Travel tip #177: How to share a room with a snoring friend
Published about 2 hours ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader,
How are you today? I am still Uzbekistan and enjoying very much my time here.
I have organized two photoshoots in Samarkand tomorrow and I am super excited for them. We all love to feel beautiful and like celebrities from time to time and the backdrop of the precious blue tiled mosques, madrasas and buildings in Registan Square and Shah-i-Shinda are just the perfect backdrop.
I woke up super early and came to the old city in Bukhara a couple of days ago armed with my tripod just after sunrise to take pretty photos and it looks as if I have AI-ed myself into this photo, though I promised it's a basic selfie photo.
This is such a photogenic country, I take more than 500 photos a day...
I have just spent a few days in Khiva and Bukhara and wow, I can't get enough of the architecture here. Few places can compare to Uzbekistan when it comes to Silk Road heritage.
This week's podcast episode proves that you can have an amazing experience in a city, discover the parts that tourists don't see while giving back to the women who made it special.
I am talking to Alessandra, founder of Women in Travel CiC and her project around training women in vulnerable positions to become guides and rekindle their love for their culture, their heritage, their traditions and the place they left behind.
Refugees, those who fled limiting social norms, visual or hearing impaired, victims of domestic abuse or women in diverse situations that are looking for a flexible and enriching career become your host into their communities and their worlds.
They take you to learn more about Ethiopian or Indian food, about Ukraine's links with Edinburgh or the botanic plants and flowers that have medicinal properties and you can grow in your own garden.
They'll teach you to belly dance or appreciate frankincense perfume, to see London's food influences since Roman times or where coffee comes from. You can immerse yourself in Caribbean culture in Amsterdam or Palestine in London, all the while as you are having a meaningful connection and supporting a fantastic initiative.
Now, on to this week's travel tip: How not to be left behind by your tour group when traveling solo. Yes, it happens, apparently quite often!
How to share a room with a snoring friend
I am a pretty light sleeper.
Once I fall asleep, I am in deep sleep mode and I don't wake up with the TV, the lights on or even someone talking on the phone next to me, but in the middle of the night or early morning, any noise will wake me up, especially that of a snoring friend.
Sometimes, they just can't help it because they are congested, or they didn't know they snored or having my separate rooms is either not an option or too expensive.
I have had to share rooms with snoring guides, photographers, friends and colleagues, and with time, I have found ways to make it work.
Here are some things that have worked for me.
Step 1: The first step is to go to sleep first and hopefully this means that once you are asleep, you stay that way. This works if you are a deep sleeper. If I get woken up in the middle of the night, I try to focus on my breathing and diverting my attention from the snoring and onto putting my mind in blank.
Step 2: If that doesn't work, I wear foam ear plugs, the ones you get from a plane amenity kit, which are usually enough to make a difference if the snoring is light and I have nothing else. A few pairs of simple airplane ear plugs are always in my handbag when I travel and if a friend is snoring, I just pop them in. If the snoring is light, that is enough for me to go back to sleep.
Step 3: If ear plugs are not enough, I try with my Loop ear plugs, the model that is designed for side sleepers so it does not have the hard plastic bit and does not hurt your ears. I actually used this in my last long haul flights. Cabins and planes are very noisy so this helped A LOT, and they stay in place better than the regular squeeshy ear plugs. They cancel quite a lot of the noise, albeit not all and you will still hear some snoring coming through.
Step 4 A: If the Loop ear plugs aren't enough I pair them with a Manta sound sleep mask that comes with Bluetooth so you can connect it to your phone and play calming music on. Then I have a black out eye mask that also cancels most of the noise and covers it with a better, more soothing or even white noise sound that helps you sleep. I use this when the snoring is too loud, spikey, or on a long flight when the light is also a problem and I need to ensure I get real rest.
Step 4 B: Or, if you sleep on your back, my Bose noise cancelling headsets are a life saver and I now wear them on all my travels from the moment I step into an airport. The noise cancelling means my overall nervous system is much less stressed by the overwhelm that airport can bring. I sleep on my side so I cannot wear them when I sleep, but if you do, then this would be my go-to snore-proof device.
Other things that I have done when I had no noise cancelling headsets, the Manta sleep mask or ear plugs.:
Move away as far from them as possible. Sleeping on my side giving them my back, on the edge of the bed, pull the beds as far apart as possible, or even sleeping on the sofa if there is one.
Putting the pillow over my head to help filter the noise further.
Pushing them to sleep on their side, or waking them up so they stop and you can fall back asleep again.
Have you found any other trip? Let me know!
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