Cre8

How do you keep from running out of steam when you get to your destination?
How do you keep from getting sick on a long flight?
Is it better to sleep or stay awake and move around?
What's the best thing you bought to make the trip easier?

Thanks

ninasdream

Message: Drink lots of water & resist the urge to partake of all the free wine/champagne. If your doctor approves, take something to sleep, and catch some shuteye. I pop 2 pm formula over the counter pain relief tablets as soon as they start boarding first class. As soon as I get on the plane, I settle in with blanket and pillow. On arrival, if you are able to get to your room, don't stay- and don't nap! Just hit the ground running.

francophile03

I agree that you should continue moving once you get to your hotel. Go out and get familiar with your neighborhood-do anything to keep up your momentum. When you do get back to the hotel, you may feel tired naturally, so take a very SHORT nap. It worked well for me but I arrived in Paris around noon and of course the room was still being serviced until 2 p.m. We went out walking to rue de Rivoli and the Seine, went to buy a phone card, returned to the hotel around 3 p.m. and took a short nap. Then we prepared for dinner (early for Paris) by 6:45 p.m. Then it was an early night. The next morning we woke up as usual although it was actually nighttime back home.

KayF

Keep going until the evening then have an early night. We are often awake at 3am because our body clocks are out of sync. This lasts for a few days. Drink lots and lots of water throughout the flight - take a big bottle on board with you. Avoid alcohol. It's a good idea to get some sleep if you can, but not always possible. Moving around is a good idea if you can, try and get an aisle seat to make getting out easier - no need then to climb over people - and just wait until the food/drinks trolleys have gone past.
To avoid getting sick, a good tip is to avoid touching your face with your hands as this spreads germs and wash your hands as often as possible. We bought some jetlag tablets for a long 20+ hour flight and they seemed to work. You have to take them every couple of hours from memory. Here is the website www.nojetlag.com
Kay

rex

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=1350380

While I would generally advise AGAINST any daytime napping on arrival day, it may seem almost impossible if you have a "second leg" (i.e., further train travel) from the airport to your final destination that day.

If that is not your case, then a noon or mid-afternoon shower once you get to your hotel can provide much needed refreshment, and energize you to go onward throughout that first day as best you can.

Best wishes,

Rex

leonberger

I think a nap in the afternoon is the only way to get over jet lag/time changes quickly, so I guess my body functions differently than most of the other posters to this thread!

My "formula" - usually arrive early in the AM, get through luggage/customs, and find hotel. Check baggage (since room is never available). Go for walk, sit on park bench, have lunch, whatever you can find until the first moment your room is available.

Check in to hotel, take nap (1-2 hours max). Get up, shower (etc.), and head out for the evening (dinner and sightseeing).

Go to bed at a reasonable hour (local time) and get up at an appropriate time (local time).

This has worked for us for numerous trips, but we only have a 5 hour time difference (eastern US to UK) on the trips we've taken so far. Perhaps trips that skip over more time zones need to be handled differently.

Just my thoughts.

Gayle

Nikki

I find it impossible to stay awake all day after flying all night. I don't get much if any sleep on the plane. So whenever I can get into my room I go to sleep for a couple of hours. Then I am able to stay up late that night and enjoy the European night life.

This way I end up on a schedule later than the one I keep at home, which works well in countries where people have dinner later in the evening.

MFNYC

I agree an afternoon nap is necessary the day you arrive, especially if you didn't get much sleep on the plane, but no more than a nap! After the nap, keep as busy as possible and go to bed at a decent hour (but not too early). We've taken this approach and even our kids have adjusted pretty quickly.

socialworker

HI Cre8--jet lag is the worst!! Especially if (like me) you are a person who *needs* their sleep. I posted this previously and I will add it here in the hope that it might be useful to you.

Author: socialworker
Date: 04/27/2004, 09:39 am
Message: We emailed the hotel in advance to tell them what time we would probably be arriving and explaining that we would be very tired b/c of having travelled all night. We then requested to be able to have access to the room as soon as we arrived. (Needless to say, the request was made using a great deal of formal politeness.) They wrote back saying that we would be able to have the room as soon as we arrived. Our usual European routine is to get freshened up from the arduous flight, close the usually very heavy curtains--which makes the room very dark, turn on the a/c or fan so that there will be white noise to drown out any other ambient noise and so that the room is cool and conducive to sleep--and then we sleep from 2-4 hours. We get up, get ready to go out, take a walk, have espresso (a very important detail) and then we feel awake and alive enough to (mainly)go on to Euro-time.

