chatham

Let each person in your group decide. I agree strongly with Luisah.

Good Luck, Joan

Kristinelaine

We also nap -- but just for two hours max -- and then stay up til normal bedtime on the local time. We are in our sixties and this works for us. Practically no jet lag felt from then on.

Nikki

The interesting thing about Athens time is that they seem to do everything so much later there that I barely felt I needed to adjust to the local time. Seriously, they don't go to restaurants until at least 10 PM. When I was on the plane I sat next to a Greek woman who recommended a place for me to go for music (which started at 10:30), and she said there's no point going unless you're going to stay until 6 AM. I protested that I could never stay up that late, so she made me promise I'd stay until 3 AM. My daughter and I made it until 2 AM and then left.

That said, I would bet good money that you're not going to be able to force your husband, your mother-in-law and three teenagers to stay awake even until a normal dinner hour and bedtime after an all-night transatlantic flight. I know that my own two daughters are unable to function without a nap after an all night flight and I am too.

So if you find that you are unable to stay awake and enjoy yourself, even after reading account after account here of people who do that and say that you'll be sorry if you don't, use your own common sense about how you feel and if you take a nap, the nap police won't come after you. They've never come after me yet, and the bonus is that I get to wake up from my nap and enjoy the night life at the hours kept by the locals.

littlebigshot

My own experience is that the best time to visit major Greek sites and museums, including the Acropolis, is to get there right when the doors open. If the Acropolis opens at 8:00, get there at 7:45. I've found that the first twenty minutes at most places, even in summer, are very uncrowded, and the next forty minutes or so are fairly uncrowded, so there's a good hour before the madness begins. I've done this with the Acropolis a couple times in summer and it's always worked. And when I went to the Heraklion museum in September a few years ago, I got there 15 minutes before the 8:00 am opening time and the guards just let me in. I had the entire museum to myself for half an hour! but by 10:00 am it was literally as crowded as the metro at rush hour.

Shanna

FLNan - how lucky you are to go to Greece. Not been there yet myself but I have traveled extensively to Europe and start two weeks in advance taking Emergen-C three times a day. When I arrive, after having taken some with breakfast, I'm alert and ready to go until bedtime without any jet lag. I continue to take it during the trip and I also take Echinacea and extra zinc for two weeks before to avoid what had become a traditional airplane cold upon arrival. I once went to London with a friend and suggested the Emergen-C. She declined. I have photos of her sleeping in the lobby of our hotel a couple hours after arrival, while I was alert and ready to go. She never got over the jet lag and slept a lot on that trip. I always hit the streets and walk; it gets the blood moving, works up an appetite for dinner. I eat an early dinner and walk some more then sleep like a corpse until around 8:00 a.m. when I awaken fully rested and on local time. I will not travel without the stuff and have been using it for ten years (6 years with once a month travel across the US) with great results. Mother in law may be a different story altogether; I would suggest getting her onto local time before you leave. So you have to carry her onto the plane. Have a great trip.

FLNan

Wow! You Fodorites are amazingly helpful! I will proceed cautiously! This will be my second trip abroad. I am looking forward to it.

To all- I will take your advice into consideration. We can try to stay up, if we must nap, so be it! Especially my 84 year old mother-in-law!

I just love the your tips! ***I am still looking for advice on guides...
Thanks,
Nannette

chatham

FlNan,

I just looked at your itinerary again. Is there any way you could spend another day in Athens and go to just one of the islands? I think Athens deserves at least one full day. There are so many antiquities to see. I'm sure your children have studied them and now they can see them and I still hold to take a nap anybody that wants one..

FLNan

chatham- I wish we could make changes to the cruise, however, it is not possible. In fact, we only had this small window of time to travel during Spring. We did get to add a day onto each side of the cruise, one in Rome and one in Athens. I am grateful that our kids will be able to see the number of historical sites that they will be able to see with this itinerary. Thank you, Chatham, for your input.

Nikoleta

Hello FLNan
i just saw you message, can u tell me on which day exactly you will be in Athens and for how many hours? I can fix a special programme for you if you tell me what interests you mostly and show you around, if you are still looking for a guide and as long I am free on that day. There is much to see here but if you have just a day, i think it will save you much time and effort if you have a guide.

Nikoleta

suze

Everyone deals with their jetlag differently. I can't sleep on a plane, fly all the way from west coast US, and always take a nap upon arrival. I don't plan anything the first day. I am a walking zombie for days, if I don't give in and let myself rest upon arrival.

chatham

FLNan,

Now, I understand more about your itinerary. In your one afternoon, after a short nap if anyone needs one, you could get out and see some of the sights. If you don't get up to the Acropolis, you can see it up on the hill. You can see enough and go back another time. I think your trip will be wonderful for your whole family and yes, your children will see antiquities. I envy your MIL, what a grand trip for her with her children and grandchildren.

