Darken Your Room - Katie Yelink

Sleep is essential both at home and when traveling. At home you have some control over your situation, but it’s harder when you’re traveling.  Since I’m not a fan of sleep masks, when I stay at a hotel, I’ll often ask for a room as far away from parking lot lights as possible, but that’s not always something the hotel staff can accommodate.  Until hotels regularly dim their lights inside and out at night, here are some suggestions for darkening your room when you’re traveling.

• Curtains.  To help close gaps between the curtains, grab the hotel-provided hangers with clips (the ones meant to hang trousers) and use them to hold the curtains together.  For times when hangers aren’t provided, keep some paperclips or binder clips in your bag. I also travel with a roll of black electrical tape, which I use to close gaps between the curtains and the walls.

• Indicator lights. Sometimes, I unplug the alarm clock provided by the hotel if it has a bright light. If I can’t unplug it, I’ll pull out the roll of electrical tape I keep in my bag to tape over the light. I’ll also tape over the indicator lights on televisions, microwaves, thermostats, AC units, or other electronic devises. If you don’t have tape, drape extra blankets or pillows over the lights, when possible. Obviously, don’t interfere with lights on the smoke detector.

• Light from the room door.  For light that seeps through the door safety hole, electrical tape is again your friend.  For light that seeps in from gaps under or along the sides of the door, grab towels or extra pillows from your room to cover the gaps.  For gaps that are higher up, stack your luggage or lean the room’s ironing board against the door.

A dark hotel room can be a welcome surprise for the weary traveler.  Until more hotels cater to dark sky enthusiasts, try these hacks to sleep better.

• Katie Yelink