Travel gurus everywhere swear by their minimalist packing lists and super ways to get to sleep away from home. But the one thing missing from these lists of travel tips is an extra set of sheets.

Take it from an experienced road warrior: you'll appreciate having them. The key is to bring sheets that are soft, familiar, and that you won't cry if they get damaged or lost. Like all travel gear, the sheet is like a useful tool with an astounding number of practical applications when you're hoofing it away from home. Here are our top ten reasons to always travel with one or two flat sheets with you at all times:

1. Knapsack Anywhere Anytime

Fold a sheet up into a square, then pull the corners and tie or clip them together. Now you have a DIY knapsack that can go anywhere and hold anything. Whether your luggage zippers all explode in the airport or you're overloaded with souvenirs to give the family back home, your sheet can transform into a sack in a moment's notice. On the road, being able to throw together a knapsack is nearly a super-power when you need a bag and don't have one.

2. Surprise Toga Parties

Travel can be unpredictable. You never know when a group of drunk revelers will sweep you up and carry you off to a toga party. Or, more likely, a friend of a friend will have heard of a toga party, and you're tangentially invited, but only if you can wrap yourself in a sheet fast enough to jump in the car. With your spare bedsheet, anything is possible even if you wind up with the only stylish maroon toga at the party.

3. Scratchy Hotel Sheets

Getting serious, the real reason why experienced road warriors and constantly-traveling professionals carry a sheet is for hotel stays. Low-cost hotels are notorious for rough, scratchy sheets that are questionably clean and not at all comfy to sleep between. And even the ritziest hotels can choose the wrong sheets or over-starch to the point of scratchiness.

You will be thrilled you brought one or two spare flat sheets of the soft, comfortable weave you have at home. If you have one sheet, fold it like a taco and make yourself a comfy-pocket inside. If you have two sheets, you're in luck! You can use a top and bottom sheet to enjoy the bed while protecting yourself from the hotel's scratchy sheets.

4. DIY Bed Roll

Those sheets are also handy as a DIY bedroll when the time comes. If you've got five people in a double queen hotel room and one takes the couch, your spare sheets can make the extra hotel blanket a lot more welcoming as a one-night solution. If you wind up sleeping on the floor, camping out with a friend, or any other kind of unexpected sleeping situation, your spare sheets can make the base of a pretty great DIY bedroll.

5. DIY Baby Bjorn

Do you have an infant? If so, you know the value an extra piece of cloth can have. In addition to a handful of extra towels and bibs, spare flat sheets can be quickly folded and tied into a DIY baby Bjorn. Whether your baby's travel seat breaks or you've got to navigate high-traffic areas with your baby held close, a DIY Bjorn holds your baby comfortably to your chest while you brave the challenges of parental travel.

6. Catching Comfy Car Naps

Are you traveling in your car? One of the great freedoms of a road trip is the ability to stop, and nap wherever seems most pleasant. If your eyes start to droop in the afternoon or you just don't feel like stopping for the night, a spare sheet or two can make a great bedroll for the car as well. Whether you're catching a nap parked on the beach or just making sure you can drive safely for another six hours, rolling up in a nice familiar set of sheets can make it much easier to catch a few Zs in your car.

7. Escape Plan in Case of Bowser

And everyone knows a sturdy set of sheets is the ideal escape tool if you happen to be captured by a large spikey turtle who owns a series of stone towers and castles. When you need to bust out of a mansion, an old-timey jail, or Bowser's castle, simply knot your handy travel sheets together into a rope ladder and shimmy on out to safety.

8. Bedding Down During Airport Layovers

Not all flight plans are perfectly continuous. Sometimes, you need to spend a few badly timed hours in an airport waiting for the next flight in a sequence. This is an especially sleepy experience when you come in on a late flight, and your next flight doesn't leave until morning. Many people find themselves trying to catch a few hours of sleep on the terminal seats or making camp on the floor during nighttime layovers.

If you find yourself in this situation, you'll be glad for your spare flat sheet. That familiar soft rectangle of fabric can keep you warm, fold up as a pillow, or pitch over chairs as a privacy tent.

9. Couch Surfing Flexibility

Then there are situations where you may wind up staying in someone's guest room or surfing their couch for a few nights. Whether you're home for the holidays or backpacking up the coast, your host's linen closet bedding only goes so far. Chances are, you'll be much happier wrapped in your familiar soft sheet no matter what strange bed or couch you find yourself sleeping on or what strange comforter you're sleeping under.

10. Clean Sheets When You Get Home

And if you don't ever have a reason to unfold your spare sheets on the road, there is one more benefit they offer in your travel bag — a clean set of sheets to sleep on when you get home. If you're like many people, you launch for a vacation or a business trip with only the trip on your mind. You probably don't stop to make the bed with fresh sheets before you go (But if you do, good job!). So when you get home, that extra set of sheets can go straight onto your bed so you can dive into perfectly clean sheets after your homecoming shower and sleep off the jet-lag.

There are so many reasons to keep a few spare sets of sheets in your linen closet and your overnight bag. If you don't have enough, now is the perfect time to stock up on identical or even color-coded sheets of the size and style you like best. For more on how to use bedding to make your life better in every way, contact us today or check out the sleep doctor blog!