Jetlag recommendation

[Lilac]

We are flying from Toronto to Barcelona – arriving by 7 AM, it will be past noon till we will get our cabins available.

How to beat the jetlag without medication, any advice?

Thank you

[Valley Girl of VA]

I plan on either drinking a few glasses of wine or taking some benadryl. We did give ourselves a couple of days before our cruise leaves from Rome. I'll be watching this thread to see if it gives me any ideas to use on our trip.

[cafediem]

When flying from North America to Europe, as soon as I get on the plane I change my watch to the time at my destination, then try to act as though it's that time - usually means have a meal, maybe one drink, then eye mask on, earplugs in - hubby also wears his noise-cancelling headphones, he travels a fair bit and swears by them - and try to sleep because it's night-time. Try not to give in to the temptation to watch a movie, just sleep. Then wake up for breakfast before landing, and try hard to stay awake for as long as possible, and not to take a nap in the afternoon.

 

Good luck!

[Quigley10]

Set your watches to Barcelona time when you board the plane in Toronto. Try to sleep during the duration of the flight, and drink caffeinated beverages towards the end of the flight (when your body is still telling you that it's night in Toronto).

 

During the first day, stay in daylight or bright lights as much as you can. Don't nap, particularly in the late afternoon. Force yourself to stay awake until a respectable time for sleeping, and then crash for the night. We usually try to make it until at least 8 when flying from the East Coast.

[drfred]

If you can try to sleep on the flight and drink lots of H2O. We have the most success with jet lag by adjusting to the new time. If you can, staying awake until night time in Barcelona gets your body moving in that direction. My niece who is a flight attendant for United told us this is what she does. Plus you will be excited and holding out until night may be easier than you would think, even if you start feeling like a zombie;-)

[Orator]

I also try to treat it as if I am in the time zone of my destination. Never really had a problem going East. Don't think I'd attempt to take a long flight on the day of the cruise, just too many things could go wrong. I realize that sometimes there is no choice but to do it that way, Usually try to be there a few days early. Have a great cruise.

[Lilac]

What prompted me to ask this question is this advice that I recieved,

I don't know if I am suppse to laugh or take it seriously:

 

As someone who travels over that pond on a regular basis, let me give you my anti-jetlag trick:

 

When they open the door to the cabin after you land - right after they open it and the cabin pressure stabilizes, take your right index finger and on the left side of your body rub the spot about 4 inches below your armpit firmly - just rub it around for about 30 seconds. Then grasp both ears and gently pull them up - yes, like antennae.. hold for about 30 seconds.

 

I'm not KIDDING! This works! It was taught to me by an alternative physician many flights ago, and I haven't had jetlag since. I know it looks a little weird, but everyone will be milling around getting their stuff out of the overhead bins and etc. and won't be looking at you... trust me... it's worth taking a minute looking silly.

[Mermen]

Set your watches to Barcelona time when you board the plane in Toronto. Try to sleep during the duration of the flight, and drink caffeinated beverages towards the end of the flight (when your body is still telling you that it's night in Toronto).

 

During the first day, stay in daylight or bright lights as much as you can. Don't nap, particularly in the late afternoon. Force yourself to stay awake until a respectable time for sleeping, and then crash for the night. We usually try to make it until at least 8 when flying from the East Coast.

 

This is exactly what I do...my other half can sleep on a plane, but I can't. We flew from San Francisco to London a few years ago, arriving in the early morning. I thought if I drank a few glasses of wine it would help me fall asleep and wake up in the UK at 6 am refreshed. It did not, Ugh! I was a little worse for wear, LOL.

 

A couple of years ago flew from SFO to Barcelona and I did stay awake during that long flight. Stay in the sunlight when you arive in Spain and do not nap (it will make it worse). Go to sleep as the above posted mentioned, at a descent hour, like after dinner - you'll sleep straight through to the next morning. If I can stay awak during the flight and force myself to stay awake an extra 10-12 hours, without sleeping, it's very easy to get on the new time without much jet lag.

 

I know you mentioned not wanting to take pills, but there are some "jet lag" supplements you can purchase at a health food store. They probably have a lot of vitamin B in them. Check it out...couldn't hurt.

