Tips for Fighting Jet Lag

[SarahS]

Jet lag hits every traveler at one point or another -- some harder than others. What are your tips and tricks for dealing with jet lag? We offer some tips here (http://www.independenttraveler.com/r...=67&category=5), but we want to hear yours!

Do you take a sleeping pill on the plane? Have you tried melatonin? Do you start adjusting your schedule a few days before your trip? Help your fellow travelers by sharing your strategies.

[travelmel]

It depends which direction I am going in! If it will be earlier in my destination, I try to get some sleep on the plane so I arrive bright eyed and bushy tailed: Nytol and a gin and tonic seems to help with that part

[soliteyah]

I can't sleep on planes to save my life, unfortunately, so I've weighed the idea of taking a sleeping pill, particularly when I'm headed east across the Atlantic. Haven't tried it yet though -- I'm not a big fan of taking medications.

So what I do instead is try to start shifting to the new time zone a day or two beforehand...go to bed earlier (or later, depending). and once I get to the new place, I try to force myself into the new schedule right away rather than napping or whatever.

Oh, and obviously I do all the standard "take care of your body" stuff like drinking lots of water, moving around on the plane and eating healthy.

[massagelondon]

resting and avoiding stress (like the last minute packing or finishing your work), sleeping and avoiding alcohol to prevent dehydration during the flight, eating light, vegetarian or vegan meals as not to burden your body with digestion of fats and proteins. On arrival walking in the bright sun, face towards it and swimming in the river/sea/ocean will help to adjust an internal body clock to the time zone.

[Host Bonjour]

Although I'm not "old" I've been traveling for quite awhile now and I've found that it just gets harder and harder to deal with, no matter what I do. The planes do not recirculate the cabin air the way that they COULD DO (this costs them money because it burns more fuel) hence the flying "germ tube" and so I guess stale, dry air and no matter what, nothing works anymore. I USED to be able to hit the ground running in almost any direction but it doesn't work for me anymore. The only "easy" assimilation is a 12 hour flight with a 12 hour time difference and that leaves Tokyo. Pretty much either way you'll catch on alright. Otherwise, I for some reason, have found it increasingly difficult to adjust; because traveling isn't just the plane part either anyway. As someone pointed out, it's the night before (I NEVER sleep the night before a trip, that's when I'm usually packing - don't ask but it never mattered before) and then you have to get to the airport, and now, getting through the airport is like getting into NORAD, then the flight, then when you land (and I almost always traveled solo) I had to get myself from airport to hotel etc etc. It just used to be easier. Not anymore.

A funny story was when I got to Australia, after nearly 24 hours in air, plus almost a day on the ground in LAX waiting for Air New Zealand flight after I arrived from NYC, and add another day across the date line, I got to Aussie at 8am on a Monday morning, all set to GO TO SLEEP. My innkeeper, a lovely woman, 1/2 of a delightful couple running my B&B, told me I WASN'T going to take a nap. I was going to have a shower, get changed and she'd map out a fine walk for me that she knew once she got me down to the Quay would keep me out long enough - I think I made it to about 8pm - to try to get me on local time. But oh how I WANTED THAT nap though it can't match the feeling I had when the vista came up before my eyes - the harbour bridge and the Opera House, as I was walking towards them - sites I'd only ever see in pictures - well, it was simply breathtaking and enthralling............I WAS REALLY THERE! So I didn't have to wait to see all that I could plan and do over the rest of the course of my time there.

The only other thing that made me comfortable on a plane was sitting in a business class seat en route to Hong Kong from Tokyo. Luckily, the Chinese man next to me had the smarts enough to wake me up to see the now gone BONKERS air approach that jets took to land at the old airport...........it had NYC skyline beat by miles & miles only because it appears as though we're flying INTO it all as the plane makes a severe, sharp banking turn before he plunks the plane down on the runway. I wouldn't have wanted to miss that so he timed my wake up just right! And when I went to bed in HK that night, I had no problem getting up the next day. FYI, no American President was ever permitted (by us, not them) to land in that HK airport, Kai Tak, on account of the danger and only the most senior, experienced pilots could do that run. But now with the new airport on Lantau Island, our Presidents have flown to HK but the trip into HK island is just longer.

