April 21, 2003
Dreamsack: silk sheet for hostel sleep?
Who out there has used a DreamSack, or some similar sleepsheet, before? I need to know...
Travelers time and again have told us that one of the things they wished they'd left home was their sleeping bag. They didn't camp enough to merit the carry, and they never needed it in hostels. As an alternative, many have just carried a sleep sheet, for use in hostels and such.
Round-the-World Traveler Michelle Moore, for example, was telling me about her DreamSack:
I got the sleep sack from either Magellan's or Travel Smith about 5 years ago and I still use the same one. Its great. Either place calls them Dreamsacks and they sell for about $69.00 with Travel Smith and $59.00 with Magellan's. Mine is silk so it will dry in no time! I use it everywhere I go and it rolls up pretty small.... They have the single size and a double. I use the single. Just be careful to wash it by itself because I got a burgundy one and the color still runs no matter how many times I wash it!
So I started checking out DreamSacks' website.
Their flagship products are side- and top-opening silk sleep sheets. After wool, the site notes that silk is the warmest natural material; it also is lightweight, and packs down compactly. So I'm thinking pretty hard about getting a DreamSack.
Before I do though, I'm wondering if anyone else has used one, or if you use something similar. What do you use? What's been your experience? I think I'll kick an email over to Joe E at the Travel Gear Blog as well, and see if can serve me up a bit'o insight.
Posted by Ant at 02:00 PM
Related: Advice from others who've gone, BootsnAll Travel Community, Packing, Planning My Eurail Summer Trip
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Comments
Comment by Joe E. on April 22, 2003 12:00 AM
I don't carry a sleep sack but I know that I should.
I once picked up some creepy-crawlies at the US Festival in 1982. These were not pert blonde groupies with questionable hobbies, these particular creepy crawlies had eight legs and had to be squelched with a Doctors prescription of 'Kwell'.
I am pretty sure that they had come from the bedding in the crew trailers, I hadn't been associating with any groupies.
The good news is that I got to see some great bands, even though I itched all over.
When I stay at hostels, I always rent a sleep sheet.
They are most often coarse, white cotton with a strong smell of bleach. When I am in guesthouses, the beds come with sheets. I don't worry about the sheets, but I am pretty careful not to put my bare bunky onto the bedspread, since it might have all sorts of nasties on it. And who knows when they were laundered last?
I suppose that I am pretty lucky to never have picked up any critters on my travels.
I wish that I could be as confident about the showers in hostels and guesthouses; I always come home with some exotic new variety of athletes foot.
Comment by Claudia on April 22, 2003 04:17 AM
AHHHHHH!!! THe name Kwell makes me itch just hearing it. My roomate got a scorching case of scabies from a dirty friend whose beach house she stayed in and didn't treat it for MONTHS bc her dermo didn't think of it. Kwell is nasty nasty stuff....
Comment by Jay on November 3, 2003 03:51 PM
Dreamsacks are definitely the way to go. Super comfortable and packable. You can get them pretty cheap at www.comfortchannel.com. They also make great silk sheets and comforters for the home.