Have a great trip, Joan

Amy40

I am in the set-the-watch camp. I even go so far as to start shifting up my schedule before I leave, an hour every day or two. So, that by the day of departure, I am getting up at 4am instead of 7 or 8. Sounds small, but it actually cuts the difference in time zones pretty significantly and I can fall asleep faster on the plane when I board.

This will sound terrible, but I get a seat by myself since my DH and DD like to stay up and eat dinner and watch the movie most of the night. It helps me to sleep, being a few rows away where I am not aware of what they're up to!

Lots of people say that your eating schedule re-sets your clock as well. I never eat dinner when I get on the plane, but rather make sure I eat dinner at 3pm. I board, put on my eye mask, take an Ambien, plug the ears and go to sleep almost immediately. I often take an Ambien the first night abroad, just to make sure.

For the first day, touring gardens or walking along a river works for me. Simple activity, in the fresh air and sunshine, no tremendous intellectual activity, plenty of places to sit and bask in my new surroundings.

I also agree with Shanna about getting your body prepared for the stress. I am not so diligent about taking the Emergen-C two weeks before (maybe I'll do that this year!) but I always take some form of effervescent vitamins with me and force them on my family as well. This year I will also be taking digestive enzymes with me to help with the rich food I inevitably subject myself to. I often end up with some gastric distress and hope this change will make a difference.

Have a wonderful time! And good luck with the multi-generational group. Sounds like a trip of a lifetime for everyone!

Luisah

<<I board, put on my eye mask, take an Ambien, plug the ears and go to sleep almost immediately.>>

Beware of taking Ambien. I think it works well for some people but not everyone. And as you probably know, medications have different effects on older people, so it shouldn't be considered for your mother-in-law. Check with your/her doctor about taking any sleep aid. Maybe dramamine?

Yesterday I read in a travel magazine that Ambien can cause short term amnesia. It's considered safe to take at home because you'd be sleeping for eight hours, but people have awakened on planes when they slept less than eight and not known where they were.

Anyone heard of this? Or experienced it?

FLNan, Are you getting a direct flight from Florida?

starwhite2

I am taking a Mediterranean cruise and have even more limited time than you in Athens. But I've been studying so as to make the best of the situation. I've run across two mentions of a restaurant on Dionysiou Areopayitou (the street that runs south of the Acropolis) -- Dionysus Restuarant. A guidebook I have from the '80's states "Turn Right at the Fountain (Walking Tours)": The Roman Theatre of Herodes Atticus, A.D. 161, lies just below the entrance to the Acropolis as you continue up Dionysiou Areopagitou. By now, if you have started this walk in the morning, you will be ready for luncheon. There is an excellent restaurant which you can see from the main road and is just a few yards on the left -- the Dionysus. Its huge glass windows look out on the Acropolis opposite. Be sure to return here in the evening when you can dine while watching the Acropolis under floodlighting."

The second source for this restaurant (very recently) was my Greek friend from French class. She independently mentioned the Dionysus as a very fine restaurant -- she said it takes time but is worth it. She said Putin ate there.

As for a walking tour guide, I'm using for our group of eight Despina Savvidou. Here is her recommendation by a top-knotch Turkey guide we are using: "I highly recommend my official tour guide friend Despina Savvidou based in Athens who organizes excellent tours. She is one of the top notch guides in Greece. You can reach her at [email protected] She also has a website www.athenswalkingtours.gr

end quotation marks.

In my communications with her by e-mail, she is precise and her English is excellent. You can sign up for her tours 24 hours in advance. We have her for Monday, June 25.

She was very helpful to me in getting a top-knotch guide for Katakolon and Olympia ruins for our group.

Your trip and ports of call sound wonderful. What ship will you be on?
Starwhite2

primobacio14204

i dont think jetlag is in your mind and i think everyones body is different. if you can fight the sleep do it, if you are exhausted, nap..do what your body tells you!! thats common sense!

JustRhonda78

Don't think anyone mentioned this:

Sleep on the plane.... That of course will help your body acclamate..bring a blindfold, earplugs, and warm socks. AND drink tons of water.. I mean tons.... Buy a bottle after you go thru the security area before getting on the plane... Plus drink all they give you and ask for more on the plane... Great for jet lag.

Once you are there in Athens, I agree, ---some pretending has to go on here---- pretend that is your time... Set your watch and do NOT keep figuring up what time it is where you came from.---Guaranteed to keep you tired.....

You MUST see the Acropolis.
Happy traveling...

janisj

JustRhonda: FLNan probably isn't still looking for help w/ Athens since their cruise was in May <b>2007</b>