Noise Cancelling Headphones

Mine are Bose as well (QC15)..so it's probably not worth it to pack in a backpack?

I have a pair of $50 cheapy butt brand noise cancelling headphones from Amazon.com, and I wouldn't get on a plane without them. I've never been on an unpleasantly noisey train - only planes.

Love my Bose headphones. They are in my backpack for every trip. Great for on the plane to watch movies, or listen to music on my ipod. I use them in the "on" position, but not plugged into anything when I want to sleep. They take the noise out of the jet engines and make sleeping easier. i've used them in noisy hotels as well to block out the noise. Certainly I've never used them in the city when walking around, or hiking on a trail. I chose to be aware of my surroundings, and sound is part of that in the city, etc. I'd recommend bringing them with you. Leave the case at home if you purchase the Bose, it takes up too much space, and you can manage by keeping the headphones in a pocket, they won't get damaged.

I've used them on planes on occasion, when provided by the airline, but consider them far too bulky to take with me when I'll only want them for the Transatlantic flights - never been on a train that noisy. Well, not in Europe, anyway. I am considering looking into noise canceling ear buds, although mostly for use at the Y.

Alex, I always pack along a set of active noise cancelling Ear Buds, so that's another option you might look at. While they don't block all the external noise, they do reduce it considerably when switched "on". As someone else mentioned, I also use them sometimes without music, just to reduce some of the aircraft noise. I also use a Backpack and there's no way I want to pack along a full-sized set of Headphones. I find the Ear Buds are a good compromise. While I sometimes like to listen to music on long train rides, I don't use them when I'm walking around cities as I want to experience all the sounds of the places I'm visiting. Happy travels!