So I have no cure for jet lag; my body just cannot take it anymore but I'll keep traveling and go slower the first day or two, depending upon whether or not it's a big time change etc. I think the drinking lots of water tip helps a bit; other than that, I think if one isn't seated up in the premium cabins, where it's actually POSSIBLE to sleep, there's no chance except to count down the hours till ya land. I've lost some of my mojo I guess. BUMMER.

[Host Ciao]

Hello,
Having made two trips to Italy this year, I will recommend No Jet-lag pills. I read about them on the About European website. The writer recommended them. I found that if I followed the directions fairly closely they worked well.
I cannot sleep on planes either. I have always made it a practice when going to Europe to get off the plane, check into the hotel and then walk. I never did take a nap. With these pills, while I knew I had not had any sleep, I did not feel worn out and on both trips stayed up easily until 10 p.m. and had no trouble waking up at a decent time (6 a.m. or so) in the morning. I had none of the waking up at 2 a.m. and not being able to go back to sleep. Since I always wake up once or twice a night (an age thing) I was pleased that I had no trouble going back to sleep.
Coming home last week after being on Italy time for seven weeks and having to be at the Rome airport by 4:40, I felt fine all day and went to bed around 8:30 p.m. (I figure I had been up 24 hours). I slept until 4:30 a.m. and have been on a regular sleeping schedule since then.
I am sold on these pills. I ordered them through Magellan's travel store.
Sincerely,
Host Ciao

[Traveling Granny]

Recently I read interviews with travel industry moguls who were asked among other things how they deal with jet lag. It was either Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Airlines) or Stelios (Easyjet) who said that he didn't believe in jet lag and I sort of agree with him. Perhaps it helps to be the kind of person who has never required much sleep, but I have not found it to be a problem, even ignoring all of the typical advice such as avoiding alcohol and caffeine, drinking lots of water, etc. Usually I am tired when I board a flight due to racing around making all of the arrangements to leave home for an extended length of time (stopping mail and newspaper, dogs to kennel, fresh litter for the cats, etc.) as well as just packing. So often I annoy the friends I travel with by falling asleep almost as soon as I fasten the seat belt. If there is ever any problem with being able to sleep, one of those little airline bottles of red wine will usually do the trick. I wake up for meals and drinks when I will get up and move about the plane a little after the food carts have cleared the aisles, then go back to sleep. I also keep something to read with me at all times so that if I can't sleep immediately, I can read and that may make me sleepy again. When I arrive, I usually try to do something requiring me to remain active all day so that sleeping is impossible. Then I go to bed at the normal time for wherever I am. Then the next morning, I am on local time. I do have one tip that helps me to be able to be active my first day. I wear some travel socks available in most travel stores that improve the circulation. I have poor circulation in my legs anyway so swelling during long flights is a problem unless I wear these socks. So if I can arrive with my lower legs and feet not feeling like clubs, it is easier to be up and active.

[Momster]

I travel with my daughter all over the world due to her fencing schedule. We have been every where. She has to be adjusted to the time so she can fence in the difficult competitions.
What we have finally found out through trial and error is to give ourselves a full day to acclimate before she has to fence.
We leave the US three days before competitions in Europe. Due to living on the west coast it is a pretty drastic time change usually 8-10 hours.
We leave the first day (of course) then get there the next day. By the time we get to our destination it is usually mid afternoon.
We check into the hotel and take a nap.
We then get up for dinner and pretend we are going to stay up late enough to sleep all night. We never do.... we eat dinner and go crash again.
Usually we wake up about 4-5 am and are really hungry. I always pack snack foods for us. We have cheese and crackes, protein bars, dried fruit, that kind of stuff. We also have bottles of water and juice. (I have a diet pepsi heehee)
We chow down a bit and then go back to sleep.
We get up for breakfast, usually after this we go shopping for supplies and check out where we are. Then by 11 oclock or so we are pooped out and take another nap.
By the time we wake up all bright eyed and bushy tailed we go down in the lobby and watch all the other fencers show up for the competition. They look terrible. We kind of laugh.
I can't see how you can make up for a lack of sleep without sleeping. Staying up and that kind of thing seems to just exacerbate the problem.
My daughter has an excellent trainer therapist who takes care of top notch athletes. He says that our way is good. That it helps the body adjust and be in premium condition. We figured this out already but most coaches don't believe lowly mothers and kids.
We also spend an extra day after the competition for her to rest and heal up. She works out in the exercise room of the hotel, or we go for a huge walk. Then she lies down and rests. It helps us hit the ground running when we get back to the US.
Sometimes we actually get to stay and sight see, but that is kind of rare, sadly.
We make about 10-12 trips a year to Europe and Asia for her fencing.
UGHHHH

Momster

[soliteyah]

I can't see how you can make up for a lack of sleep without sleeping. Staying up and that kind of thing seems to just exacerbate the problem.

