maitaitom

"get up no later than 10 am, Europe time, on the day of departure. 11 am, the day before that."

Rex, as a west coast guy, I have a little problem with this scenario. I have an 11:30 am (L.A. time) flight to Paris that gets me in at 8:30 am the following day. By your calculations, I should wake up at 1 am the day of the flight and 2 am the morning before.

Outside of the fact that (1) I would be worthless at work (which is pretty much every day for me anyway) the day before we leave and, more importantly, (2) Tracy would kill me before we ever left, I would be a walking zombie by the time I got to Paris, since sleeping on a plane is pretty difficult for me.

I think I'll stay with my philosophy of "a few glasses of wine, and everything will turn out fine."

burrotho

Frommer's has a long thread on this on their boards at

http://www.frommers.com/cgi-bin/WebX?128@@.eede3d1

ciaobellaitalia

Carrie, ask your doctor for a prescription for Sonata--10mg capsules. It's a very mild sedative that will allow you to sleep for about 2 hours & wake up refreshed. It takes about 30 minutes to work, so plan accordingly. I have taken it when I have wake up around 4 & have trouble going back to sleep--I've never had a problem. It's great.

Buona fortuna & ciao!

LoveItaly

Maitaitom..thanks! I too was trying to figure out how getting up at 2:00am two mornings before the flight and 1:00am the day of the flight would make me feel better when I arrived in Italy,lol. I too live on the westcoast of the US.

I never handle meds well at all, so I do not take them when flying. I do take a good book and just "pray" that I can sleep a bit. Usually I can a couple of times.

Bailey333

For three days before you leave this is the schedule o avoid jet lag. Go to bed at 9:00pm and get up at 5:am. You will be able to sleep on the plane plus no jet lag.

LoveItaly

But Bailey, doesn't it matter where you fly from?

InMiami

Ambien, skip the meal and it works faster, you arrive with no hang over.

Myer

Assuming going from West to East. Get up early in the morning the day of departure so you'll be tired by 10PM. Remember that you're arriving in Europe about 3 or 4AM.

Don't take a nap. Get through the first day and go to sleep at a normal time. By the next morning you should be fine.

The jet lag sets in on return when you wake up at 2 or 3 AM for several days.

I assume it's the reverse for Europeans travelling to North America.

luvtotravel

Xanax. Won't fly without one, partly to help me sleep, and partly because I'm afraid to fly...and I fly a lot for work.

fishee

Try taking an ambien, valium, or sonata (your doctor will cough them up, sometimes they even have samples of sonata or ambien) and take it around 30 minutes before you eat your meal. By the time I'm done eating, the meds are already flowing through my system and after putting in my earplugs, I generally fall right sleep for several hours. I find the U-pillows to be really uncomfortable -- I'll never haul that thing around with me again. I did like the down pillow thatgirldina found on the Restoration Hardware website.

ilovetotravel29

I take unisom, which seems stronger to me than tylenol pm....I think it has a simple antihistamine that causes the sleepiness.

miaspapa

I take my wife...

AnnaBananaDeux

I agree with all those suggesting no meds. They stay in your system, and in the event where you need to be alert, heaven forbid, you want to be.

Trust your body - it will work itself out. Try to avoid coffee or alcholic beverages - they will only dehydrate you and in the plane atmosphere, you don't need anything else doing that! Drink lots of water to keep you hydrated and once you get to Europe, try to regulate your hours the best you can.

If it's a matter of what to do with your time on the plane... all previously stated suggestions are good such as ipod audiobooks, a book, write in a journal, letter to a friend, all that stuff. At the end of the day, nobody really wants to spend that much time on a plane, so you're all suffering through it together.

Hope you have a great trip! ~ Anne

natjgc

Hi,

I take the small bottle of wine they offer ( which is 1 1/2 glasses)and 2 Excedrin PMs which really works better
that Tylenol PM. Just thought I'd add to this thread. natjgc

vivi

Ambien and an iPod.

SeaUrchin

miaspapa, you wife puts you to sleep?

I used lunesta this last trip and I dozed very little, I usually take xanax which I like better. The doctor had given me some samples of the Lunesta.

None of them knock me out completely, I still hear people walking and talking but I am in a relaxed state.

suze

I think it also depends is this "long flight" an overnight one, or during the day. At least if it's night it gives a better possibility for some people (not me) to fall asleep.

If it's just a long but day time flight all the suggestions for reading, writing, movies, music are good ones.

If it's an overnight and you really want to attempt sleep... don't do these things. I never sleep on planes and used to be restless attempting to entertain myself (magazine, paperback, movie, travel book, figit, squirm, figit).

Now when it's time to sleep (on BA they pass out eyeshades and dim the cabin lights), I stop reading, etc. put on headphones to the most low-key music channel, the eyeshades, and sit back and relax. I still don't actually sleep but I arrived feeling much more rested using this method.

amaclise

I take my DH to the mile high club.

mileaday

I take a Coricidin-D about an hour before boarding the plane. That combined with a full day of work and an overnight flight has me sound asleep before take-off.