Man, I gotta push back on this one. One cold night does not prove foam beats inflatable, it just proves your buddy brought the wrong pad for those temps. That $150 pad probably had an R-value of like 1.5 or 2, which is fine for summer but useless at 28 degrees, and the foam one is closer to 2 or higher just by being thick and closed cell. So you did not really beat a fancy pad, you beat a pad that was never built for that weather. The real test is a week long trip where bulk and comfort start to wear on you, cause foam never gets more comfy and it eats up pack space the whole time. Ngl if you want one pad for everything, a high R-value inflatable still wins, you just have to actually check the numbers before you buy.

So what made you pick the top bunk on purpose, is it just the stomping thing or did you figure out something else about dorm life that nobody tells you before you try it? I ask because the earplugs part makes total sense but I'm wondering if the top bunk thing is really about control, like you get to decide when you climb up and nobody's tossing and turning right under your head all night. Also curious if the crew you found on day two was pure luck or if you did something to make that happen, because I've stayed in places where everyone just stared at their phones and nobody talked. Did the train down to the Algarve end up being worth blowing that hotel money on, or was that the real win of the whole swap?