The Trtl Pillow – In-flight snuggle – product review
The Trtl Pillow (pronounced ‘turtle’) has won me over. I have the ‘pleasure’ of flying long-haul very often and I am expected to hit the ground running at the other end. One might think a dozen or so hours of travel would afford plenty of time to sleep, or at least have a short doze, forty winks? Oh, if only that could be the case.
In truth, I have tried numerous flight pillows. The very soft U-shaped ones don’t give support and one has the sensation that one’s ear is parallel to one’s shoulder, often leading to the user landing with a head stuck at a jaunty angle. The same design of pillow but stuffed with beads doesn’t seem much of an improvement and the ‘inflate by mouth’ variety offers all the comfort of a brick.
Neck support
The Trtl Pillow is a totally new concept. It’s a fleece scarf with an internal neck support which is remarkably comfortable. One can truly relax into the device with no unnerving rolling of the head. The pillow can also be used as a chin support which is particularly handy when one is short of space, in the middle of a row with the guys on either side bagging the armrests.
One might assume a highly-designed wearable pillow would look weird. But it wraps up to become nothing more than a chunky scarf. One could actually walk around the cabin wearing the Trtl without looking like you have a medical neck-brace. This just looks cosy and warm.
It folds neatly down to a small size that would fit easily into any travel bag. Granted, there is a technique for putting this on, but once that manoeuvre is mastered then it’s held in place with Velcro. I would, for the sake of offering a balanced review, wish to come up with some disadvantages – but I can’t. For this traveller it ticks all the boxes. It’s light, practical and well-designed. Yes, you can get low-price U pillows at almost every airport shop but they are expensive if they don’t actually work. The Trtl is more costly than those cheap alternatives but a very small percentage of the cost of your long and otherwise exhausting flight. Money well spent, I would say.
Product review by Chrissie Walker © 2018
