Jet Lag Tips

[300dtc]

We loved our trip on the Epic! We got to Barcelona 2 days early..what a great city to wander..the public transportation can get you anywhere you want to go! Our flight landed at 9 am also..we took the airport bus to downtown and walked to our hotel..that woke us up! After dropping our luggage we just walked around ..found a cafe and had a snack..then walked around and tried some different sangria's at different places..at around 3 pm we went back and took a nap..then at around 6 ish went back out again for dinner..I think we went to sleep about 9:30.. I don't really remember feeling bad the next day..so I guess our jet lag wasn't very bad. Hope you have a great trip..

 

 

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[pe4all]

We are doing the Med on Epic in August. We will fly out from JFK 8:30 pm on a Friday night, getting to Barcelona Saturday morning around 10:00. We will drop our luggage at our hotel, then grab a hop on-hop off bus tour. Will not nap during day. Will go to sleep around 9 pm that night. Will let our kids sleep in a bit Sunday morning. We did the same thing when we flew to London last year, and we really had no jet-lag to speak of. Also - first day is a sea day, so if there is some tiredness, maybe it can be over by the time we begin running for the next 5 days straight!

[spanishguy1970]

The mistake some people make when going overseas is when they arrive at their destination they take a nap. This has always worked for me, I arrive one or two days ahead of time, once there i keep busy, i walk the streets, take a tour, etc. and go to bed at the right local time. The next day i feel fresh and new and have no jet lag. I also keep well hydrated.

[Ergates The Ant]

Having tried the stay awake when we arrive in the UK routine, we have gone the other way and it works for us. Neither of us can sleep well on planes, and usually arrive back in the UK first thing in the morning and exhausted. We book a day room at our arrival airport hotel, once through customs and immigration, we fall into bed for a few hours in the morning. In our case, until mid afternoon, when we collect our car and drive home. We then head to bed for the night at 10.30pm, and wake up on UK time.

In your case, it would give you a few hours sleep before boarding the ship, you can then have your dinner and stay up late, and hopefully the next morning you will be pretty well caught up.

The big thing I have found combats the jet lag symptoms is not to go hungry! Just eat whenever you feel like it, stops your tummy feeling queasy. Easy to do on a cruise!

[SuiteTraveler]

Thanks, everyone, for all the feedback. There's no chance of switching flights at this point, so I'm going to stop reading because those posts just make me nervous. Good thing we have trip insurance, I guess. I'm writing down all the ideas about jet lag and we'll just see how it goes. We'll be exhausted and just expect it....and I'm going to stay positive and assume it will all work out. The tour is actually a private tour and if we're not through in time or there are delays we do get our money back, so I'm not going to fuss about that one. Either it will work out or it won't.

 

Wishing you all happy sailing!

Robin

 

Robin,

First off, no need to be nervous about missing your ship, in a Med cruise it is really easy to get to the next port - and there are no rules that limit where you can board your ship, just call and let the cruise line know that you missed the first port but will be joining the ship at the next port and either take the train or fly to the next port - whichever will get you there the soonest. Spend the night in a hotel and board your ship the next morning. I promise, no matter what, everything will be OK.

 

For the plane if you are in economy, buy this:

https://www.amazon.com/Airplane-Traveling-Comroll-Flocking-Inflating/dp/B06XPGJ62H/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1492118506&sr=8-5&keywords=sleep+pillow+for+airplane

 

It looks crazy but works great. Ask your doctor for prescription sleeping pill, take one and try to relax so you can sleep on the plane. The biggest issue for me is that the plane is typically being jostled by turbulence, but with the sleeping pill and the above travel pillow, I can usually go to sleep because I am tired. You might put a note up for the flight attendants not to wake you for breakfast. Put it somewhere they can see easily with big letters and hopefully, you will not awake until you have landed. It is easy to get comfortable with this pillow in front of you and a good idea to pack something behind your back to help keep you in place such as the airline pillow or even your purse, then put the airline blanket around your shoulders.

 

Anyway, with this crazy pillow, I find I can usually sleep on an international flight and it makes it a lot shorter. If you do manage to sleep, then you will be able to do your tour and won't be overly tired when you get on the ship, although you will still probably want to go to bed fairly early.

