How bad is overnight jet lag - US east coast to Barcelona?

[daring]

Anyone done this? I've been reading about how bad jet lag can be. :eek: Do you think we will feel like touring Barcelona at 8:35 in the morning after flying all night or should we just try to go to the ship and lay down somewhere as soon as possible?

[ddavis539]

The best way to fight off jet lag is to try to get with the local time as soon as possible. Arriving in Europe early in the morning is a challenge, because you'll need to try to keep busy and stay awake until evening time in Europe before going to bed, even though your body will want to go to bed in the afternoon. Even then, you're likely to wake up around 3 or 4 AM the next morning. Normally the 2nd day is much better and by the 3rd, you should be fully adjusted to local time.

[ab0si]

Jetlag varies quite a bit from one person to the next and varies for a variety factors for the same person. I can tell you from personal experience that it gets worse as one gets older.

 

Regardless of how good, bad or indifferent you feel when you arrive in Barcelona, I suggest that you do NOT hit the sack. You will get over the blahs faster if you accept the local time. Some people take a short nap in the afternoon; I do better by by not napping at all. I stay awake through dinner and then go to bed.

 

Sunlight and exercise help me quite a bit. So, I would stay active and see a few sites in Barcelona. Something else that really helps me is a shower and change of clothes.

[ger_77]

We had more trouble coming back home than when we began our trip. We flew from Western Canada to Athens return and although we were a little tired the first day, we slept like babies when we went to bed onboard that night. It took us almost a week to get ourselves back on track once we got home. If I were you, I'd try to get some sleep on the airplane and stay awake as long as you can before going to bed at what would be your normal bedtime hour on the clock onboard.

 

Smooth Sailing! :):):)

[hylasgirl]

I agree... for some reason we have a harder time coming home, even though the hours are more right.

 

Our first trip, I worried about it, but truthfully it wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be. I think the adrenalin of going on vacation and getting somewhere exciting helps a LOT!

 

Keep going... don't go to bed... walk around and get to bed at an early hour. You will feel like a human again in the morning.

[lattelover]

You should be just fine if you follow a few rules.

 

1. Make sure you're well rested before you leave. Since I'm from Calif, that's a 9 hours time difference, and have found it helps the adjustment to try to re-set our body clocks some before we leave, so we work at getting up earlier each week for the 4-8 weeks before the trip, aiming for waking at 4 am PT the week before we leave. (This does mean going to sleep at 8pm, so it can be hard to do.) This puts us on east coast time, and it does seem to help, so you'll probably be ok on your normal schedule. You could try getting up an hour or two earlier than normal the couple of weeks before, and you'd be ahead of the game!

 

2. On the flight, drink lots (but not coffee or alcohol), eat lightly (avoid lots of sugar), and try to sleep 2-3 hours. I take an eye mask & neck roll, and OTC sleeping pills. When they start the movie is a good time to go to sleep.

 

3. Stay awake the first day until an early local bedtime. The best way I've found to do this is to keep moving. Don't make the mistake I did and have a glass of wine while sitting at a sidewalk cafe in the afternoon. It did me in! Consider a sleep aid to ensure you get at least 7 hours of sleep the first night there. It's common to wake up in the middle of the night, even if you don't normally have trouble sleeping.

 

Have fun!

[hylasgirl]

You should be just fine if you follow a few rules.

 

1. Make sure you're well rested before you leave. Since I'm from Calif, that's a 9 hours time difference, and have found it helps the adjustment to try to re-set our body clocks some before we leave, so we work at getting up earlier each week for the 4-8 weeks before the trip, aiming for waking at 4 am PT the week before we leave. (This does mean going to sleep at 8pm, so it can be hard to do.) This puts us on east coast time, and it does seem to help, so you'll probably be ok on your normal schedule. You could try getting up an hour or two earlier than normal the couple of weeks before, and you'd be ahead of the game!

 

2. On the flight, drink lots (but not coffee or alcohol), eat lightly (avoid lots of sugar), and try to sleep 2-3 hours. I take an eye mask & neck roll, and OTC sleeping pills. When they start the movie is a good time to go to sleep.

 

3. Stay awake the first day until an early local bedtime. The best way I've found to do this is to keep moving. Don't make the mistake I did and have a glass of wine while sitting at a sidewalk cafe in the afternoon. It did me in! Consider a sleep aid to ensure you get at least 7 hours of sleep the first night there. It's common to wake up in the middle of the night, even if you don't normally have trouble sleeping.

 

Have fun!

