[trip style = any]
Newsflash: unless you're staying in a sound studio or a dungeon, no accommodation is 100% soundproof.
Maybe it's the street noise or the guy coughing in the room beside you, maybe it's the night-owl couple stumbling in at 3am or the service staff chatting in the hallways in at 7.30am. Whatever it is, when you're hanging at a hotel, noise happens, and there's nothing a Do Not Disturb sign can do about it.
Enter my cheapest and most comforting travel find: earplugs. It's amazing what a pebble-sized piece of foam can do. For me, it means both peace of mind, and the difference between a rude awakening and a good sleep.
Over the years I've used a gazillion forms of foam to stop sound. One set stands out as the MOST comfortable and foolproof. They cost less than a chocolate bar, and are made by 3M, the brainiacs behind the world's first foam earplugs.
Earplugs are far from sexy {to wear or discuss}, yet, the reason I'm singing their soundproof praises is on my recent trip to Miami, I was staying at an updo hotel, aka: a vintage property made over as au courant. With soundproofing, or lack thereof, stuck in the dark ages, noises traveled. For example, when someone walked by my room talking at a regular decibel, I could hear the conversation like I was part of it {even though my door was closed and my window was shut}. Strangely, this didn't freak me out because I was armed with my earplugs, aka, the $1 insurance policy I take out on a good night's sleep.
Trip Styler Tip :: Stash earplugs in your carry-on to "keep your peace" at 35,000 feet.
Buy them in bulk online at 3M or on Amazon,
[graphic assembled by @tripstyler]