A quick reminder that today is Day #1 of our third Cool Bloggers Walking Club! Three cheers for any returning alumni, and welcome to anyone joining our walking troupe for the first time.
There are no strict rules, just a few loose guidelines that you can easily adjust as you see fit. People from all over the world will be joining me to walk at least 10 minutes each day throughout April. You don’t need to be a blogger to participate, and there’s no sign-up required. If you miss a day, don’t worry – we’re here for fun, not perfection. If you’d like, feel free to send me some pictures or details about your favourite walking adventures and I’ll share a roundup at the end of each week. You can email me at optimisticmusings {at} gmail {dot} com.
Happy Walking!
Now, time to jump into the final post that is related to our recent trip to Paris.
I’ve already gone into detail about how we plan our itineraries and pack for trips (Rome; Barcelona; Portugal). We followed the same general principles this time around so I don’t have much to add that I haven’t already written. But you know me, I can always find ways to inject more detail.
PLANNING
- I spend a few hours dropping pins for things we might be interested in doing/seeing on a Google Map (after using search strings like: Best things to do in Paris with teens; Hidden gems in Paris). Later, I evaluate each pin, narrow down what things we actually want to do, and finish planning by grouping things by location.
- Before leaving for Paris, I printed off labelled maps for each section of Paris I planned for us to visit in a single day, estimated walking distances between major landmarks, and printed out an accompanying list of destinations and their addresses. I find it handy to have something in my hand that I can manipulate and turn and make notes on with a pen, but I also have the files in Google Drive on my phone and referred to those as needed.
- John handles accommodations. This time, after spending a few hours scouring options on Booking.com, we opted to get something through Airbnb. You can spend a lot of money on accommodations in Paris. We wanted our spot to be close to public transit – ideally with a separate master bedroom and a fridge. And we didn’t want to pay a fortune (obviously this is relative). Here is the exact Airbnb we booked. There was a pullout couch that the kids shared, and a large master bedroom. In fact, the whole apartment seemed very big for Parisian standards. The apartment was located in a building on Rue Spontini, near Avenue Foch. There was an elevator (it was a newer building; most older buildings don’t have elevators) but we never used it and opted for the stairs. The apartment was about 350 m from a metro line which was very convenient. There was a Franprix a few minutes away and an amazing bakery within easy walking distance. We would 10/10 recommend this location, but I will clarify that we are NOT overly picky about accommodations. As long as it’s clean and quiet, we’re generally happy. I would not call any of the furniture high-end and it wasn’t “fancy” but it was a great home-away-from-home for us. It felt like a very safe neighbourhood, there was lots of natural light, no noise issues at night – I’d stay there again in a heartbeat.
PACKING
- Since going to Portugal, I don’t think I’ll ever NOT pack everything I need for security in my purse. Liquids, my phone, e-reader, and our passports all went into my purse and nothing else. The $3 thrifted purse I’d had for years and years finally had to be retired after Portugal and I found a new purse at a thrift store that ended up being even better! Lots of room and it was comfortable enough to sling cross-body while walking the streets of Paris for hours on end.
- Ditto using individual bags to keep Indy’s outfits separate. We did this in Portugal and it really helps. Yes, eventually everything becomes one chaotic mess, but it’s handy to have a bag with underwear, socks, pants, and a shirt ready to be grabbed first thing in the morning.
GETTING THERE AND BACK
We didn’t travel by plane when our kids were little, so I don’t have much advice regarding entertainment for squirmy toddlers (and for that I am so, so thankful). I did bring along some games and they were a hit! Especially Bananagrams which I borrowed from a friend.
Thankfully, our flights were uneventful. There were no surprise upgrades, but John can often book Premium Economy seats at no extra charge due to his frequent flyer status, so we had seats with extra leg room on both of the long flights which was lovely.
We had a tiny hiccup on our way home. One of the perks of John’s frequent travel – and airline status – is free access to lounges. If we travel together and he’s with us, we get in for free! This is such a nice perk. Waiting in a lounge is lovely, the food is free, and there is plenty of space to move around and you can just leave your luggage when you go to the bathrooms.
The Maple Leaf Lounge in Paris was under construction, and when we went to their subcontracted lounge we discovered John could only bring ONE family member in with him. I didn’t care and knew Indy wouldn’t mind being excluded (but Belle would). We had so much fun sitting and playing more Bananagrams. I worried about how to fill the time but it went by in a flash. John and Belle took pity on us and smuggled out some lounge food before we boarded our flight for home.