 

AND, you won't have to worry about this in Barcelona, but NEVER take a sightseeing boat ride. You will be OUT! :p

 

Wander... walk... enjoy the foreign place you just landed in. It's really not too hard to enjoy when you get there because it's just so different. DO NOT enjoy one of the famous HUGE Sangrias. By the time you are done, you won't be able to stand up.

[daring]

Lots of good ones - I've made notes.

 

Thanks again

[themnms]

very good idea about getting up earlier!! We usually just try to stay awake until 8pm European time..then up early the next day or so..

[harrodsfan]

Sunlight and exercise help me quite a bit. So, I would stay active and see a few sites in Barcelona. Something else that really helps me is a shower and change of clothes.

 

REally the best suggestions. also eat on the new time. and snack or have coffee when you start to fade.

REally best to keep going.

Also if you do wake up stay in bed with the lights off and rest. Boring but helps. If you turn the light on your body will think it is morning.

Also I do use Ambien the first few nights. but it does give you strange dreams.

[lisiamc]

I've worked out a different system over the years. I travel from the US to the UK and back a few times every year. In the past few years I've started having a two-hour (maximum) nap as soon as I can get to a bed (or a suitable flat-ish surface!) after I arrive in the UK. This revives me enough to keep going until UK bedtime, and after that I'm fine.

 

This goes against all the advice others have given, but if it works for me, it might work for someone else as well. I can't be the only weird one, can I?:D

 

Lisa

[ab0si]

I've worked out a different system over the years. I travel from the US to the UK and back a few times every year. In the past few years I've started having a two-hour (maximum) nap as soon as I can get to a bed (or a suitable flat-ish surface!) after I arrive in the UK. This revives me enough to keep going until UK bedtime, and after that I'm fine.

 

This goes against all the advice others have given, but if it works for me, it might work for someone else as well. I can't be the only weird one, can I?:D

 

Lisa

 

Actually a short nap is what is usually recommended. It just does not work for me, but it seems to work best for many/most.

[ab0si]

I agree... for some reason we have a harder time coming home, even though the hours are more right.

 

 

I read somewhere that studies show approximately 15% have more trouble going west while the other 85% have more trouble going east.

 

If someone really cares, I can find the reference.

[insidecabin]

Get noice cancelling headphones they make the trip that much more pleasent

If you watch a movie or listen to music you can have the volume much lower so is more resting.

 

When sleeping you hardly here the chatter going on around you so you sleep deeper.

 

For the US-UK I get up early that morning, have a couple of beers at the airport before the flight , start to relax on the plane, eat the meal and sleep. I find alcohol helps with the sleep this will not work for everyone if you eat at the airport you can skip the meal on the flight and get more sleep hours.

 

Something I have yet to try but some people say works for them is try to find a day flight, Seems some people can cope with a short day easier than a short night.

[Maddog2009]

As a former navigator in the Air Force, I have traveled a lot overseas. When I arrived in Europe and had free time, I would check in my hotel. I would take a shower and change clothes if the room was available and then hit the city sightseeing. Then I would have a light lunch and walk around some more trying to get back to the hotel around 5pm. I would rest a bit (don't sleep) and get out of the room around 6:30 or 7pm for dinner. If the hotel had a spa, I would attempt a massage to work out the kinks in the back caused by those wonderful seats we would have and then tour around the city.

[twoputt.plusone]

We did this last fall and to be honest, I was very worried how my husband would handle the flight and time changes. My biggest concern was how to get some rest or sleep on the overnight flight. We had an early morning connection in Amsterdam. Pre-planning helped a lot. I researched the internet and ordered 2 First Class Sleeper inflatible pillows which worked for both of us like a charm and I highly recommend. I also packed our own small travel blankets, ear plugs and sleep masks. Although it wasn't like sleeping in our own bed, it wasn't too bad. During the flight, stay away from alcohol and caffeinated drinks. Better yet stick to water - lots of water. We were alert enough for a 2 hour tour of Barcelona. Once we got into our cabin, we had a shower, very short nap and were good until it was time for an early bedtime.

 

2P.P1

[Desert Cruizers]

We hope to do our first Med soon and also coming from Calif, we plan on getting the long flight over with first, do a 7 day Med, then continue with the TA back to the States, b2b this way we don't have two long flights. We will let our ship provide us a relaxing trip home, then a short flight to our home city. This is providing the schedule isn't changed. Earliest we can do this is 2011. Need to save up.

[2dogcarol]

My brother is an airline pilot and he flies overseas every week. He says he always goes to bed immediately for about four hours and then he is good to go until late at night. My mother and I usually stay up all day and we crash around 6pm. He is meeting us in Barcelona that first morning to show us around. We're going to do it his way this time and we'll see how it works.