[JetCruister]

Our British Airways flight leaves San Francisco at 415pm and arrives in London at 10am the next day, and then we leave London at 420pm and arrive in Barcelona at 720pm. I figure we will stay up as late as we can then go to bed! Hope not to have much jet lag. But we are arriving 5 days before our cruise leaves port. Plus we upgraded our flight to British Airways to their business first class (our own little pods, but my husband and I have a pod for two) and the seats lay flat. But I think I will be to excited to sleep! :D We used our miles for the upgrade!

[geepmaley]

We are flying from Toronto to Barcelona – arriving by 7 AM, it will be past noon till we will get our cabins available.

How to beat the jetlag without medication, any advice?

Thank you

 

Not to scare you, but if you do not have your ariline tickets purchased yet, I would rather strongly suggest you go a day earlier than planned to give yourselves some buffer. You never know what might happen to your flight. Ours was delayed 20 hours (yes overnight). A lot of people missed their embarkation because they flew to arrive same day the cruise departed as you are planning per above.

 

If you cannot change your plans, make sure you get a good travel insurance policy with trip interruption coverage due to airline delays. It's worth the 2-3% of the vacation cost to make sure you can actually get on the ship at the next port if for some reason your flight is delayed long enough to miss the embarkation.

 

Why will it take you 5 hours to get from airport (7AM) to ship (noon)? Does this assume embarkation starts at noon? I have never done a cruise from Barcelona, but that sure sounds like a long time.

 

As far as jet lag, everyone above has good advice. I would also suggest NOT drinking anything acidic (OJ) or caffeinated (coke to coffee) on the flight, especially right when you get ready to land as it could have a negative impact on your stomach (It does mine). Rather drink plenty of water and once you get where you are going, gauge the situation. If you are just tired, but everything else seems OK at that point, grab a coffee or coke or something, but don't over do it. Also, if you can "power nap" for an hour or so when you first get there, it makes a world of difference. Just make sure if you do it at all, you do it when you first get there, not in the afternoon.

 

Going east is easy. Usually only takes the one day to adjust. Coming back the other way takes me about 2 days for every week I am gone to avoid waking at 4-5AM .

[mari10]

Have been taking these for years, and they work for me:

 

No-Jet-Lag ®

The Leader in Jet Lag Management for over 20 years

Clinically Proven Effective

 

Jet lag is the curse of modern jet travel, but it doesn´t have to spoil your trip.

 

The unique homeopathic remedy No-Jet-Lag helps ensure holiday enjoyment and working efficiency even after long airline flights.

 

 

No-Jet-Lag is raved about by satisfied travellers globally, including business executives, sports teams, tour operators, and flight crews. It is safe, easy to take, and proven effective in tests.

Available widely in the US and worldwide.

 

Mari:)

[bellybutton530]

Overcoming Jet Lag by Charles F. Ehret.

 

It worked for me on long flights to Australia, Kenya, and China.

[2theship]

Try to avoid caffeine for a couple of days before you fly and get up very early the day you are leaving so that by the time you're heading over the ocean your body is tired enough to nap. I take an eye mask and an iPod with some good ear buds and listen to soothing music. Be very careful of alcohol because it can make matters worse. If gone easy on regular coffee for a few days before, I find that a cup of the real stuff with breakfast is a big help. But, drink lots of water, too.

[2theship]

Going east is easy. Usually only takes the one day to adjust. Coming back the other way takes me about 2 days for every week I am gone to avoid waking at 4-5AM .

 

That's why we've been taking the ship back from Europe to Florida - a bunch of 25 hour days may it really easy to get back to Eastern time! :D

[tty206]

I am normally terrible at falling asleep on the plane but discovered something that works for me. On flights where I know I need to get several good hours of sleep to stay awake for the full day in a new time zone, I always make sure to pick a window seat so that I am not disturbed by people making their way to the bathroom or the flight attendants serving beverages / food. Ear plugs and eye mask help too. I also wake up very early on the morning of the flight so that I am pretty tired by the time I board the plane and ready to sleep as soon as we take off. If I am not already tired when I get on the plane, there is no way I will be able to fall asleep.

 

Like several other people mentioned, I change my watch as soon as I get on the plane and once at the destination, don't think about what time it is at home. I try to stay awake until at least 8 or 9pm after landing early in the morning so I can adjust quickly.

[dolittle]

WE have done this 3 times from east coast. I can not sleep on planes so I dont even try. The flights from here leave at say 6:30 pm. enjoy the flight eat have A drink some coffee. You will arrive at 7:00 am . All you can do is get out and see the town,ship whatever make a full day of it and then go to bed early say 7 or 8 P.M. The next day you will wake up early but you will be pretty much in tune with the clock . This has worked well for both of us each time.