SuzieC

So far, I am not very blase about international travel. I find myself to full of adenalin and endorphins... I can't sleep the night before, I can't sleep on the plan and I can't sleep the first day! For me then, I drop off my luggage until the room is ready and go outside! Rain or shine. When I can I go to the room, take a nice shower and head back out, early dinner (probably too unfashionablly early for the Europeans...but by then my batteries have expired). Go to bed early and usually collapse.

zootsi

'No Jet Lag' tablets seem to really help. I also crash at the hotel for about 45 minutes before heading out, it seems to help recharge my system.

eurotraveller

For those of us who are flying from the west coast we usually have to get on our first leg at 8 a.m, and don't arrive in Europe until, at earliest 8 a.m. the next day (European time). I usually walk around, get a bite to eat, go back and take a nap and shower to go out to eat. Most of the time I feel great the following day. Now on the way home it is a different story! I could sleep for 2 days!

missypie

Don't drink alcohol on the plane. American has stopped giving free alcohol in coach, so the temptation is less. Bring a dull book and don't watch the movie, and maybe you'll be able to get a bit of sleep. Just try to enjoy the flight...there is so much pressure to sleep ("If I don't sleep I won't be able to function tomorrow&quot that sometimes we can't. C'est la vie! We've all stayed up all night before. While you wouldn't want to have to operate dangerous machinery the next day, you can generally function. Just don't plan to do the thing you most want to do in the city of destination right away, because you probably won't get as much out of it. And I'd stay clear of any major purchases, because you might not be as alert as you normally are.

If you try Tylenol PM or some other sleep aide for the plane, please try it at home first. You wouldn't want to experience any unexpected side affects on the plane or at passport control in a foreign country.

nicksgirl88

I tried taking Unisom on my last international flight...didn't work at all. My friend said her pharmacist suggested Nyquil - although that contains alcohol so it might not be a good choice after all! I will be trying my noise cancelling Bose headphones this time - maybe I can get a little shuteye if it's nice and quiet!

rj007

Like SuzieC I cannot sleep on planes and I am so energized by being in Europe that I go all day doing things and then get a good night's sleep and I am ready to go the next day. (And I have to come from California.) I have never had jet lag so I can't comment on how to get over it.

Dave_

The anti-drinking lobby seem to have got hold of this one but I would say there's no harm in having a drink or two on a flight.

A few drinks will often help you sleep anyway (that's if you're not constantly disturbed by those who have had a gallon of water each and are running to the toilet all the time, pulling on the back of your seat to get up). And when you wake up you can have water then if you wish.

I find it works for me to have a few drinks with the dinner - I don't tend to want lots of sleep on a flight but if I can get 4 hours or so on an overnight flight from the US back to the UK then that's plenty to have a normal day afterwards. The people who probably don't sleep are those fretting whether they're drinking enough water, worrying if they've taken the right pills, thinking of all the germs that are going round etc etc. You can think about things so much that it's inevitable part of it is all in the mind.

After I get to wherever I'm going I just try to have a normal as day as possible and I can't say I've ever felt my system is out of kilter through jetlag.

Of course, what suits one person and another can be very different. If you haven't already, I'd do a search on "jet lag" and you'll find this has come up a fair bit in the past.

dovima

I hit the hay for a nap, however brief, as soon as I stagger into my hotel room. When I awake I take a shower with a cold rinse at the end (works great with peppermint shower gel, but your heart better be in good working order). Then a good long walk followed by dinner with a glass of wine if I feel like it.

Not to sound too terribly self-indulgent, but a massage in the first day or two of a trip works wonders. Seems to keep me from getting ill as well as helping to adjust. Aromatherapy is good too.

Keith

The first time I flew to Europe I was unable to sleep on the plane and was beat all of the next day in Europe.

The last few times I have shifted my schedule ahead an hour or so each day leading up to the trip until I get up at 3-4AM on the day of departure.

On the redeye flight, as soon as the cabin settles down (usually about the conclusion of the first movie, I put my head back and keep my eyese closed. The amount of actual sleep varies, but even the quiet time with eyes shut helps.

On arrival I am able to go through the whole day and on until 11-12 at night with no problems.

Keith

hopscotch

"How do you keep from running out of steam when you get to your destination?"
Eat high protein fuel like cheese, eggs, meat, and fish plus some mighty green groceries. Never eat donuts, jelly, and similar rubbish.

"How do you keep from getting sick on a long flight?"
Red wine calms the body and soul.

"Is it better to sleep or stay awake and move around?"
Sleep at least 4 hours on an eastbound trans-Atlantic flight. Take a walk around the plane when you wake up.

"What's the best thing you bought to make the trip easier?"
Don't buy anything. Just ask for a brandy after the dinner and wine, and wish the world "bonne sante."

tpatricco

A couple cocktails never killed me on a flight to Europe. In fact, on my last trip to Italy, my friend and I drank two vodka cocktails each and washed down a couple Tylenol PM's (these things are the greatest on planes or in bed at home!) Then had plane dinner with red wine. Both of us slept like babies for 5 or so hours of our 8 hour flight...woke up with an hour to go to Roma. Worked like a charm for us. Powernapped for 1 hour in late afternoon and then went out for the evening. Next day lived on Rome time...with a few Cappucinos that morning to kick start. Trish