Momster, sounds like you have a pretty good strategy worked out there -- sleep, sleep and more sleep! (Sounds good to me. ) I think many travelers (including me) don't want to miss a minute of their trip by sleeping away part of it in the beginning, so we force ourselves to stay awake and go see the sights, even if we're too tired to appreciate them. On my last trip to Europe, I scheduled a visit to a museum for my first afternoon, and I could barely keep my eyes open barely 20 minutes into my time there. I probably should have just sucked it up and taken a nap so that I could enjoy the museum the next day! Maybe I'll try your way next time.

[LSKahn]

I recently traveled to Chile (2 hour time difference during US winter and their summer; no time difference during US summer and Chilean winter). It was 2 1/2 hours to Miami and 8 1/2 hours to Santiago. Going I took an ambien and slept almost not at all. Coming home I took nothing and slept at least briefly on both flights.

You figure.

P.S. I still haven't figured out how to deal with jet lag and plane travel. I just wish they had a quiet section in coach where there would be just water and drinks, no dinner, no lights and no movies.

[soliteyah]

I still haven't figured out how to deal with jet lag and plane travel. I just wish they had a quiet section in coach where there would be just water and drinks, no dinner, no lights and no movies.

Haha, the way the airline industry is going, I wouldn't be surprised if someday this was all *anyone* in coach got!

[goodspkr]

It really depends.

We have traveled from Denver to Singapore (and beyond) a number of times. We have found a way to acclimate to this travel. We leave Denver early in the morning. It is a three hour flight to Seattle where we change planes for a flight to Tokyo. We then fly to Singapore arriving at midnight Singapore time.

We get up very early (3 am) for our flight to Seattle. This means we are a bit tired. We stay up on the flight to Seattle. After changing planes and eating lunch on the Tokyo flight, we then sleep. You have to sleep then if you want this to work. When we get to Tokyo, we shower and clean up to help us stay awake going to Singapore. The flight to Singapore is about 6 hours and again you must stay up during this time.

At the Singapore airport we stay at the transit hotel, find it easy to fall asleep for about six hours waking up to go on the last leg of our trip. We are basically on the new time zone at this time.

We've also traveled to Buenos Aires a couple of times and find this to be the easiest. BsAs is 4 hours ahead of Denver. We just stay on Denver time. Since they don't eat in the evening until 9 or 10 pm, and since this is 5 or 6 pm in Denver, it works great!

Both flights are redeye flights and sleeping is easy and when you get to the destination you are fine.

[Host Bonjour]

I tend to recommend against anything chemical, i.e. too much along the lines of tranqulizers or alcohol. The alcohol will only dehydrate you in an already dry compartment which is not an amenable aid against jet lag. Your body requires hydration, so does your skin, and lots of it. One can either purchase those Evian "vaporasiteurs" (a face mister with evian water) or simply buy whatever size spritz bottle is allowed on the plane and fill it with evian or whichever water you like and lightly mist your face, neck, arms etc. Keep a few soft tissue packs handy, natch. On long haul flights, one should be able to get as much bottled water as one should like. Drink it, and, as tempting as it is to get the free wine etc (from whomever is still serving it, internationally) I would stop at one of the little bottles and go no further. It should really be enough to relax you and not send you into dehydration.

Now I know there are some nervous flyers and I KNOW that it is darn near impossible to sleep in Coach, I don't recommend taking anything too strong to sleep IF ONLY in the case of an EMERGENCY or, just a temporary situation where your attention is needed, which is likely the worst (and very unlikely) situation anyone might encounter, one would need to be able to reclaim their faculties without too much difficutly. Some over the counter sleep aids are not very strong but some folks react easily to these things and might not easily awake; ditto for some of the newer RX non-addictive sleep aids (not tranquilizers) which count on the user to be able to sleep uninterrupted for at least 8 hours.