[Dunmore2]

I just read an interesting article that says the reason for jet lag is the swelling of brain tissue. Pine bark extract, pycnogol is an anti edema which will prevent the tissues from swelling. Take before flying to lessen jet lag.

I wonder if Buckleys would work!!!! I hate that stuff with a passion.

[judatt]

Greetings, everyone. We travel overseas quite often (about 3 times a year for the past 30 years). First thing I'd say is just be prepared for it to take a few days to get over. Lots of good ideas have been expressed here - set your watch to destination as soon as possible. Drink water and not caffeine on the plane. Stay in the sunlight as much as possible on arrival and stay up until 9PM before going to bed.

 

Last year coming back from Asia I had a really hard time - finally went to our pharmacist who recommended Melatonin. I took it at bed time - really helped me sleep through the night and not wake up and be wide awake at 3AM. I plan to use it again - particularly when we change 10 -12 time zones. David

[Loreto1028]

What a great thread. We are also flying from Toronto to Barcelona so really appreciate all the advise.

[Califgirl]

Have been taking these for years, and they work for me:

 

No-Jet-Lag ®

The Leader in Jet Lag Management for over 20 years

Clinically Proven Effective

 

 

Mari:)

 

 

I've tried this and it worked for me - I am one of those people who just can't seem to sleep on a plane (Even when i take the Redeye). I don't know if these pills work because of the ingrediants or because i was told they work and my brain wants to believe it. Either way - it got me through a few long flights from California to Europe.

[pris993]

We take a different approach, we accept we will experience jet lag. Generally takes us 5 days to adjust fully. We have decided to take this approach after traveling for 30+ years, finding the older we got the hard it got to avoid it.

 

We take a nap - late afternoon daily, get up feeling refreshed and able to enjoy the evenings aboard ship. We also enjoy getting up early in the morning -- generally find not many others up early so morning breakfast is very peaceful. We go into port as early as possible, enjoy a nice 1/2 day in port return, have a late lunch and a nap.

 

We have done just about every port in the Mediterranean over the past 20 years, so we don't worry about seeing everything, we have been there before and so we enjoy going back, taking it easy along the way.

[sollan]

Have anybody some ideas for a 24 hour trip?

London - Singapore 13 h and after a 3 h stop in Singapore a 11 h flight to Melbourne.

I can't say I'm looking forward to this (and the flight back). :eek:

[Chicago Boy]

We are flying from Toronto to Barcelona – arriving by 7 AM, it will be past noon till we will get our cabins available.

How to beat the jetlag without medication, any advice?

Thank you

 

When flying to Europe from Chicago once we are on the plane we switch our watches to the time zone of our destination, limit alcohol and try and rest as much as possible. When we arrive at the hotel we take hot showers and rest for a half hour or so but do NOT sleep. If you do, it will mess your body clock up. We call it a day around 10:00 p.m. the evening of our arrival. This seems to work well for us.:)

[YOW]

Have been taking these for years, and they work for me:

 

No-Jet-Lag ®

The Leader in Jet Lag Management for over 20 years

Clinically Proven Effective

 

Jet lag is the curse of modern jet travel, but it doesn´t have to spoil your trip.

 

The unique homeopathic remedy No-Jet-Lag helps ensure holiday enjoyment and working efficiency even after long airline flights.

 

 

No-Jet-Lag is raved about by satisfied travellers globally, including business executives, sports teams, tour operators, and flight crews. It is safe, easy to take, and proven effective in tests.

Available widely in the US and worldwide.

 

Mari:)

 

+1 for No-Jet-Lag. We've used these on several long-haul trips with very good results, no side effects either. Ditto for drinking water... and avoiding alcohol and caffeine.

[JFontaine]

I am another vote for a nap, especially if you are like me and can't sleep on an airplane. Unless you are 18, I just don't think the body is designed to be up that long without sleeping. I think you are more likely to fall or have an accident or forget something somewhere if you are dragging around. Some people seem to get a 'second wind' - but that's not me. So I sleep for a few hours and then try to stay up as late as I can (11) to get on a new normal schedule. I also vote for trying to reset your body clock a few days earlier by getting up early and going to bed early, and to the extent that you can, store up on sleep before you go.