I have no tips for making plane travel nicer. It sucks. I never sleep. I’m usually freezing cold or boiling hot. It is a means to an end.
WHAT DID IT COST?
For anyone that might be interested, I did budget summaries from our Portugal, Rome, and Barcelona trips.
Here’s a breakdown in Canadian dollars for a 9-night stay in Paris – plus two travel days – for four people. The exchange rate is not great; €100 is about $155 CAD (€ and USD are close to par).
- Flights: $166.67 each | $666.68 total. Our flights are inexpensive because we booked with points + have special travel rates because of John’s frequent flyer status; flights to Paris happened to have an especially good rate for this time period which played a big role in us making the decision to travel there in March. We looked at a long list of destinations, but Paris was the cheapest! Using credit card points to book tickets is a great budget hack. This same set of tickets without the points/travel rates were over $7,000 which – spoiler alert – is more than we spent on the entire trip.
- Accommodations: $238.37 per night | $2,145.37 total. Not the cheapest option, but much less than many other spots we considered. It was a good balance of affordable, close to public transit, and with adequate kitchen facilities to be able to make some lunches which definitely saves money on food.
- Food + Drinks: $1,466.22 (works out to $33.32 per person/per day)
- Miscellaneous: $594.53 This included souvenirs, gifts, some snacks/water on the go, and the e-Sim plan for my phone.
- Transportation: $538.09 Two one-off trips on the metro for our family, our week-long Navigo metro passes ($234.89 CAD), two Ubers (to/from airport), and the park-in-fly for our vehicle back in Canada (we used CAA for a 20% discount).
- Adventures: $951.34 – Disney was by far the most expensive experience for us ($404.31), but was worth every penny. Also, we opted to go on Tuesday which was the cheapest day by €30/ticket. That really adds up and means we saved almost $200 vs. later in the week. The second most expensive activity was our evening tour of Palais Garnier ($165.98), followed by the Catacombs ($137.98).
Grand Total: $6,362.23 CAD (~€4,120 or $4,441 USD)
This works out to ~$144.60 CAD per person/day, including 9 days spent in Paris and 2 travel days. For any American readers this is about $100 USD per person/day. This was a more expensive day rate than either Spain ($125 CAD) or Portugal ($124 CAD), but France is generally a more expensive country to visit and we’ve never done something as “big” as Disney. When John and I went to Rome in 2023 it worked out to $181 per person/day, so we travel more cheaply when the kids are with us!
And the winner of my Guess What Our Vacation Cost game…is Coco, who knows more than most about international travel! She has just – as of Sunday – successfully made the move from Jakarta to Brazil with her family. Coco estimated $4,000 USD, which was the closest guess.
Congrats, Coco! Once you’re settled in your new home, e-mail me your address and I’ll send you a little gift from Nova Scotia.
Your turn.
- What’s your best travel hack?
- Where do you prefer to save and where do you prefer to spend when taking a trip?
- Does anyone actually sleep well on planes? I know these people exist, but it defies logic!
Discover more from The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Wow, I was really off on the cost of the trip! Thanks for showing the breakdown of the costs. Very interesting to see where the money goes.
I don’t sleep well on planes, but most of my flights are less than 3 hours, so I’m not really tired. ( However, I’ve only flown 8 times in the past 20 years I think? So again, not a traveler.) I usually sit , read, and play solitaire repeated and pray the flight go smoothly. ( A bit anxious- makes it hard to concentrate on anything.)
My walking shoes are ready!!
The money does go fast (though we really didn’t scrimp on French patisserie).
I need to lace up my walking shoes, too! The weather today is not enticing – it has been raining for almost 24 hours. Oh well, that’s why we have umbrellas I suppose.
Congratulations to Coco! You may have gone over the $ 3,000 that I guessed, but wow, you still did amazingly well on such a lovely trip for four people to Paris!
Wouldn’t you know it’s snowing here today. My walk will be indoors!
You have snow and we have rain. Was it too much to ask the entire globe get sunshine today so we could all walk outside? I suspect I will do my 10 minutes (with an umbrella in hand) and call it a day. No reflective strolling for me.
