Month: February 2026

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How I FINALLY Got a Good Night’s Sleep While Traveling

Last fall I relocated to Berlin for September. For the first couple of weeks I rented an AirBnB in the northern part of the city.

And I slept like absolute crap.

Why? Because the down pillows they had were worse than nothing! I tried everything I could, like stacking them, rolling them up, swapping pillows for a towel roll, and not using pillows at all. No good. I slept terribly and woke up feeling like I’d been out in a night club all night pounding vodka and Red Bull. Note: had had NOT been out in a night club all night pounding vodka and Red Bull.

I went to a home furnishing store and bought a small couch pillow, hoping it would help. It did, but it wasn’t great. I still slept poorly, despite the improvement.

Fast forward to January 2026. I’m back in Berlin! This time I’m at a hotel. And they have the same, crappy, less than good for nothing down pillows. No, seriously – not only are they not doing anything good – they’re doing harm!

I happened to have a birthday during this trip, and the first present I got was a €100 gift card to a sporting goods store. I’d planned on picking up a new pair of tights, or maybe a replacement for my YakTrax that had broken.

Then I stumbled on the Backroll Recovery Pillow. It’s a travel-sized memory foam pilow, very similar to my Tempurpedic pillow I sleep on most nights. It comes with its own carrying case that lets you roll it up to the size of a large water bottle, so it easily fits in a suitcase.

I used it and the result was night and day different. My neck had been hurting for three days, as well as my teeth, which I’d been grinding, despite wearing a night guard. As soon as I lay down on the pillow, my neck felt better. No joke! I felt an immediate improvement. I woke up the next day significantly more refreshed and in less pain.

This is now part of my travel routine, and is going with me any time I’m not sleeping at home.

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Review: Garmin Forerunner 965

As previously covered, I converted from Apple to Garmin in the middle of 2025 prior to my first 50 mile race. I liked the Forerunner 955 Solar enough that I decided to treat myself to an upgrade and bought a Forerunner 965 for the larger, fancier display. Here’s my experience now that I’ve had it for a couple of months.

  1. The screen is a great upgrade from the 955. It’s much easier to read, and brighter.
  2. Battery life is not as long as the 955. This was expected. By default, the 965 wants to operate without the display always on. In this mode, standby battery life is around 21 days or three weeks. Turning the display to always on dramatically shortens this to less than a week. I’ve tweaked the settings a few times and settled on having the display always on during a workout but on demand / with wrist flick at other times. This is slightly less than estimates for the 955 Solar but still plenty for me and my planned long distance runs for the next few years.
  3. The charging experience is the same, except that the included charging cable has been upgraded from USB-A to USB-C connection on the other end.
  4. The replacement bands I purchased for the 955 do not fit. The 965 is a different form factor. As a result, my friend – who bought a Forerunner 265 at my prompting – got my old 955 bands because they fit. The stock bands are okay but I wanted something a little more comfortable, so I purchased a stretchy, adjustable nylon strap.
  5. The flashlight function is inferior to that of the 955. On the 955 when you enable flashlight mode, the entire screen lights up white or red. For some reason on the 965, you get less screen lit up – a choice of one, two, or three circles instead of the whole screen. While this is fine for indoors and confined spaces, I find it less useful at night when outdoors.
  6. I was able to back up and restore my settings from the 955 to the 965. It remembered my device connections, including my Polar Verity Sense heart rate monitor as well as a number of other customizations. (A separate review for the Polar is coming soon!)

Overall I give the 965 a strong thumbs up, and would absolutely buy again. The only regret I have relating to the upgrade was not asking enough for the used 955 when I turned around and sold it becuase – now that it’s discontinued – the market price has gone up! This is just further reinforcement that Garmin smartwatches hold their value and typically have lifespans of several years.