Perhaps there are some herbal remedies or teas that might be somewhat more relaxing though not as sedating (Sleepytime tea, etc; Melatonin) that has a much lighter effect on the body. I am thinking only safety here folks. I know everyone wants to be comfortable and wants to arrive fresh as a daisy but the truth is, it's tiresome traveling and it's difficult crossing time zones.

The newer TSA travel rules have made traveling more tiresome; it's just not as easy and carefree being at the airport anymore! Everyone is looking at everyone. I saw someone off at JFK recently and those darn baggage X-ray machines are so loud and huge it made me wonder what parts of my body might be mutated just by standing near it!! One can't help but wonder anymore, even if it isn't a bit ridiculous!!

What I might recommend are the things one might do at home; things like reading (especially reading up on your destination!) or listening to pleasant music (all the better with the newer, noise cancelling headsets) and DRESSING COMFORTABLY for travel - gone are the days of suits and dresses we see on my fave movie channel, TCM, where everyone is SO chic on board these old prop planes (and smoking, lol!) You can still choose a smart looking 2 piece set with top, Gents, your fave khakis or sport pants, and BRING YOUR SLIPPERS FOR LATER when everyone's feet swell up on account of the air pressure in the cabin, and you get chilly. Pull down the window shade since you might likely pass a sunrise or sunset while you are trying to sleep, bring a sleep mask (these things are great - sometimes I use them at home after a bout of insomnia) and you may not get 8 hours but YOU WILL sleep a couple of hours.

Most of all, plan for your first day or two to be on the easy side, if at all possible. Maybe start out a little and come back for a nap; ask for a wake up call or set and alarm so you can go back out. Our bodies are machines and they are programmed, just like most everything else! We can't expect it to just reboot and be off and running. There's no Ctrl-Alt-Del for Jet-Lag. We just have to ease into it and take care of ourselves; if we do so, our bodies will cooperate and catch up if we treat them well!! Push them hard and like our computers, we crash. Take it easy - look around where you are and just ENJOY I just worry about the artificial stuff and chemicals in the body (aside from medically necessary RX's of course!!) for knock-outs.

I'm not a nervous flier; my Dad is a private pilot and I understand aeronautics and I've flown all over the world; turbulence actually helps me feel sleepy, I like a rocking feeling (yes, I realize that sounds nuts but I know the jet is not in jeopardy and the captain is going to move the plane out of it fast) when I need to sleep! Flying is safe, but no one is selling me a bed on a plane - they are selling me a seat. So, that means I'm going to be tired. The quote in the compilation of my Australia trip, taking a walk on day one, is/was good advice for the tired traveller. You're out there, getting started and not over-doing it; making mental notes or pencilling in plans for your next day or two. Remember what they always said during fire drills in school - walk, don't run!! It applies to jet lag as well!!


PS: The only "easy" jet lag recovery I had was on a JFK-NAR-HKG trip which took 19 hours all total but we had two hours on ground in Narita (Tokyo) before going on to Hong Kong. It just worked out that we landed in HK at night and so I GOT to see the once phenomenal landing we use to get coming into now closed (they use it but not for commercial flights) Kai Tak airport, was greeted by my friends, got to her apartment in Causeway Bay and went to sleep! I slept normal and next day woke up and felt fine. That was the only EASY time. It might have helped that on the Narita-HK leg, I had a business class seat (dumb luck) and passed out in it so the nap might have prepped me, but I thank the Chinese gent who woke me up to see that landing! WHOW! Supposedly there is a simulation of it on YouTube - it was and still is the most awesome airport arrival, ever! You have to see it. And also the easiest time/travel acclamation but that was 11 years ago so it might be harder if I were to do it now, can't say. Eastbound Red-Eye from Vegas was KILLER; well, America West s**ked too Come to think of it, we flew early evening, landed evening in Vegas and I still went to bed pathetically early for Vegas in '99, but again - those AW planes were torture. And I don't gamble.