Wow! I cannot believe you could travel that far/long for such a reasonable budget. Way to go!!
Thanks! Using points for our flights makes a huge difference!
Travelling premium economy (or higher) makes air travel SO much better. Like, it feels like a holiday in and of itself. Flying is just such an exhausting pain these days, and I find just having nicer seats and refreshments/ meals to boost everything so much. I just feel like I’ve reached a point in my life where I don’t want to fly economy any more!
That is a really great price for such a trip!
I love a crossbody bag, it’s the only kind of purse I will travel with.
The extra leg space really is a game changer. Though, it feels a bit wasted on me since I can’t sleep. UGH.
Crossbody purses for the win. We took Belle’s bookbag a few times when we needed to carry picnic supplies or knew we’d be buying souvenirs, but most days my purse (and Belle’s cross body fanny pack) were all we needed.
Yes, this really isn’t a lot of money for such an epic trip. Saving on those plane tickets makes a HUGE difference. I can usually sleep on planes, but I’m talking about taking a nap, as opposed to getting hours of sleep on an international flight.
Once again I will probably admire the April walkers from afar. Although you never know- I’m going to the gym today. Maybe a ten minute treadmill walk is in my future!
Yes, our flight deals are hard to beat.
You are a walker in spirit and are a 10-minute exerciser per day sort of person so I declare you to officially be a part of the club.
Super helpful breakdown and I appreciate the time that it takes to cull all this data and compile it into categories!! I’ve never been in an airline lounge but I do hold two airline credit cards and sometimes they’ll give me the option to pay a small fee to access the lounge (like $15). One of these days I just might do it! (Just a note that Belle’s real name is in the paragraph about the airport lounge in case you want to blind that.)
The flight prices these days are crazy. For the school trip that Greta and I will be taking next year, they are going to come out with group flight prices next month, but I googled flights from Pittsburgh to Paris and the cheapest option is right around $1,000 per person. But I have enough air miles to fly us both there roundtrip for “free” (~$25 in fees, plus free checked bags). So unless the group airfare rate is incredible, we may just be meeting the group in Paris 😉
Ohhh – definitely worth it for $15; you’ll save more than that in food costs.
Thanks for the heads-up; I’ve gone and switched that. Oops!
$25??? That’s amazing, Kate. I would definitely skip the group rate (no way it’s close to $25)!!!
The breakdown of costs post is always my favorite travel post of yours so I can imitate your ways! We are going to Busch Gardens for one day in Virginia in April and the tickets will cost us about $1320 for the day (I did get the food pass as well). I know it’s because we have so many kids, but man it makes your vacations look so inexpensive! I am so thankful my college kids can do a semester abroad since there’s no way we could afford to take all of them out of the country any time soon.
You have A LOT more people to get into a park. And we went in the off-season so it was a lot cheaper than peak rates…and we didn’t spend much on food. It would have been easy to spend tons of money at Disney, so for a family of your size WITH food included for $1,320 sounds very reasonable to me.
My thoughts are that this is 6k well spent!
I try to find a balance between saving and splurging on a trip. I take a lot of trips that are just a few hours from home, so that means minimal transport costs. For flights, I’m willing to spend for things like a decent departure time and a direct flight, but I don’t care where I sit on the plane or if I have to board last since I’m only going to be on the plane for a few hours. I’ll spend more for lodging if it puts me in a central location that’s going to increase my enjoyment of the trip. Last year for one of my weekend trips I used points for a hotel, and it was great that it was free, but the location put me further away from the city that I was visiting so in the end the free hotel meant that I enjoyed the trip a bit less.
It feels like a $6K investment in our family. It’s really fun to have these shared memories and I think it helps the kids get some concept of John’s travel as well (they have learned flying is NOT glamourous).
Location really matters for a trip. We like to be outside of any “party” district, but close to public transit.
Dang. I was going to guess $6000 Canadian but then, thought I should recuse myself (which I did). And $6k for a family of four? What a bargain. Yes, I know you said you got some perks with Hubby’s discount, but still, that seems like a steal. I hope for the two of us it’ll be a tad cheaper. But then, that depends on when we decide to go, and where we stay. I never thought about AirBnB. I tend to prefer booking through an agent with insurances, then spending my time looking at places to visit.
