Eastern to Western Time Zones.

[bdcbbq]

Booking a RT Alaska Cruise from Seattle. Flying from Chicago (CST) or South Bend, IN (EST) to Seattle. I'm having trouble understanding the timing of a reservation to disrupt our normal sleep patterns. Leave early or later in the day to make adjusting easier. Or fly overnight. A brief look seemed to show leaving South Bend is less expensive than leaving from Chicago. Especially since Chicago will have greater parking and a hotel cost. Flight cost plays only a small part of the decision. We want to arrive at least the day before, possibly 2 days. Went LV once and it was not pleasant adjusting to the time change.

 

Thanks for any info.

Edited September 9, 2016 by bdcbbq

[Budget Queen]

It's only an hour departure difference. what you need to look more at is the arrival times, I never have any "time change" problem with such short flights myself, and generally take overnight flights back, since I can tour all day. :)

 

You might want to look at your habits more closely? Are you an early riser, like to sleep late, same with retiring. Then book the flight that matches up best.

[CruiserBruce]

Everybody is different, so our experience may not be the same as yours. You need to act on your experience. We fly to Hawaii frequently- it is 2 or 3 hours time change, depending on daylight savings time. We have little or no problem making that adjustment.

 

As you are flying to the west, it will appear your flight is much shorter as you "gain time". You can leave a little later and still get in at a reasonable time, based on local time.

 

As to which airport is cheaper, it just takes the research, as it sounds like you are doing. However, smaller airports may mean you have more connections to reach your destination.

[fbgd]

You know it's only a 2hr change right? :D

 

Take a nap on the flight and you'll probably kid yourself into thinking you've gone back 2hrs.

[Gardyloo]

You know it's only a 2hr change right? :D

You know that it's 3 to South Bend, right?

[fbgd]

You know that it's 3 to South Bend, right?

 

Well, yes, but two or three really is minimal. I'm surprised a 2hr or 3hr time change is enough to "disrupt sleep patterns"

Edited September 9, 2016 by fbgd

[6rugrats]

I am not sure where "LV" is.

 

Honestly, this is not a big time difference, and you should quickly adapt.

[Alaskanb]

I'm sympathetic with the OP about time changes -- always throw me off.

[epixx]

I am not sure where "LV" is.

 

 

In NV????

[Globaliser]

Booking a RT Alaska Cruise from Seattle. Flying from Chicago (CST) or South Bend, IN (EST) to Seattle. I'm having trouble understanding the timing of a reservation to disrupt our normal sleep patterns. Leave early or later in the day to make adjusting easier. Or fly overnight.

Crossing time zones isn't itself going to make much difference here - it's only 2 or 3 hours. What's going to make you tired is a lack of sleep, if you have to get up very early that day, or if you won't arrive until after the point when your body clock would very much like to go bed. And especially if you fly overnight so that you basically miss an entire night's sleep.

[bdcbbq]

This has been helpful.

[CruisingAlong4Now]

Ignore those posters who minimize your concerns and provide no answers or help. Sleep disruptions are real and people are affected differently.

 

I find that I try to get myself on "vacation time" asap. For example, when flying E to W in the US, I try to get a flight that arrives mid-late afternoon. I am able to have dinner at local time, albeit a little early, and go to sleep, a little later than my body clock, and a little early relative to local time. I tend to wake up early the next day, but I just go slow, and by that evening I've adjusted to the three hr difference.

[bdcbbq]

Ignore those posters who minimize your concerns and provide no answers or help. Sleep disruptions are real and people are affected differently.

 

I find that I try to get myself on "vacation time" asap. For example, when flying E to W in the US, I try to get a flight that arrives mid-late afternoon. I am able to have dinner at local time, albeit a little early, and go to sleep, a little later than my body clock, and a little early relative to local time. I tend to wake up early the next day, but I just go slow, and by that evening I've adjusted to the three hr difference.

 

The sleep patterns of my wife and I are strange. She falls asleep about 7:00 pm and will sleep until midnight or 1 pm then wake up and drift in and out the rest of the night until the dog wants to be fed at 5:00 am. Me I tend to stay up to anywhere from 1:00 - 3:00 am and sleep in until 10:00 am. My time can move around a lot. Depending upon if I fall asleep napping during the day. I'm just trying to figure out how to make the adjustments pre-boarding. I'm also recovering from a recent liver resection needed by liver cancer The surgery was successful, but post surgery I went on to have kidney failure, infections, etc. turning what was supposed to be 5-7 days in the hospital to 25 days. After coming home I developed a pinched nerve in my back and constant pain for the past 2 months. Nerve block didn't help. Some pain medications I can't use or are too strong. Besides, I don't want to use them too much. Hopefully, a lot of my stuff has recovered soon.

 

I'm not booking the trip until January or February as I will have a much better idea that we can follow through. This is sort of a bucket list thing for me. A lot on it, but this is the most practical one to do. I've had 2 different cancers over the past 3 years. Both caught early enough for one surgery to cure them.

[CruisingAlong4Now]

One important aspect of overcoming "jet lag" is not to sleep upon arrival. Assuming you arrive in daylight, stay outside and let the sun regulate your body's melatonin. Alternatively, consult your physician about taking melatonin supplements.

 

I have used these for traveling to Australia, China, and India, all from EST zone. Worked quite well, no side affects. Supplements not needed whilst travelling mainland USA.

 

Best wishes for a healthy outcome from your surgeries.

[Chairsin]

And in the US we can buy the Melatonin with without a prescription. I agree they work well in allowing you to sleep but unlike sleeping pills they do not put you to sleep.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[scottbee]

Booking a RT Alaska Cruise from Seattle. Flying from Chicago (CST) or South Bend, IN (EST) to Seattle. I'm having trouble understanding the timing of a reservation to disrupt our normal sleep patterns. Leave early or later in the day to make adjusting easier. Or fly overnight. A brief look seemed to show leaving South Bend is less expensive than leaving from Chicago. Especially since Chicago will have greater parking and a hotel cost. Flight cost plays only a small part of the decision. We want to arrive at least the day before, possibly 2 days. Went LV once and it was not pleasant adjusting to the time change.

 

Thanks for any info.

 

As you're taking a cruise from Seattle to Alaska, presumably in the summer, you have the time zones wrong. Both Chicago and Seattle switch from standard timezones (UTC -6/8) to daylight timezones (UTC -5/7) in the summer. When you put your clock ahead in the spring, you're not changing the time within your timezone, you're changing which timezone you're in (in your case from CST to CDT)

 

Chicago (in the summer) is in CDT (UTC-5)

Seattle (in the summer) is in PDT (UTC-7)

 

Back to the question at hand, as you're flying west, you wont be doing it overnight as you're chasing the sun. Generally you'll land only 'an hour or two' after you left. Hints to help get over it (heading west). Try to go to sleep a bit later the night before, and sleep in morning of, and avoid coffee. Try and stay up until your normal bedtime when you arrive, and next day it will have all adjusted.