[Tkellrn1]

Hi Everyone...........a Few Years Back On The First Of Many Trips From Florida's Space Coast To Hawaii, We Found That Flying All Day Got Us Nothing But Trouble In A Physical Sense........we Were So Excited To Take Our First Real Vacation We Could Not Wait. We Left Orlando International Early That Morning And Arrived In Hawaii At 3 Pm Hawaii Time Which Made It 9pm Est. We Rented A Car And Drove All Over Oahu Eating Macadamia Nuts And Pineapples..............we Got Back To The Hotel At 7pm Hawaii Time 1am Est. I Fell Asleep In My Soup At Dinner...................the Next Year We Made Arrangements To Stay Overnite In Ssan Francisco,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,did Some Shopping And Sightseeing Then An 8pm Flight To Oahu, Arrived At 11 Pm To Bed And Refreshed The Next Day. This Seemed To Work For Combating Our Jet Lag....hope It Works For You.

[LuvsDaSun]

I went to Los Angeles from DC for a weekend. For some reason the time reason never hit me. I came back on a red eye on Monday and wasn't supposed to go to work that day but i still felt fine.

[penacu]

I just started using Fly Right Jet Lag formula. It's an liquid herbal formula that works better than anything I've tried. On my last business trip to Europe I was able to stay up through the day without being so dead tired as I usually am- flying from SF in the morning and getting to London 24 hours later (UK time). I know not one thing works for everybody, but you should definitely check this out if you travel internationally: www.jetlagformula.com

Happy Travels!

[couchsurfer]

You must go to sleep!!!! however possible...teas...music..eye mask...nightquil....whatever possible...SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP

[LarryMcL]

My technique is to get out into bright sunlight for as long as possible soon after arrival.
Be sure to wear sunscreen.
Take a long walk or whatever will keep you awake until 'normal' bedtime the first day.

[aussieroo1]

Anti jetlag pills may work for some, but here are some easy, natural ways to follow. Avoid drinking alcoholic beverages on the flight and make sure to get some rest and shuteye throughout the whole flight.

[RichardNika]

The best way, and a lot of people agree with me, is to force yourself immediately into the time pattern at your destination and stay awake until it's bedtime there.

Last year, we flew from Miami to Novosibirsk, Siberia. Three flights, a 9+ hour redeye Miami-Paris/CDG (one of my most hated airports), and then a 4 hour redeye from Moscow to Novo the FOLLOWING night. Early morning arrival at Novo, and a 2 PM gathering. 11 hour time difference. We toughed it out, went to bed at a normal hour, and were fine the next morning.

[iTraveler]

I travel long haul around 4 or 5 times a year. I think many people confuse jet lag with sleep deprivation. Missing a night’s sleep or staying up way past your normal sleep time isn’t going to help in my experience. You need to sleep enough to satisfy your own sleep needs and I need about 9 hours a night which I regard as more of a sleep affliction!

If you need to sleep on the flight, I find keeping warm and comfortable, using an eye mask and ear plugs, keeping hydrated and using Melatonin does make me sleep. Avoid tea, coffee, sugar and alcohol.

The second part is to adjust your body clock to the new time zone. How you do this depends if you are travelling east or west. These days, I can get myself to sleep at the right time in a new time zone and I do take melatonin to do this. I find it works great with no unwanted effects. It’s not a sleeping pill, it’s actually substituting your body’s own melatonin. Often when it is night at our new time zone our body is not producing any melatonin of its own, because our sleep/wake cycle thinks it’s still day time. This is one of the reasons why we can’t sleep.

I’ve read loads of stuff on this and found once I understood jet lag, I could prepare for it before hand and even predict when I would feel sleepy and when I would not, even on a journey I had never been on before. I could then make steps to counter the unwanted effects. If you want to get a quick understanding of the mechanics of jet lag then this site is well worth a visit. It has a pdf you can download explaining sleep/wake cycles and adjustment: www.1jetlag.com.

[Host Bonjour]

As another has mentioned a lot depends upon whether or not you are traveling east or west, how many hours (time zones) you are crossing, or perhaps crossing the international date line (that was a CHALLENGE!! )) and, I think this is key.....whether or not one can sleep well on a plane. Some people, even in Coach, I see sleeping easily and uninterrupted throughout a long flight and honestly, I envy them. While I have NO trouble whatsoever flying, I simply cannot sleep on a plane, with an eye mask or ear plugs, lights out, pillow, blanket....it simply won't work. Only time I slept on a plane was when I got lucky and had a business class seat on a connecting flight to get me from Tokyo to my end destination in Hong Kong. Don't think I was in the seat 5 minutes before I passed out. Unfortunately, that was just luck and I'm a coach traveler. I'm petite and so I fit in a coach seat fairly well, room for me. Could be some of the "stale, stagnant air" that gets to me, feeling cold, or just passengers next to me that are, well, annoying. Nevertheless, I cannot sleep and I will not take drugs (RX's) to go to sleep while on the plane in the event of an emergency, I feel I would need to be lucid.
It should be said however, that Air New Zealand's coach has to be the finest and most room I have ever encountered, with comfy headrests, foot rests and wider seats. Let's face it....if you're going to expect people to stay calm on a 17 hour flight, you need to make them feel comfortable, and they did an amazing job. More about the Aussie Jet lag later!!