I love the idea of the metro pass. We did that in London, but walked everywhere in Paris, except a couple of times we caught the metro (for the tennis). I think London is different, you really need a pass to get around quickly (or quicker than walking) though it’s true, you can see so much on foot. But we found London screamingly expensive in comparison to Paris.
By the way, I sleep like a baby on a plane, mainly because I take airsickness pills that knock me right out. The OH says I snored the whole way to London last time! 🤣
Oh, and agree on the large purse. I have a beautiful leather over the shoulder (cross body) Rudsack bag I invested in and it’s lasted me 25+ years so far. I use it on all my travels.
The metro pass was amazing with the kids. When John and I went alone in 2019 we walked basically everywhere but it’s…a lot. Even still, we walked a lot. The great thing about the metro pass was the fact it also included transit to/from Disney and Auvers. But the kids appreciated being able to zig zag across the city and not worry quite as much about efficiency.
That said, I find there is a LOT of walking in every city. Public transit isn’t as simple as popping into the closest metro station you find because of all the different lines.
I need some of those airsickness pills. Alas, I don’t get airsickness, but I’d love to be knocked out for the whole flight.
Yeah, you cannot avoid the walking part when you go on holiday to a big city, not if you want to enjoy the best parts. I remember when we did Athens it was none stop walking. There was no taking public transit.
You can get any generic pill over the counter for seasickness. I think it was Gravol pills I took last time. They worked like a dream. But don’t overdose on them, apparently they can cause mild hallucinations! 😉
Yup. Walking is unavoidable even with public transit, and it’s such a great way to see the city, pop down interesting-looking side streets and appreciate the ambiance of the location.
I haven’t taken Gravol in years, but it didn’t knock me out. I might have to try again though – the thought of sleeping the whole trip sounds amazing.
Loved reading these! I’m hoping to make Paris work for our spring break next year… there are direct flights from our home airport and often they are pretty affordable! I did save that AirBNB but it would be too small for our family, it seems. The location seems great though!
Definitely my biggest hack for saving money is what you are already doing – using points to travel 🙂 Mine are credit card points, not from actually traveling a lot, so it’s a bit different but same concept. This is definitely not for the casual traveler though, it takes a lot of effort to make it work in a way that actually saves money, and it’s a lot of work to keep track of!! We have taken a lot of what I would call 90% points funded trips though, but usually we’re doing what you did – getting flights with points, and the rest is cash. It is kind of a fun puzzle to me to do both flights AND lodging with points, but especially with 3 kids it’s often more comfortable to be in an AirBNB. My kids also DEEPLY love the concept of just going to a grocery store and picking out something fun for dinner, so we have done that quite a bit especially on more of a nature trip where there’s not a lot of nightlife to be had near our lodging anyway.
My husband and I ABSOLUTELY spend way, way, way more on a couples trip than we do with the kids – primarily because we both love wine, cocktail bars, etc and those add up REAL fast.
Definitely have never actually slept on any mode of transportation. I wish I could!!! It is my dream to someday take a business class/lay flat flight over an ocean but I know even then, I still wouldn’t sleep… but at least I’d be comfortable 🙂
Flying direct would be amazing. We love where we live (and Halifax has an international airport), but there are not very many international DIRECT flights.
The AirBnB was great for 4 but wouldn’t be much good beyond that. The location was hard to beat (for our needs/preferences).
We rarely get lodging with points; my husband stays in hotels when he travels, but those points don’t add up nearly as quickly and we use all our Aeroplan points (which he gets on flights + we have two Aeroplan CC’s) to go toward flights (though you can use them for other things). It saves so much money on flights!
We are big fans of going to grocery stores everywhere we go. First, it’s way cheaper, and second it’s an adventure. And I love finding products that we fall in love with; in Paris is was Innocent brand orange juice. We went through an alarming number of bottles but it was just squeezed oranges and it was SO good.
I cannot tell you how much it pangs me to see people asleep for the whole trip. It looks amazing! What is their secret?
I’ll admit to being envious of your inexpensive flights, but not of the single parenting that is the reason you get them. I’d say you all earn them. I don’t have any loyalty programs, we don’t travel enough (the last time I travelled for work was 2018), so when we want insane things like leg room or to sit together, it costs extra.