[tropical-lovers]

We have an overnight flight from Boston to Barcelona in September. We were thinking if we could sleep for a good portion of the flight, when we arrive in Barcelona around 8:00 a.m. or so, shower, if our hotel room is ready early, then go sightseeing for a good portion of the day, we should be fine. (I hope!) We have never been overseas before.

 

I too agree that the excitement of the vacation itself would be enough to keep us up and focused!

 

We are not too concerned about the return trip, if we have jet lag @ home, who cares. I just don't want to be too tired for our cruise and miss anything!!

[bqkali]

We are flying to Barcelona in about three weeks and I'm already dreading the jet lag :cool: I've never been able to sleep on a plane, which means by the time I land at BCN I will be exhausted!! Somehow I am hoping to see some of Barca. that first day - we have such a short time in Barcelona that I would hate to waste most of that day.

[CathyCruises]

I find that I have an easy time heading to Europe. We try to sleep a little on the plane; then just shower when we check into our hotels. Keep ourselves busy and keep moving. If we nap, it is for a very short time (1 hour max), then back up and moving again. We go to bed 9-10 PM local time, and when we awaken the next morning we are back to normal.

 

Coming home it is a different story! I struggle so hard to stay awake until 9 (of course I am at home, in my comfy chair, etc.) but force myself to do it for the first 3-4 days--much harder for me coming westward!

 

Cathy

[agabbymama]

On my trips to Europe, I prefer to arrive early morning, stay awake all day, then ready for bed on European time.

 

For our Med cruise in Oct '08, we flew LAX roundtrip to Paris, arrived at Charles de Gaulle at 8:15 am. Retrieved our baggage, caught the Air France Bus to Gare de Lyon to store luggage. Started out to explore Paris on the Batobus for about 5 hours. Back to Gare de Lyon for the luggage, back to the airport for the flight to Rome. We arrived in Rome at 9:15 pm, got our luggage, found our shuttle, arrived at our hotel at 10:30 pm. Checked in, straight to bed. Slept soundly until 8:00 am the next morning. No more jet lag, we were on Italy time.

[bqkali]

On my trips to Europe, I prefer to arrive early morning, stay awake all day, then ready for bed on European time.

 

This would also be our ideal situation, but I'm having doubts as to its practicality since it will be 17 hours from the time we leave home for the airport in the US until the time we land in Barcelona...then we still would have 12 hours until a "normal" bedtime - from an 8:45am arrival to a 9pm bedtime.

 

Will adrenaline or sunshine really keep you going for 29 hours straight? I can't sleep on planes (trust me, I've tried everything) and I have trouble believing that without a nap of some sort that I will be able to make it until 9pm or later local time. Assuming our room isn't ready when we arrive so that we can't shower or cat nap, does anyone have any tips for making it through the day? We are planning on heading to Las Ramblas, La Boqueria, and Montjuic so we will be walking outside - will that be enough? Seems to me that caffeine would just throw our schedule off even more.

[Cruzer Two]

My suggestions vary a little from some of the other recommendations on coping with jet lag.

 

After you arrive at the airport and check-in for your overnight flight go straight to the airport lounge and have a couple of cocktails.

 

If you are lucky enough to be sitting in Business Class have a couple of glasses of Champaign while the other passengers are boarding.

 

After takeoff have a couple more cocktails before the dinner service begins.

 

During the meal service have several glasses of red wine with your meal.

 

After your desert have a couple of liqueurs - my favorites are Drambuie or Grand Marnier.

 

Next, put on your eye shades; recline your seat to the sleep position; and take a long nap.

 

Approximately six hours later the flight attendant will awake you for a nice breakfast.

 

You will have had a great flight and arrive in Barcelona refreshed and ready for touring.

 

CruzerTwo aka CruzerToo:cool:

[agabbymama]

Cruzer Two, You've got to be kidding. After all that alcohol, I would be a zombie, not wake refreshed.

 

bqkali, I too have trouble sleeping on the plane, but do manage to cat nap and get maybe 4 hours of sleep during the whole journey. Leaving LAX at 12:30 pm, we arrived in Paris at 8:15 am the next morning. Traveled all around Paris, making it back to the airport for our 7:00 flight to Rome. Arriving at 9:15 pm and at our hotel at 10:30 pm. So we were on the go pretty much for 34 hours, if you take away the 4 hours sleep, that would make it 30 hours. We were tired puppies, but it is doable. And slept like babies until 8:00 am the next morning. We awoke with no jet lag at all that second day.

 

Good luck. You have a variety of remedies to try. Hope one of them works for you.