more sleep while traveling – at home I’d settled into a routine of about 6 hours, but when on the go I could sleep on for 8-10 hours if I didn’t have to get up. It makes sense since I spent so much of my day on my feet, walking for hours on end.

So what’s the best thing to come back to after a long, tiring day? Well, a cozy and warm bed. The weather is nothing like the California heat my body has gotten accustomed to and even the winter is Virginia was pretty mild so my body tends to be cold (especially with some of that crazy wind in Edinburgh!). Thankfully, the coldest place had the warmest blanket – a down comforter that kept me nice and toasty. I definitely want to get one of those for my own bed sometime! However, when I’m that snug, it’s sooo hard to get out of bed so perhaps that isn’t the best idea…

I love snuggling with Missy.

Back in college I got an amazing body pillow and between that, the down comforter I was using as a mattress topper, and my cozy blanket, I couldn’t drag myself out of bed for a week. Now that’s the sort of sleep I like best. I enjoy being in a super cush environment surrounded by soft blankets and pillows. That might be why I love having my cat sleep with me – she’s so soft and warm! Plus, she purrs and that is very soothing – great for lulling me to sleep. 🙂

In high school and college I could sleep like there was no tomorrow. I’d easily stay in bed until the early afternoon and then saunter out around 1 or 2. Now that I’ve been getting enough sleep at night, with no more all-nighters to pull, I’ve discovered that 6 hours of sleep is the magic number. I wonder if it’s also partly due to changes from aging? I mean, older people do seem to sleep less, it seems. Still, that might not be accurate since Panda manages to sleep a good 10-12 hours on the weekend if he gets the chance. It’s funny how different our bodies are. I can operate perfectly fine on almost half the sleep that he needs!

What I’ve learned and relearned over the years is that if you wear yourself out during the day, you crash hard and fast at night. I sort of miss those days when I was too busy to stop and treasured my precious little sleep. I don’t enjoy my sleep nearly as much now and if I do get really deep sleep I tend to dream, which doesn’t give me as restful sleep. Ah, the intricacies of trying to find the optimal zone of getting enough restful sleep… it’s all so complex!

Are you the same and don’t need much sleep or could you win a sleeping contest?