I just checked my register from my trip to France in 2022, and my airline ticket was $1,450 (US). We flew from San Francisco to Nice, which stopped in Paris. I don’t remember whether it would have been cheaper if we had not gone on to Nice or not. Now I want to see if I can find my register from my 2018 trip with Ted and Maya – please hold…oh goodness, those were much cheaper. We paid $2,125 for 3 people, vs. my $1,450 for one in 2022. I had about $1,060 in credit card points to offset that the 2018 trip.
Bottom line, travel is expensive and has gotten more so. Too me, it’s worth every penny.
Yes! I look at these subsidized trips as a perk of having a husband/father that travels so much and it’s great for the kids to get a perk + to better understand international travel and how dad gets from place to place.
Travel is expensive. It is a luxury and a privilege. It is also incredible and I think if the funds are there, travel is a great way to spend them. We can’t take it with us when we go, and spending money in Paris is doubly fun because everything is so beautiful/delicious!
$4k is great for a family of 4 traveling to Paris which is a pricier destination. We haven’t taken any big trips so I have no idea what it would cost us. Like you, we are holding off on international travel until the kids are older/easier to travel with. They are great plane travelers but we’ve only do shorter flights. The longest was around 3 hours to Florida.
I’ve been to Paris 3 times – once I stayed in the Latin Quarter, twice I stayed in the Marais. I much preferred the Marais! That is where I would stay when we go back as it’s my favorite quarter! I tend to prioritize accommodations. So for Paris, I want to be in a great, central location, especially for a shorter trip. If we were going for a month, I’d stay in an outer quarter. But for a weekish trip, I would prioritize a single-digit quarter. I am also particular about flights. The cheapest flights are often super early or really late and I value my quality of life too much to go to the airport at like 4:30 am to save money. NOPE. Granted that only applies to domestic flights. International flights are different since the east-bound is obv a red eye and I’m fine with that. I would NOT take a red eye to get back from CA because I will not sleep on the flight. So no – I do NOT sleep well on planes!!
I have zero regrets about not taking Indy on a flight until he was…8? I wanted my kids out of diapers and pack-and-play’s. ZERO REGRETS. I am not someone who likes to fly by the seat of her pants so having a kid that would need me in the middle of the night to entertain them because of jet lag would not work well! These have been perfect ages with the kids. I was so nervous for Barcelona because of how much they disliked New York City. We’ve changed our approach, they’ve gotten older, and I think they’ve also fallen in love with Europe (who wouldn’t). I genuinely enjoyed this trip with the kids. They were fun to have along and we did different things because of them. I know you and Phil will have amazing trips when the boys are older, but there’s no rush. It will get a million times easier in a few years.
John and I stayed in the 9th our first trip and I loved, loved, loved it. We were in the 16th this time, I think, but soooo close to the 8th. It was great for us, and to spend about $2K on an AirBnB in the 1-9th would not have given us nearly as nice a place. But I agree that location can make a huge difference.
John used to have crazy early flights for years (he went to Denver a lot) and they were awful. Like he’d set his alarm for 2:30 am. He never, ever has early flights like that anymore and I’m so glad.
It makes total sense to stay in the 16th – and you still had easy access to the city center! I haven’t been to Paris since late 2013 so the prices have changed TREMENDOUSLY and it was just me so I rented studios. This was before airbnb was even a thing so it was a whole different world!!
Ooh that Airbnb looks lovely – good find (I spotted John’s review on the website too hehe). And hooray for super cheap flights- definitely a nice bonus for all John’s travel and your solo parenting. That’s a reasonable trip cost- spending on things that meant more to you (patisseries- yum!), but looking for bargains for other things. A huge amount of work went into the planning but it really paid off. I’d love to take the kids to Europe or North America one day when they are closer your Indy and Belle’s age. That 5-6 years will go quicker than I think, I suspect!
Ha – yup, we always try to leave reviews (and by “we” I mean John) because we so appreciate honest reviews! It was a great place.
Our kids are at the perfect age to travel, I think. And Belle is 14 so the clock is ticking for the number of years she has left at home. Eeks. No regrets on waiting until this stage to travel, though. It’s sooo much easier when they’re more independent.
Thank you for the tip about all security items in the purse. I travel infrequently and spend an inordinate amount of time trying to streamline all the stuff. Gear management is such a puzzle and a hassle, so next time I go, I’ll use your method.
It makes life SO much easier. I can’t believe it took me a decade to figure it out, but now that I’ve cracked the code there is no turning back!
