Hi,
In regards to a mattress, as a fulltimer I will stress one thing - "regular" innerspring mattresses, no matter how good, are made to be used on a box spring, and I've thrown away more expensive mattresses over the years than I care to admit because they developed low or soft spots where our hips would be while sleeping, causing back pain and other issues.
I "discovered" the select comfort sleep number bed back about 2002, and have never looked back. It is the most comfortable bed Ive slept on - period - and the lack of a foundation doesn't affect it in any way at all since the support comes from air, not springs, etc.
As others have noted, I am also a fan of the memory foam mattress toppers. I figure the basic sleep number mattress will last for many many years, so rather than get a fancy one with a pillowtop made of the same stuff as regular mattresses, I use the least expensive model, and a (disposable, if need be) 1-1/2" memory foam topper.
The only aside is that if you're traveling up significantly in elevation, the mattress will get harder as you climb, so I usually let air out in the morning before we leave so as not to overstress it.
I've also seen them go pretty inexpensively on Ebay, and they're easy to ship, so that's an alternative if you don't want to spend too much.
Hope this helps!
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