jat lag - again
 

I know there was a thread on jat lag some months ago, but it seems that a lot of people land in Europe in the morning, get a car at the airport, and start DRIVING ...
How do you do it?
I find the first two days a bit of a blur ( don't get me started on jet lag in Australia and New Zealand) making the stay in Europe "shorter".

I don't start driving when I get off the plane. There have been times I felt that I could with no problem but I like to take driving seriously so I leave room for jet lag.

I've never had a problem driving right away. It might just have to do with personal biorhythms or hormones or adrenalin production or some such. And I don't normally sleep on a flight.

It might help if you could sleep on the flight. Some things that might help include wearing a sleep mask (prevents reduction in melatonin production from ambient cabin lighting) and ear plugs.

Some times are harder than others. Most likely depends on if I caught a nap on the flight. I try to not schedule any meetings until at least evening my first day! It's really awful when a customer insists on picking me up at the airport - ugh..No amount of make-up can help after an overnight flight.

DH and I have driven immediately upon landing on numerous occassions and never had a problem. I think it all depends on how your body deals with the jetlag, as each person is different. DH and I take Ambien on the flight over and get lots of sleep. We arrive awake and refreshed. If we do get tired, its usually not until late afternoon or early evening, and we are usually done driving by then.

We do try to keep our drives to a maximum of 3 hours on the first day.

Tracy

I drive about fifteen minutes from Avignon to Les Baux, where I check in for the night at my hotel and just sleep, sleep sleep...

As a matter of personal policy I have never driven right after getting off an overnight flight. I do rent cars at Heathrow on arrival from Toronto on daytime flights.