I've generally gotten used to the European "morning arrival" being tired from the trip jet lag but can usually get myself going after getting settled into wherever I'm staying, whether it's with friends or a hotel, and then, hit the streets and begin my adventure. I know that day will probably not be a late night but I'll make a good day of it, get to bed, probably sleep a little bit late the next day but the excitement of knowing where I am will get me up out of bed and off to breakfast and out for the day, which I planned the night before, prior to passing out! It DOES take a little time till you feel quite right but you know what? I have days like that at home too and I just keep going anyway - we all do! Why would I let it stop me when I am in an exciting vacation destination? I've got things to do/see/experience and I will take breaks in between the day - don't we do that at home too? Pacing oneself on a trip is key to enjoying oneself on a trip and to ensure we don't *miss* anything along the way because we are too fatigued by pushing too hard. The fact that there ever WAS a time difference begins to melt away rather quickly.

Coming back east home seems to go a bit better, you arrive home in the afternoon generally (I try to) and after all the to/from airport jaunts, dragging around luggage, customs etc., yes, I'm tired but you know what? It's an OK time for me to feel a bit tired. I generally "settle in again" LOL, and soon enough comes dinner time, I have a COMPULSIVE need to unpack everything when I return, which I cannot explain.....ODD.....and so by the time that is done it's time for bed and more or less, I might wake up a little tired the next day but overall, fairly well, nonetheless for the wear of traveling. And right back on local time.

Going from North America to Australia/New Zealand??? I had to do cross country first to get to LAX for departure to Sydney. Long enough flight but only 3 hours time difference. Spent the entire day in the airport as these flights tend to leave very late at night, mostly I think so you arrive in the morning by the time you finally, FINALLY get there. Which is what I did, like 8am local time on a Monday morning. I left LA at 11:30pm Saturday night, PST. Yeah, It seems like I traveled for two days and NEARLY felt like it too. I did sleep a bit on that flight because as I mentioned earlier, Air New Zealand's coach was awesome. Tip: Often, Qantas and Air New Zealand sometimes offer very decent priced uprades to Business Class on flights.....it doesn't happen all the time but when it does, and the price is right, I have seen phenomenal upgrade prices that I have NEVER seen for Euro flights and if you have the means (we're talking reachable here, for probably more travelers than you're thinking right now) I'd highly suggest splurging and taking the option. You'll sleep even more than I did, and enjoy better amenities. Mostly do it for the sleep. That said, in flight we were served something like 3-4 meals.....saw about 4 movies and kept receiving warm cloths to refresh ourselves with. Nice, nice flight for a long, long haul.

So I arrived and got to my hotel, FULLY PREPARED TO GO TO SLEEP AT ABOUT 9AM, that was MY plan. It was not the plan of my lovely innkeeper. She knew better and was determined to get me on local time like IMMEDIATELY and so she instructed me to take a shower (I had unspeakable visions in my head as I listened to all this talk, LOL!) and get changed and she'd map me out a "lovely walk" to take to get accustomed to the city. GREAT!!!!!!! So I did what she said, I took her mapped out walk and where do I end up? Looking at the Sydney Opera House, Harbor Bridge and am now standing in front of what I had always dreamed of seeing and being in a place I didn't know I'd ever get to!! ADRENALINE RUSH IN ACTION!! Well that carried me through most of the rest of the day and I managed to make until about 8-9pm local time and then go to sleep. Do you know that by morning, I was on local time and felt fine? I could not believe it but was really happy because I was ready to go and explore and have FUN!! No problems whatsoever.
Coming home from Down Under is rather strange though because you almost literally arrive on the same day and time that you left, as you are traveling backwards, for lack of a better description - you "give back" the extra day you picked up when you crossed the Int'l Date line - only fair I suppose! Time is what it is. Funny thing is, I have very little memory of the trip home. I just remember walking around the plane a lot and deciding that, in lieu of a prison system, Wardens could just put inmates on a plane for 22 hours and they'd just start jumping out because it's an AWFULLY long time to be in the air for. WORTH IT?? YES YES YES YES. Australia, New Zealand and Fiji are amazing places to see, be, experience and explore. Words cannot do justice to the amazing things one will see & do in this gorgeous, friendly, amazing part of the world. There is NO PLACE like it on earth, believe me I've covered a lot of it. And YES, I'd do it again (and plan to, my friends are waiting for me in NZ on South Island!!) and endure the flight trauma to get there. It's THAT WORTH IT!! Just know it won't be easy.