[Ask4Jay]

@ Robin

I admire your ambition. After 33 years in the airline biz with lots of internat'l flights, I still have no magic formula - except this: keep the first day open. No schedule, no plans.

 

But since this advice is kinda late for you, I'd suggest that you do take that bus tour and just use it to nod off and catch up on your sleep. You'll be surprised how easy that is going to be.

 

Whatever you do, make sure your face doesn't fall in your soup :)

Happy Cruising to you and the other half of 'we'.

[SheehanDJ]

Eat according to the clock where you are not your level of hunger. You will find yourself "starving" at odd times (when you are used to eating at home). Do not eat unless it is a meal time where you are. This is the quickest way to adjust your circadian rhythm.

 

Use Benadryl or some other type of antihistamine to help make you drowsy when you should be sleeping. Avoid prescription sleeping pills, you will sleep but you aren't adjusting your internal clock you are just knocking yourself out.

 

Do NOT nap any where near what would be bedtime at home. You will go right into a sleep cycle and erase any work you have put in.

 

Second to eating at local meal times is natural light, get away from light bulbs and get out in the sun.

[Fred Quimby]

you need to sleep on the plane

[Love.II.Cruise]

Try to get sleep on the plane... Then stay awake until a proper bed time in your new location. It works for us every time. ;p

[ExpatBride]

I've travelled across time zones a lot for work and my best tip is to resist the urge to sleep when you get to the next timezone. The best thing you can do is to adapt to local time as soon as you land, no matter how tired you are.

[Son of a son of a ...]

Slightly off topic, but I would also be aware that Philly can be horrible for connecting flights (not always, just that it is a possibility). 2 and a half hours seems like forever- until the connecting plane leaves early (this happened coming home through Philly from our last vacation).

 

 

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I cannot agree with you more. Returning, it did take us 2.5 hours to get through immigration, then customs, then TSA (again), then recheck luggage for the domestic flight ... all while lagged. If there are a couple of international flights landing in the same hour, the place gets very congested.

[sanger727]

you need to sleep on the plane

 

 

That's a nice idea but some people just can't sleep on planes. I'm one of them, there's no amount of OTC sleep aids (not tried prescription - I have trouble sleeping often and don't want to try anything addictive), that will get me to sleep while sitting in a chair or around other people or with any light/noise. So even if they can't, advice is the same to power through the first day and catch up the first night in the new time zone.

 

 

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[ducklite]

I cannot agree with you more. Returning, it did take us 2.5 hours to get through immigration, then customs, then TSA (again), then recheck luggage for the domestic flight ... all while lagged. If there are a couple of international flights landing in the same hour, the place gets very congested.

 

 

 

It has never taken me more than 15 minutes, and that is before GE and PRE. Rechecking the luggage meant dropping it on the carousel, there was no need to stand in line, as it was already tagged to my final destination.

 

 

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[pe4all]

Robin,

For the plane if you are in economy, buy this:

https://www.amazon.com/Airplane-Traveling-Comroll-Flocking-Inflating/dp/B06XPGJ62H/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1492118506&sr=8-5&keywords=sleep+pillow+for+airplane

Anyway, with this crazy pillow, I find I can usually sleep on an international flight and it makes it a lot shorter. If you do manage to sleep, then you will be able to do your tour and won't be overly tired when you get on the ship, although you will still probably want to go to bed fairly early.

Thanks so much for this suggestion. I just ordered one for dd, who usually puts the tray down on the plane and tries to sleep on that. Showed her the pillow and she was so happy. Will try it in August on way to Barcelona!

[lucky346]

Figured I'd do an update on this thread now that we are home!

Again, thank you all for the suggestions...I passed quite a few along to DH as well.

 

We got super lucky in everything. No flight delays, no missed connections. Given that most of our flying that first day took place when we would have been awake anyway, we just stayed awake....and stayed awake.....and then when it moved into nighttime, stayed awake some more. I did try to sleep a little bit on the flight from Philly but I've never been able to sleep on planes and despite everything I tried, I never did nap for more than about 15 minutes at a time.

