We've been back home for 9 days now and I'm just beginning to feel myself again. It took five nights in our bed for us to feel somewhat "normal."

The house is somewhat in order. I'm finally caught up on the laundry. I've managed to cook dinner a few times. I've gone grocery shopping four times (because I kept forgetting things, despite making a list).

What's your experience?

mom

It takes me 5-7 days, if it is an overseas trip. I traveled quite a bit for work, so frequency has a lot to do with how well you bounce back.

I read somewhere that it takes one day to adjust for each hour's difference in time zones. That may have something to do with not feeling "normal". But with those travel anxiety dreams, who can say?

This time it took longer...about a week I think.

But really, who wants to recover from a vacation? The only real cure is to start planning a new one.

Jules

my life is one big trip. i travel for work and have no time to recover. i think when you travel all the time you just get on with it and don't worry about recovery.

When I come back from Europe, I'm good the next day. When I come back from Asia, it takes a week.

I am fine the next day, but I wake up relatively early and have to go to sleep by 10 or 11 PM for a few days, which is quite different than how I am "normally".

At least a week! And the time change while we were away did not help one bit! I thank God I only get jetlagged on the westbound trip home but can hit the ground running on arrival.

If only there was not so much junk mail to go thru and shred!

Hi aggiemom, when I did marketing for an airline they insisted that jetlag was worse flying west to east. I find I have the problem flying east to west. It takes me a week to get back to "normal" whatever that means, LOL, after I fly home from Italy. I am sort of in a "daze" for a couple of days. Everything seems to take twice as long to do. And I am not organized as you described. I make sure I don't have any appointments for the first week after I return home. Which, ooops, your post just reminded me I need to make a phone call for an inportant appointment. Thank YOU!

Same for me as LoveItaly: I don't make appointments for right after my return.

It takes at least a week to get back to normal, often more. At least I wake up early.

Going to Europe - my plane landed at 8 am, took a mid-day nap once - that was it!!

Now coming home is a different story. Was I glad I left a "buffer day" before going back to work, slept all day! Then was up all night. Posted on Fodor's at 4 am

I think it took a week to get my biological clock back to normal. The rooster alarm on that clock was definitely in a dire need of a major tune-up

Interesting posts. Even my friends in Italy find that flying east to west causes them more jetlag than flying west to east. But the airline I did marketing for stated that the specialist insisted that jetlag was more pronouced flying west to east. Are we all "different" on Fodor's? LOL.

Nikki - I enjoyed that dream thread, too. How similar my dreams are to almost all that were posted.

Jody - the time change really bothered us this time, too.

LoveItaly - glad I could be of help! I so agree with your thought that it takes twice as long to do anything.

It usually takes a day. Why? We usually come home on a Saturday and Sunday we decompress and Monday, it's back to work...oh well

Flying home to Hawaii from the west coast is no problem at all. From the east coast maybe a day. Flying home from Europe takes several days.

Last spring I departed London on Thursday morning, arriving home the same day at around 8:00 p.m. For some reason I thought that I would be able to go to work the next day. I went to work all right, but was all but comatose by around 1 p.m. I didn't "feel right" until a few days later.

But then again, I'm one of those people that has to completely unpack and put things away the same day I get home - it drives me nuts to leave it until the next day.

if there is anything you must take from this thread let it be that you MUST always have a "buffer day" between an overseas vacation and work.

I guess I'm another special person. I am more jet lagged flying East to West.

My first trip to Paris I took a 2 hour nap and then I was right on schedule. Once I got home it took me close to 2 weeks to get back to normal. I think part of it was it was so hard coming back and having to deal with work and reality and it was a very special trip.

I never have a problem going west to east. Although I have a hard time sleeping on the plane, I guess the adrenalin kicks in because I'm on the go from the time I check in at the hotel until late that first night. I find that helps me adjust better for the rest of the trip.

Although I usually arrive back home late, I unpack everything (I didn't say I put anything away) before going to bed, and get up the next morning to survey my new treasures from Europe while enjoying some delicious morsel I brought back with me for breakfast.

I always suffer a little jet lag, but for about a week, the worst part is accepting the fact that the vacation is over and getting back to my usual routine.

Both my wife and I are early to rise people. Our problem is East to West. We can fly to London and get a good nights rest by the 3rd night. We we come home it will take about a week to adjust. It is not much fun to wake up at 2am and not be able to go back to sleep, but it is just part of the cost of travel.

So, we all agree - it's the Western Culture that's killing us