Courtesy of Traveler's Ed, we present some very useful tips for sleeping on a plane, an endeavor at which I've never achieved any kind of success. With the help of these handy hints, however, I'm looking forward to at least achieving a state of complete, Zen-like boredom, a huge improvement over my usual homicidal Berzerker rage. On planes, I meant.

Sleeping on Planes

A recent study found that the popularity of red eye flights is on the increase. I'm among the fans of the red eye, and explain this phenomenon thusly: in most cases, time inside the tin cans we call planes is utterly lost time. It can be stunningly dull, uncomfortable, antisocial, aggravating, a modern Purgatory for the living.Magazines and light reading offer some semblance of real life. And sure, many try to work, but we all have the nagging suspicion that the person staring into their laptop is a) trying to impress; b) is an inefficient workaholic who can't put it down but isn't getting anything done; c) is just waiting for us to look away so they can alt-tab back to the Solitaire game.An airplane is an atrocious environment for work. Your aisle mate peeks at your email or spreadsheet, cellphones are verboten, airplane phones are prohibitively expensive (and who wants to broadcast their calls to a cabinfull of nosy, trapped people?)

Here are my tips for sleeping on planes, whether they be all-night red eye flights, or midday puddle jumpers.

Best seats for sleeping
Avoid completely the last row in the plane, and any seats just in front of the exit row. Think twice about bulkhead, exit row, and aisle seats.

Good Seats
Go for window seats near the front of the plane

More seat tactics:
If you know what kind of plane you'll be flying on, check airline Web sites for seating charts for the specific plane. Here are a few more resources for this information:

– Seating Charts, by airline
– Airline Seat Maps
Carry-ons: one (or none), then make two.
If you have two full carry-ons, one might end up under your feet – goodbye sleep. Try this: take one carry-on.

Blankets and pillows – stake your claim.
There are never enough blankets and pillows to go around. Board early and stake your claim.

Neck pillows
I've found few neck pillows really work…I turn them around; this works like a charm.

Footware suggestions:
This is a controversial subject.

Far more at the actual site. Click on the link for all you need to know about flying away to Dreamland.