Travel buddies

Foldable travel stool.

Spending hours on cramped transport is not exactly fun, but it doesn't have to be hellish. Wu Ni looks at some gadgets to make the journey a little easier.

The journey home can be rough for travelers who have to cram into overcrowded carriages and spend long hours squeezed into trains and buses. The following comfort kits have been widely used to help relieve the fatigue of a long journey. Many of them are popular purchases on Taobao.com, China's largest online shopping platform, in the lead up to the Spring Festival.

Foldable travel stool

Price: about 20 yuan

It is cheap, easy to carry and a lifesaver for people who fail to get a seat ticket for the train. Standing-room-only tickets traditionally exist on slow trains and their number should be no more than 30 percent of the number of seats in a single carriage. But during Chunyun, their number may surge to meet the demand of large crowds of migrant workers who return home at this time. With the stool, the traveler can at least rest for while when there is enough space.