Beth

My fiance and I will be flying from LA to Sydney. Our 14 hour flight leaves from LA at 10:40 pm and arrives at 6:10 am. We are from the mid-west so by the time we leave from LA, it will already feel like 3:00 am to us. My question is... is it better to try to stay up as long as we can on that flight and try to sleep when it would be sleeping time in Sydney or should we just try to sleep when we can? We would like to be somewhat conscious for the day we arrive in Sydney since we are getting married that day at 4:00 pm! I know... not the best situation but that's just how it turned out. Can anyone who's experienced this flight give us some advice on when we should try to sleep to feel the least pain when we get to Sydney? We'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Suzie

try to sleep some on the flight...even though it's not easy. If you take "power naps", you could do that once you arrive so you will be sort of awake & fresh for the wedding. Good luck and have a wonderful wedding and life together!!!. PS you will love Syndey!

Gill

I've just flown to Aussie on that flight and my suggestion is that you sleep when you can. I took, for the first time, one of those blow-up neck pillows and they are great. I would never travel without one from now on. It's such a very long flight, and very cramped. They have endless movies to watch, but the airline does keep the cabin dark for most of the flight, so it's not too difficult to get some sleep time. The airline also seems to go into "Aussie" food mode as well, so you will be getting breakfast at roughly the same time as the Australians, so all in all I would suggest you try to sleep for as much of the flight as possible, and when I got to Sidney, I felt quite refreshed and ready to go and never did suffer any jet-lag.

hollyhock

The blow up neck pillow is a great help on long haul flights. Also take an eye mask as I find this helps as well. Even though I don't sleep much when flying I find I do cat nap.

pj

There is no way around it, that is one loooong flight, so sleep whenever you can. The Qantas seats have head rests that fold inward and helps to rest your head. Wear loose clothing, like a sweat suit, and change OUT of them at Sydney airport. Wearing and sleeping in clothes for 14 hours will make them unpleasant. I saw some people wearing pajamas. When you finally arrive you will be so pumped up to finally be there you will have an adrenlain rush that will keep you going until about late afternoon. After that, back to the hotel room to sleep.

Susan

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, Beth!<BR><BR>We flew to Sydney from Toronto in 1996 and it was without doubt the worst trip of my life. We seemed to encounter 1 problem after another and to make a long story short, it took us 48 hours to get there. The flight from Honolulu to Sydney wasn't full, but we were in a row which was full. We made the mistake of waiting until we took off to move to seats where we would have more room. That was a big mistake! By the time the flight took off, some people had taken up to 4 seats and there were no vacant seats. Meanwhile we were like sardines. I spoke to a flight attendant and she said she couldn't ask anyone to move. By this time, we had been travelling for 36 hours - I hate to say it, but I didn't react very favourably and I guess they did ask someone to move, because my husband and I were then given 3 seats between the 2 of us, so there was a little more room. <BR><BR>I learned a lesson there - don't wait to see if there are empty seats! <BR><BR>Definitely take an inflatable pillow - I always travel with mine now and find it very helpful. Don't drink much alcohol on the flight, but do drink lots of water. <BR><BR>When we finally arrived in Sydney, it was 8 AM Sydney time. Physically I guess I was tired, but we stayed up all day and actually got some fresh air walking,etc. That obviously won't be a problem for you - you'll have plenty happening that day! <BR><BR>We may be going back to Australia next year - I am already dreading the thought of that flight, but I think I'll be better prepared this time around.