Well done! It was magical getting to go in the lounge with the kids when they were little – and hilarious comparing the way we used to fly with the luxurious treatment they got used to.
I loathe flying. I’m claustrophobic, I don’t sleep, and it makes me anxious. I will drive long long distances rather than fly. But yeah, it’s a means to an end.
I don’t like flying either, but I also don’t like driving. Sigh. Really, I don’t like travel to/from a destination. My husband wants to do a cross-country roadtrip and to me that sounds like about as much fun as ripping out my fingernails, but I’m sure it will be great and we’ll do it someday. But. Ugh. Why can’t teleporting be a thing already?
I can’t believe I was so close! I mainly calculated based on # of days and person, and knew you’d have almost free flights.
I love taking the girls to the lounge too, free with priority pass from credit card, it’s life changer for airport experience. I often use points for shorter flights too.
I prefer airbnb over hotel when traveling with the kids too, mostly for access to fridge and separate bedrooms too. I’ m saving your airbnb for future traval to paris.
You’ve done a lot during this trip and I love how you prepare for it. I’ve adopted the google pin from you.
I’ll DM you my new address, freshly moved in. 🙂
Yes, the extra space provided by an AirBnB (which was bigger than normal since it was in the 16th) was soooo nice. We could fully unpack and had tons of excess room. When we went to Barcelona we stayed in one hotel room. It was still great, but it was TIGHT.
Congrats on the new address; hope your first few days of settling in are going well. And congrats on such an accurate guess <3
$4,000 for a family of four in Paris for 9 days is CHEAP, lol. My travel planner quoted me around $6,000 (without flights) to do Paris/London but we’d have to do multiple different hotels so I think that would drive up the price. Traveling with points is a GREAT perk but, of course, it’s a perk your whole family has definitely earned with all of John’s travel.
I’m glad it was such a great trip and so many lovely memories made!
I love cost breakdowns! Obviously everyone is different and spends in different places, so I think that the total cost can vary a lot between person to person or family to family. I know people who have spent more that what you spent on a long weekend to Disneyland in LA, and personally that does not seem like how I would want to spend my money, but to each their own!! I have realized (by making mistakes) that I prefer an Airbnb, as I don’t want to live in a tiny room, unless it is only for a couple of days and eating out is easy and cheap (like in Thailand). I also want to be close enough to stuff to walk, but not right in the middle of it, and this may mean spending extra on a more central location, but if it means not having to take the train or bus a lot, it is completely worth it. However, I am willing to use the subway etc. if the stop is close by and it is a straight or easy ride. However (again), I prefer to be able to walk to as many things as I can. I will also scrimp and eat bread and cheese for 10 meals and then spend $100 on one meal! We are all different!
I have also found that the slower I travel, the less I spend per day, so I don’t think you can compare a one week stay to a one month one really. Currently I am trying to stay under $80 per day, and I have been mostly close, but so far (recently) Germany has been my most expensive at about $91/day (ironically that is when I was with three other people, so that includes splitting the accommodation). The last time I went to Paris I slept with a friend of mine (ha!) so that we could afford a more central place. Luckily he did not kick me or try to cuddle, but it definitely was not cheap!
Absolutely! We could have definitely spent quite a bit less or spent significantly more. But I wouldn’t change a thing – it was a great mix of high/low; we got some great deals, but also spent money where it would really improve the experience of this particular vacation.
Thank you for being so transparent. It is interesting to see where money goes and how other people travel. I need to consult your Portugal trip as I have decided I want to and we need to go there. Probably in 2026 but some time.
Congrats to Coco for being so close.
It’s really hard to get points flights with our airline on flights to Europe, unfortunately, and of course, flying from here to anywhere is long and expensive. H and I got points to Milan in 2016, and we still had to pay $1500 for taxes and fees. I like a clean room in a good location but don’t need anything fancy. I prefer to spend the money on experiences. I don’t sleep well but do sleep a bit, mainly because I have to take travel sickness tablets. I also used a trtl travel pillow on my last trip and that helped a lot.
Yes, we are fortunate with our proximity to Europe as it makes Europe the cheapest destination for our family.
I have been so curious about the trtl pillow; would you recommend trying it? I’ve seen mixed reviews, but I have nothing and it also looks like it packs down to such a small size which is appealing.