The best 3 out of 5

On a recent trip to Houston, I purchased various goods to re-stock my shelves. Some things purchased were items that are unavailable in Indonesia; i.e. contact lens cleaner for gas permeable lenses and underwear that is sized for an ibu like me. Other things purchased were preferenced brand items, also not available here, but could really be lived without; i.e. Far East Couscous and Country Time lemonade packets.

However, the item that I lugged back with me that was the most challenging was two king sized pillows that had to be stuffed in to a "space bag" (as seen on TV). I swear to goodness, I had horrible flashbacks to Championship Wrestling right there in my hotel room during this encounter.

First let me say, that I have an obsession about a pillow that is squishy enough to contour a bit, yet firm enough to support my head and neck. I seem to buy a lot of pillows that just don't live up to the criteria or die due to the fact that I must abuse my pillow more than the normal person.

It seemed like a simple thing, well sort of, to find and pack two king sized pillows in the largest suitcase that the airline would allow me to carry. I packed two large space bags in my baggage before leaving my tropical island home just for this purchase. I had great hopes in their ability to assist me in returning with the required sleep aide. That however, was not exactly how it worked out.

I found a couple of pillows that passed the poke and squish test and purchased them. They lingered on my vehicle backseat for a bit before I decided to give putting them in the suitcase a whirl. This was a mistake, as I think those hateful pillows began to develop a strategy to remain in their safe little domain rather than come live at my house.

Round one began with me stuffing one pillow in the bag and really wondering if the other one would fit as well. I finally managed to get both of them in there, but was way over the little dashed line at the top that indicates "do not fill above this point". In fact, pillow number two was several inches above the top of the bag but I ignored this and still felt somewhat confident. It was a clear win for me.

Round two saw a major shift in the scoring. As I began to squish the pillows further down into the bag, I realized that trying to zip the bag and also hold the pillows down was going to be a major problem unless I suddenly grew a couple of extra hands. I pushed and tried kneeling on the pillows, with my knee in the top of the bag, while quickly zipping the bag as close to my knee as I could get it. This didn't work very well and soon as I got my big ol' knee out of the way the top pillow would pop out of the opening. This went on for way to long and I had to remove my sweatshirt and continue the round in my tee shirt and jeans as things were getting really physical at this point and sweat was forming on my brow. I definitely lost that round. Thus, the pillows and I were tied at one all.

Round three. I finally managed to get the zipper closed, but needed to squish the air out of the bag to make it flat and as small as possible. Carefully I opened a small amount of the zipper and pushed on the bag with my knee to force the air out. That tricky top pillow was making an extremely successful effort to escape again, so I was both pushing and pulling on the bag at the same time and managed to rip it. Holy Cow! Sweat and not so nice words were flowing. Pillows had won another round.

Round four. New space bag, same process. This was not at all how the lady on TV had to do things when she demonstrated how marvelous these bags are. I was once again faced with how to get the air out and keep the pillows in. This time I thought maybe I could sit on the bag and get the air out. Space bags are rather slick and this was not as easy as one might expect. As carefully as possible I executed this maneuver. I just wasn't getting as much air out as I needed. At this point, I decided to use a full body press.

Looking back on it, this must have looked absolutely ridiculous. A grown woman laying, or is it lying, on this bag of pillows trying to squish them flat without anything escaping time after time. I finally got the job done and proceeded to the packing process. Round four was mine! Score - two all.

I got the pillows in the suitcase and began to gather other things that would fit in the bag along with them. Upon returning to my luggage, I realized the pillows were fluffier than just a few minutes earlier and there was considerably less room then before. Uh oh. I unzipped the zipper just a bit and pushed on the bag. At that point I could hear air escaping, but not from just the top. I had manged to blow out a small seam in the side of the bag and air was being forced out there as well.

In my book, round five went to me by just a hair. The pillows were swelling, but the space bag was still containing the sprawl. I managed to get other goods in the suitcase and go through repeatedly pressing the bag and zipping my luggage until everything was trapped inside. I was victorious!

As I locked my bag I prayed that no TSA employee would decide to frisk my luggage and undo all of my hard work. I felt quite sure they would just toss the pillows and not wrestle them, liked the Masked Marauder, back into their corner.

So as this time of travel is upon us; requiring many to go by air, land, and sea in order to celebrate this glorious Christmas and New Year with family and friends, remember my experience. In times of stress, as only travel can bring, be happy that you hopefully didn't have to pack KING sized pillows in your luggage.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good nights sleep on a perfectly delightful pillow.