Goldilocks wasn’t the only girl who was a little picky about her beds. When I was in college I could sleep on floor with a sweatshirt for a pillow. But somewhere into adulthood, we splurged on an amazing king-sized bed that would make any 5-star hotel mattresses weep in inferiority. The downside to having such a sweet bed at home, is that sometimes sleeping in someone else’s bed, leaves us tossing and turning.
Here are some tips to get you by, when another bear’s bed falls short of your sleeping expectations.
Mama Bear’s Bed – Too Soft
Put a board under it. I’ve always managed to find something to use if the bed was so soft that Paul and I are rolling into the middle of the bed. After all, it’s a bed, not a taco. You’d be amazed what you can find kicking around hotel rooms and houses you rent. In hotels you can find boards that aren’t directly screwed into the shelf. If you are renting a house, you will definitely be able to find something. At the very least, most European houses have a couple of serious wood cutting boards, you can also overlap those under your mattress.
Papa Bear’s Bed – Too Hard
When the bed it too hard and my hip bones are getting bruised, I take an extra blanket or two and put them under the sheet. It’s not memory foam, but it’ll get me through the night.
Mattress flip at your own risk. On the good side we’ve found some Euros. On the not so good side we’ve found things that are….not so good.
Baby Bear’s Bed
We are a family of five, which means baby bear has slept in a lot of interesting beds. The squish-bed is between
her two sisters. The backpack bed was making a square out of our backpacks and putting the bed cover over them to make a little Cali nest. That way she couldn’t scoot all over the room. Now that she’s a big bear we actually give her a bed.
Our little bears can sleep on anything, anywhere. When they were small we road tripped them all over creation. If you spend enough time sleeping upright, strapped into a seat belt with your head banging into windows and each other, any horizontal sleeping situation is a dream not to be toyed with. Which makes me wonder if you create great traveling sleepers by giving them basic travel experiences when they are young. That’s for another time.
When the girls were younger they were much more stackable. They would squish into one bed.
Pillow picky. Well that’s different. One of our girls can sleep on any somewhat level surface, but has become a bit of a pillow snob. She picked out her own pillow for college and got all attached to it. You give them a little freedom and sometimes it really backfires. Then she found a small travel version of her lovely and brings it along. Pillow fights are not only allowed, but encouraged, as long as you don’t use hers.
If all else fails, wine is a fix-all for any bad bear bed. Drink enough and you won’t feel a thing.