Overcoming Jet Lag

[polySeraph]

We will be arriving in Barcelona on the day before our cruise departs. We are flying from Melbourne to Singapore staying a night in Singapore and then flying to Barcelona. The first leg should be fine as it during the day but we are hoping that on the second leg we get some sleep on the plane. We arrive in Barcelona at about 9.00am and according to suggestions need to stay awake for the rest of the day. This is not going to be easy. How important is it not to nap during the day??

 

To nap, or not to nap: that is the question. . . . I traveled internationally on business for many years. Sometimes I napped and sometimes I didn't and in all instances, I was fine. When I did nap, it was usually in the afternoon for a couple of hours. (Like a siesta. . .) That would give me enough of a boost to keep me up until the local bedtime.

 

If you take any of the medicinal remedies suggested earlier on this thread, I highly recommend you try them out BEFORE you step on the plane. Melatonin and Valerian, two commonly-used sleep-aids, are helpful to most people, but in a few they can have some negative side-effects. A business associate tried Ambien for the first time on an overnight flight to the UK and blew an important meeting the next day. It turned out that Ambien made him too groggy to function.

 

The other action I always take is to plan for sleep deprivation upon my arrival. I feel fairly confident that I'll sleep on the flight; even so, I spend the money to make my life a little easier. Some times I'll have a car and driver waiting for me and sometimes I'll take a taxi. What I do NOT do is attempt to save a few €uros by taking a bus/train/metro and/or hauling my luggage down unfamiliar streets. Being groggy and sleep-deprived in an unfamiliar city ups the probability that I'll get lost or become a target. So I economize somewhere else.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Take a nap if you need to, just make sure to set an alarm of some kind, and force yourself to get up then. It will be hard, you'll be groggy and disoriented. Take a shower or something to wake up, then get going.

[graceinmelbourne]

To nap, or not to nap: that is the question. . . . I traveled internationally on business for many years. Sometimes I napped and sometimes I didn't and in all instances, I was fine. When I did nap, it was usually in the afternoon for a couple of hours. (Like a siesta. . .) That would give me enough of a boost to keep me up until the local bedtime.

 

If you take any of the medicinal remedies suggested earlier on this thread, I highly recommend you try them out BEFORE you step on the plane. Melatonin and Valerian, two commonly-used sleep-aids, are helpful to most people, but in a few they can have some negative side-effects. A business associate tried Ambien for the first time on an overnight flight to the UK and blew an important meeting the next day. It turned out that Ambien made him too groggy to function.

 

The other action I always take is to plan for sleep deprivation upon my arrival. I feel fairly confident that I'll sleep on the flight; even so, I spend the money to make my life a little easier. Some times I'll have a car and driver waiting for me and sometimes I'll take a taxi. What I do NOT do is attempt to save a few €uros by taking a bus/train/metro and/or hauling my luggage down unfamiliar streets. Being groggy and sleep-deprived in an unfamiliar city ups the probability that I'll get lost or become a target. So I economize somewhere else.

 

 

Thank you. Good advice. I agree with you not trying to save money when arriving by using public transport etc. This is a time when a cab is a necessity. I am not going to risk using medication either. We will have 2 children with us also. Hopefully because they are smaller they will sleep better on the plane. Looks like nanna naps all round:)

[graceinmelbourne]

Take a nap if you need to, just make sure to set an alarm of some kind, and force yourself to get up then. It will be hard, you'll be groggy and disoriented. Take a shower or something to wake up, then get going.

 

 

Thanks. Good idea with setting the alarm or we might have a nap and find ourselves waking up hours later.

[smtcan]

We cross the Atlantic several times a year for family responsibilities. I never nap when we arrive, preferring to stay awake and have a fairly early night (for me that is around 10:30). DH always takes a nap for a couple of hours. I wouldn't say that either way is better, everyone is different and you have to find what works for you. When you are going somewhere for the first time and are there for a short visit it is human nature to want to do as much as possible.

 

If you have young children, be prepared for some very early mornings. Our sons, and now our grandchildren, would wake up at five and six am for several mornings after arrival and that didn't seem to matter if they were going eastbound or westbound.

[2theship]

I used to swear that I never, ever slept on planes and I have dragged my way through Europe and Israel on the first day because of it. Last year, I had been given an iPod touch and had loaded a free app that provides soothing ambient background sound that will play for a pre-determined amount of time or until you tell it to stop. I had some decent ear buds (not fancy noise-cancelling headphones) and an eye mask. On the flight to Venice, I put them on after dinner and woke up for breakfast. I could not believe how well everything worked and what a good day I had when we arrived. It was also preferable to any drug-induced sleep method I've tried (unsuccessfully) in the past.

[manofmagnet]

Hi All: I have sleep apenea and can't sleep on planes, so for last years Med cruise i had an 9 hour flight and had my doctor give me a sleeping pill, it worked great. Took after flight got in the air and woke up just be landing.