intellectual56

If you live in America it is a long way to Asia. It is about 30 hours if you include all the flying time and connections. As a result I have never gone all the way without stopping.

On one trip to Asia we stopped both ways in Europe for three days (Amsterdam or Frankfurt using Singapore Airlines) Or another we stopped in Tokyo (non stop IAD to Tokyo) for four days to rest.

If you went all the way to your final destination in Asia, how long did it take you to recover? Was it worth it?

Guenmai

It's only 17.5 hours, non-stop from L.A.-Bangkok. If I stop somewhere, it's when I'm on Singapore Air instead of Thai Air and then I'll get off in Singapore and take a day or more to shop before flying the extra 2.5 hours on to Bangkok. The distance is no big deal to me. I usually fly to Asia twice a year for vacation and to Europe once a year for vacation. Sometimes I only have 7-8 days and then back home and to work the next day. I don't have any recovery time. I just do what I have to do...sleep a few hours when I get home and then get up at 6AM and drive to work. I don't sleep at all on planes. Happy Travels!

Kathie

I never do a stopover, but just go straight to my destination. I arrive in Bangkok near midnight, immediately go to my hotel and check in and go to sleep after a long bath. I awake eaerly the next morning, and have pretty much a normal day except that I begin to get tired about 6 pm. I go to bed early that night, but I'm fine for the rest of the trip.

The data on sleep wake cycles says that you are better off doing a long trip like that all at once. A several day stopover means that your body tries to readjust to the stopover time zone, then has to try to readjust to the destination time zone. So you likely suffer from more jetlag by doing the stopovers.

november_moon

We just got back from Asia - we went from SFO to Singapore with a plane change in Hong Kong. It was about 18 hours of flying plus a couple hours lay over and time at the airports on both ends. When all was said and done, I guess we were enroute for about 24 hours. We arrived in Singapore around midnight, checked into the hotel, went out to get something to eat, and then slept. We were pretty much solidly on Singapore time by the next day, except as others have mentioned, we got tired earlier than usual. By the second day, no trace of jet lag.

rhkkmk

we have stopped over in seattle, LA and paris and it works for us, but mostly we fly straight through....

moremiles

When I was younger, we flew JFK-LAX-TPE-SIN-Jakarta in coach and were pretty jet-lagged for a couple of days after though if we'd been in biz class, it might have been more bearable. I'd never do that kind of routing again from the east but now that I live in CA, it's no problem going straight to anyplace in Asia, albeit in biz using miles now!

Kathie

Yes, I suppose I should give the caveat that we fly Biz (love those ff miles), which clearly makes the whole journey more tolerable.

marya_

Greetings from Hanoi.

We just made our longest ever trip -- 45 hours door-to-door -- BOS-ORD-NRT-BKK-HAN including a short night's stay in the BKK Novotel. It was the way to use frequent flier miles for two of us to accompany the fare paying member of the family.

As Kathie says, Business Class makes it much easier to bear, but I am feeling the effects of such a long trip.

To answer your question, while it was definitely "worth it," I am also aware more than ever of the kinds of cognitive compromise that can accompany this kind of extended travel. You reflexes and judgment are a little (a lot?) off after this kind of travel so it is important, particularly as we age, to schedule in some recovery time.

Melnq8

I live in Indonesia and I travel to the US and back at least twice a year. I do it all at once, because I just want to get it over with.

To make matters worse, I have to take a three hour bus ride to get to the closest international airport, so it takes a full day just to reach Singapore from my home, which is where the real journey begins.

It's grueling, but a necessary evil.

It takes me longer to recover from jet lag going to the US than returning to Asia. It takes me a full week before I'm sleeping normally again.

I'm going to do it all over again in less than two weeks, then make the return trip even longer, by continuing on to Perth, Australia.

In coach.

Kathie

In coach? My condolences, Melnq.

november_moon

We fly coach as well. It is long and not particulary fun, but doable.

rhkkmk

coach is doable....just pick your seat right....shop for flights with rows with two seats (air buses)--back of 747's

jaspertl

We always fly coach....except for this past December when we were flying back from my husbands Mom's funeral...WI to CA.

I had seat 10B my hubbie 10A.
we were walking down the isle and I spotted our row...

I had a middle seat and my husbands isle seat was occupied by a man who when Larry said "I think you're in my seat", asked if he would mind trading seats with him....he wanted to sit next to his friend.....and "my seat is up front in first class".

No problem there....he never looked back. I said sort of kiddingly to him "well that's not very gentlemanly" and the man I was seated next to said "that's what I would have done". The plane was cracking up....

I "visited" him up front at one point and he was just finishing his second cocktail and had ordered 2 Ben and jerry's ice creams.

so that's the closest either one of us will ever get to 1st class or business.

coach isn't so bad if you have nothing else to compare it to but I would think once you've experienced something other, it would be VERY difficult to go back.

Gpanda

We always fly coach to Asia. We've had mostly decent flights, but some beastly ones. We would rather fly coach and spend the money we save on other stuff. Our thought process is that no 30 hour flight is going to be fun or enjoyable. It's always going to be a very long haul. It would be particularly annoying to spend the extra cash and still be blown out.

november_moon

I used to work for a large company with a policy of flying employees business for overseas flights. That was quite nice. Now I work for a small, employee-owned company. Our overhead is pretty low, so we fly coach - except occasionally if we manage to get a contract with some fat in it and go business. On the other hand, being employee owned, we have a vested interest in keeping costs down so we can have more profits to stick in our pockets at the end of the year.

Melnq8

Hi Kathie -

I tried to upgrade to business using miles on my upcoming flights, but it was on short notice. Flights were filling up and I just got tired of messing with it - I'm flying in Economy Plus on the two longest legs anyway and I'm waitlisted for Business on the return, but I'm not optimistic.

I just couldn't bring myself to pay for Business Class - the savings covers my hotel and car at my destination.

simpsonc510

I haven't done any stopovers as of yet, and I've made 13 trips from ORD to BKK thus far. I prefer to just GET THERE.

Craig

We just booked two free business class from Hartford (BDL) to Hanoi for next April - Air Canada via Toronto and Narita going out and ANA via Narita and Dulles. Thai gets us back and forth between Narita, Bangkok and Hanoi. United Mileage Plus business class pickings are extremely slim right now and you can forget about upgrades pretty much. I am going to miss the JFK-BKK flight alot although the Toronto-Narita leg is in Air Canada 1st with individual flat bed suites (no business class on this flight).

Jaya

I'm with the "go for it" crowd. We've flown non-stop from Newark to Delhi twice now. Love not having to waste time hanging out in some European airport walking around like a zombie because you're so tired at that point. Also less chance of travel interruption and losing your checked luggage!
It actually worked out a lot better that we expected.

Kathie

Melnq, I am not willing to pay for Biz on my transpacific flights - I use miles to upgrade, but I book 11 months in advance. Within Asia, I find flying biz an affordable luxury.