 

Our private tour of Barcelona was wonderful and we really didn't start to flag until the very end when we were both so tired we weren't super interested in getting out anymore but were quite content to just let him drive around and show us sights and tell us information. Yes, I do wish we'd come in early so we could have enjoyed the city more, but when we budgeted for the trip it just wasn't in the plans. Next time for something like this we'll know better!

 

By the time he dropped us off at the ship it was about 2:30 local time and we wanted nothing more than a nap. Did not do it. Stayed awake through dinner at Taste and went to bed around 8 PM. When we woke up the next morning we both felt great and other than DH taking a few afternoon naps (which honestly, he does at home on the weekends all the time) it felt like we switched over really quickly.

 

Trip home was fine as well. Left the ship around 8 AM, first flight at 1:00 (did not sleep at all), second flight was more difficult because by then it was midnight/ early morning in Barcelona and I'm usually asleep by 9. I did take a few catnaps on the plane, but when we got home at 10:30 PM local time I went straight to bed and didn't wake up until 5:45 AM (late for me). And now I'm up and doing laundry and getting ready to enjoy a beautiful sunny 84 degree day in Seattle (warmer than where we were, crazy enough)! I'm sure I'll be tired later and probably a few days of adjusting, but I feel good now so all is well!

 

Anyone still looking forward to your trip, enjoy!! We had a wonderful time!

Robin

[Seminole1975]

Have a good trip and I'm glad you started this thread. I'm flying to Copenhagen but I'm going to arrive 2 days early and I wondered about jet lag. Plus I'm going to wear some compression socks on the plane too.

 

 

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We are going to get to Copenhagen at 1:30 pm the day before the cruise. I have always heard that it is best not to nap and to "power through" until bedtime local time. My plan is to check into the hotel, get settled, get some coffee, and head to Tivoli Gardens. (I picked our hotel to be close to this attraction). We plan on spending the evening there and having dinner at one of their restaurants. (I LOVE Disney World and I read that Walt Disney came to Tivoli Gardens for inspiration)! Then on to bed!

[Quilting_Cruiser]

So glad you had a great time! This is exactly what I do and like you, the second day I'm just fine. I'm arriving in Rome at 10:30 a.m. in the fall and plan to go see the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain that first day and wander around that area. I'll go to bed about 9 and be ready to really start touring the next day! :D

 

Figured I'd do an update on this thread now that we are home!

Again, thank you all for the suggestions...I passed quite a few along to DH as well.

 

We got super lucky in everything. No flight delays, no missed connections. Given that most of our flying that first day took place when we would have been awake anyway, we just stayed awake....and stayed awake.....and then when it moved into nighttime, stayed awake some more. I did try to sleep a little bit on the flight from Philly but I've never been able to sleep on planes and despite everything I tried, I never did nap for more than about 15 minutes at a time.

 

Our private tour of Barcelona was wonderful and we really didn't start to flag until the very end when we were both so tired we weren't super interested in getting out anymore but were quite content to just let him drive around and show us sights and tell us information. Yes, I do wish we'd come in early so we could have enjoyed the city more, but when we budgeted for the trip it just wasn't in the plans. Next time for something like this we'll know better!

 

By the time he dropped us off at the ship it was about 2:30 local time and we wanted nothing more than a nap. Did not do it. Stayed awake through dinner at Taste and went to bed around 8 PM. When we woke up the next morning we both felt great and other than DH taking a few afternoon naps (which honestly, he does at home on the weekends all the time) it felt like we switched over really quickly.

 

Trip home was fine as well. Left the ship around 8 AM, first flight at 1:00 (did not sleep at all), second flight was more difficult because by then it was midnight/ early morning in Barcelona and I'm usually asleep by 9. I did take a few catnaps on the plane, but when we got home at 10:30 PM local time I went straight to bed and didn't wake up until 5:45 AM (late for me). And now I'm up and doing laundry and getting ready to enjoy a beautiful sunny 84 degree day in Seattle (warmer than where we were, crazy enough)! I'm sure I'll be tired later and probably a few days of adjusting, but I feel good now so all is well!

 

Anyone still looking forward to your trip, enjoy!! We had a wonderful time!

Robin