Jet Lag...What are your tips

[trbarton]

Just found this on the Princess Facebook page from a flight attendant. Since I haven’t been on a long flight, 14 1/2 hrs for a long time besides myself perhaps this could be helpful to others. 

 

One thing that I always do is to set my phone/watch to the time where I’m going. When I leave San Francisco at 9:30 pm on Qantas it will be 3:30 pm in Sydney. A challenge will be to act like it’s 3:30 pm & what I’d be doing at that time. 

 

What tips/suggestions do you have?

 

Tom😀

[CaboWabo62]

Arrive a day early to embarkation city and find a nice hotel for the night. We have found this to be the best method to not arrived stressed and worn out from Travel. 

 

 

[Aus Traveller]

The recommendations from the Flight Attendant are great. I would also emphasize that you should drink a lot of water while on the plane. I live in Australia so flights of 20-24 hours are quite common.

[OzKiwiJJ]

That's assuming you can get a lot of water on your flight. Some airlines don't provide much water unless you hassle them for it.

[Joanne G.]

What has worked for me, assuming an overnight flight in which you arrive in the morning, is to avoid the temptation to take a nap upon arrival as that can extend the adjustment time.  Get outside as some sunshine helps reset your inner clock.  Plan some activities - we found the hop-on, hop-off bus tour in Rome to be a good idea as it was outdoors and interesting but also low stress.  Tough it out during the day, have dinner in early evening local time and go to bed based on local time.  I have done this a few times, and every time, by the next morning, I have felt rested and ready to go.    And I totally agree to arrive a day or two before your cruise, for the jet lag reason and for the reason to avoid the stress of any problem with your flights.   

[The Wilkies]

Agree with Joanne G. Tough it out and never go to bed until your normal bed time, no matter what time your internal body clock thinks it is. Our one exception, when flying back to UK from any western  destination , usually land about 5 / 6 am. On arriving home go straight to bed but set alarm for a couple of hours. Then get on with the day as normal until bed time.  

 

And never, ever, fly in on the day of your cruise. Not a jet lag thing, more like worrying about flight delays and the possibility of the ship sailing without you.

[katrina915]

I usually don't sleep much on overnight flights, so I take the aisle seat so that I can get up and walk every hour.  

 

I wouldn't be able to take a shower at arrival- it would relax me and I would want to sleep.

 

Game plan:   stay awake until night no matter what.  Walk and walk and get sunlight.  No museums or something that you have to pay too much attention to. 

[LSGDRG]

I try to fly airlines that offer free stopovers.  It helps to break up the really long flights and allows me to gradually adjust to time differences.  If at all possible, I also try to use credit card points to upgrade my seat.  Having the extra leg room and/or a lie flat seat really helps me relax/sleep on the plane.  I arrive less tired.  I also set my schedule to local time once on the plane and take advantage any HoHo bus the first day at my destination.  

[Aus Traveller]

14 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That's assuming you can get a lot of water on your flight. Some airlines don't provide much water unless you hassle them for it.

I get up and walk to the flight attendants' area, and ask for it. On some planes, there is self-service water available in the aisle outside the toilets.

[DrivesLikeMario]

These things help me: 

 

1.  Don't drink caffeine or alcohol on the plane (even when it's free)

2.  Once at the destination, get on "their" schedule immediately.  If that means it's 1:00pm, then go out and walk around, see the sites, have a normal dinner and go to bed a bit early like 9:00pm.  If it's 11:00pm upon arrival at the destination, go to sleep. 

3.  Never think "it's 4:00pm at home right now".  Just completely forget that.  The time is whatever it is right at that moment.

 

Although I never have jet lag, I have a hard time coming home.  It can take me a week to feel like I'm back completely.

 

[Coffeeluvr05]

When we flew SFO to London it was an overnight flight and I did not sleep at all.  By the time we got to our hotel, I was done for.  I think if I had slept some on the plane, I could have gone out and about for a bit in London and then slept the normal bedtime.  I got up the next day just fine and we had a full day, but the next day after that, we slept in until like 10:00 AM and were upset that we had slept part of our day away.

 

So, for our next trip, which leaves CA around 10:30 AM and arrives next day in Spain, I plan on sleeping on the plane some.  The jet lag thing is so confusing because everyone has a different opinion about the matter.  I do know that airplane noise is one of the things that affects how exhausted you feel when you fly so try noise cancelling headphones.  

[OCruisers]

Get on the "new" time immediately  and resist the tempentation to nap.  

[Expat Cruise]

I have made over a hundred of these long trips, Over 24 hours airport to airport and have found a few things to be true.