I think the traveling part is hard, as is getting settled in and trying to get immediately on local time after that amount of traveling......but I was lucky and had someone "coax" me into it (an experienced innkeeper!) and without her I'd have wasted a day of my trip. I literally wanted to collapse when I arrived in Sydney. EXHAUSTED. But I got a big push and well, what's the sense of traveling if you're not willing to get right into it? Aussies and Kiwis are some of the nicest people on earth and I guess my innkeeper knew too that I should not miss a thing either - she helped me enjoy every minute of day one when I never thought I could. This would be, I think, the hardest jet lag trip to try to deal with, although RichardNika's trip to Siberia sounds like it was not easy at all. For me, flying to Asia was a piece of cake. 17 hours total (with a 2 hour break in between) but great departure and arrival times, made it possible for me to arrive right about bedtime, and wake up feeling refreshed the next day and ready to go. 12 hour time difference, surprisingly easy to take on, with that flying time.....it was 12 hours east coast to Tokyo, then 5 hours Tokyo - Hong Kong. Worked out perfect.

I've not yet been to Africa and I plan to go someday. I don't know what kind of flight times to expect but I expect it to be long if I get to South Africa. Same thing for India. Now that I know what I know from having crossed the date line, and other long hauls, I know to rely on locals for help on getting onto local time. I am an intrepid traveler and make immediate contact with locals as I rely on them greatly for my travels and adventures and making new friends - that is a big goal of mine when I travel....making new friends.

Dealing with the jet lag, I think it works different for a lot of people. It's never "easy" but it can be managed in a variety of ways. Our bodies are NOT all the same and so different things will work for different people. We can all just share our experiences and habits and maybe something will resonate with someone else and help. That's why we are a "travel community" all here to come and share our experiences and ideas with one another.

Now isn't it great that we have IndependentTraveler.com to come and chat about these topics? I've been happy helping here for 14 years and you know which trip brought me here, and to my present post as a Host? The Australia/NZ/Fiji trip!! I needed help planning that trip and THIS is where I came for that help It was a great trip, in more ways than one.......I had the trip of a lifetime and I got to become part of this awesome website and share with all of our wonderful members!!

Now can anyone dog-sit for me? LOL I have open invitations to friend's homes in England and Germany but I can't find a reliable dog-sitter - she's a really good dog!! I love my little furry one but I need a vacation! Jet lag? Not a problem. Dog sitter? Difficult, LOL

[RichardNika]

Got a chuckle about the Australia-US date mixup. My first full day in Sydney - this was years ago - I drove to a house for a social gathering I'd been invited to. Someone finally came to the door and told me it had been held the day before. Then I remembered <sigh> The upside was that that reminder saved me from driving out to a stadium to attend an oldies rock concert that I'd planned to go to tha night. Of course, it had actually been held the night before.

During a trip to India 30 years ago, I called home from Calcutta (I had to go to the main post office to do it) thinking well, OK, I won't wake anyone up - I was thinking in terms of the 5 to 6 hour US-Europe time difference. I'd fotgotten that US-India was 10 1/2 hours, and of course I woke everyone up.

[Beankyu]

Thanks a lot for ur sharing.
It's really helpful for me ^^

[patdi]

Travelling from Australia to the UK is a trial but the return trip is worse! last time I used Sennheiser PXC 250 noise cancelling earphones and felt so much better! They don't completely cut the noise but deaden it sufficiently so I even got some sleep - very unusual for me! The earphones are also quite small, so easy to carry about. I also do my best to keep hydrated but do enjoy alcohol too. I also up the garlic pills (odourless, of course!) for a week or two before departure to help keep the germs away.