 

Jet lag seems to be worst if you are flying East.  For me very little Jet Lag flying from Boston to SE Asia flying West.  But the trip from SE Asia to Boston flying East much more.  Drink lots of water, over 24 hours I will drink at least 2 to 3 liters.  Don't drink any alcohol it really makes a difference.  Remove your shoes and have a change of clothes, I always change just before landing fresh clothes seem to bring you back to normal life.  I try to sleep as much as I can on the plane , but whenever I wake up I walk around and drink water. I also have the flight crew wake me up for meals if sleeping. When I get to my destination, I stay outside in the sunlight and then go to bed at the correct local time.  

 

Long flights can be hard but they really do not need to have a major long term effect on you.  For a cruise with a long flight I 100% agree do not try to fly to the port and board the same day. Also many airlines have long lay overs and  most larger international airports have in terminal hotel rooms and  private clubs, used these places & services and your whole trip can change. 

[geoherb]

On our trip this fall to London, we found a daytime flight. We had to get up early to catch our connecting flight to Newark, but flying during the day and arriving in the evening worked out great for us. We got to our hotel around 11 p.m., went to bed, and woke up refreshed the next morning without the jet lag we've experienced with overnight flights. 

[worldtraveller]

Don't know if it is mental or not but we always use the Anti-Jet Lag diet before we go and I never really seem to have an issue.  Also if possible I start a few weeks prior to the trip either getting up an hour or two later or earlier to get part of the time change over before I get there.

[atchisog]

Try and book a 787 aircraft. They have been designed to mitigate jet lag to some degree. (Lower pressurization and higher humidity in cabin)

[foodsvcmgr]

If still working and if you have sufficient vacation time, take off the day after your return flight instead of going immediately back to the job.

[TheRabbit]

On 1/31/2019 at 9:07 PM, trbarton said:

Just found this on the Princess Facebook page from a flight attendant. Since I haven’t been on a long flight, 14 1/2 hrs for a long time besides myself perhaps this could be helpful to others. 

 

One thing that I always do is to set my phone/watch to the time where I’m going. When I leave San Francisco at 9:30 pm on Qantas it will be 3:30 pm in Sydney. A challenge will be to act like it’s 3:30 pm & what I’d be doing at that time. 

 

What tips/suggestions do you have?

 

Tom😀

 

When we have done this, we found taking a sleep aid and getting a good nights sleep on the flight made a difference, We stayed up as late as we could on the flight watching movies and snacking for the first 4 hours then taking the aid.

 

After that, follow advice from Joanne G once you land and get outside, walk around, get some dinner before ever going back to the room to crash. If you crash before 9PM, you will be in the going to bed early, getting up way to early cycle for several days.

[Mary loves to travel]

All tips so far have been good.   Set your watch/phone to local time as soon as the plane takes off. 

Splurge and buy yourself a quart of water in the airport.  

 

As as far as sleeping on the plane:

- wear compression stockings and take your shoes off. 

- put a tote bag under the seat in front of you to rest your feet on.  It helps. 

- wear an eye mask & earplugs 

- I like a light blanket, too 

 

I find if I can get even 3 1/2 or 4 hours, it’s enough to carry me through an easy first day, even landing in the morning. 

 

Mary

 

 

[neverbeenhere]

I’m a believer in the force yourself to the current time method. So, drink coffee, water, liquor or suck on lemons, but force yourself to meet the current time schedule. Stay in that time period as long as possible because coming back can be rough, if the cruise is a short one. 

 

 

[azbirdmom]

We just returned from Singapore and the final leg was 17.5 hours from SFO.  What we usually do if we arrive in the morning is to take a short nap if we can check into our hotel early then get up to explore the city trying to stay awake until a normal bed time for the local time.  This trip we were with friends and didn't nap but instead we explored the city after landing.  I don't sleep well on planes so I was definitely running on fumes.  By 8 PM we crashed and had the best night sleep.  By the next day we were on local time which is 15 hours later than our local time so this definitely was the best plan.

[Kenswing]

Fly business class with lay flat seats and take some happy pills..  lol

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, Mary loves to travel said:

- put a tote bag under the seat in front of you to rest your feet on.  It helps. 

 

I have a blow-up foot rest that I partially inflate then put inside my tote on top of other stuff in there that might be a bit lumpy. It works really well. Go Travel brand, as is the tote bag.

[Bwana Tom]

I received some great advice from a nurse once when we were going on an African safari years ago. Her advice was once you reach your destination try to stay awake the best you can, attempting to match the locals before going to bed. Then take a sleeping pill before going to sleep so you get a complete nights sleep. Voila, once you wake up their time clock has been adjusted. Before using this method of adjustment it would frequently take us up to 7 days to get into the proper swing of things. We have used this methods many times since and it works great. 

[PensFan1028]

We have flown red-eye across the Atlantic twice now to Rome and Barcelona. The plane takes off, you have dinner and then just go to sleep like you would that night. Wake up in the morning 8 hours later like you just slept for the night and you area ready to go. Coming home is a different story and I have no suggestions :)