Jet Lag Prevention and Security in Flight

When I fly trans-Atlantic, I wear a neck pouch, which contains our passports, money, etc. You just put it under your shirt and you don't have to worry about anything. When you land, it is all right there, and easy to reach.

Stewart; generally i suffer more from jet lage flying West to East. East to West doesnt seem bad (i often fly much longer than 13 hours). Obviously your arrival day will be very long, so you will be inclined to go to bed early. Shouldnt be a problem. Even if you go to bed early that night, you should be fine the next day. (The suggestion not to go to bed before 9pm is usually for flying West (USA) to East (Europe). That flight is going to be boring to the n'th degree, they will undoubtedly have the main cabin lights out, so there isnt anything else to do but sleep and read. get as much sleep as you can

I cannot emphasize enough getting outside and walking around. The fresh air, sunshine, and exercise do wonders for me. Will you have a smaller, second carry-on stored by your feet? That's where I put my valuable items as it's pretty unlikely someone would be able to get down there without me noticing. Of course the downside is less room for your feet. While I think you'd be safe to have it in your bag in the cabin, for peace of mind you might want to wear the money belt. You won't sleep very well if you wake up frequently because you are worried.

Because you're going to fly east to west, your jet-lag scenario will be a little different from most of the posters on this website. The biggest problem for you is that your sleep-wake cycle is going to be 7 hours ahead when you land. No matter how much sleep you get on the flight, your body will go into sleep mode at the normal Singapore time, which will likely be early afternoon in Europe. Try as best you can to fight through it- walk, get plenty of sun exposure, drink some coffee, whatever it takes. The next problem, however, is that you will likely wake up very early the next morning and your body won't want to fall back to sleep. This is where a low dose of a short acting sedative, like zolpidem (trade name Ambien in the US), can help. After a few nights of this treatment, your sleep-wake cycle should fully adjust.

Hi all, thanks a lot for the suggestions. I always put my wallet + passport in my daypack on the cabin without anything being stolen, although I never had flight more than 5 hours let alone overnight flight. I have money belt with me, so I will use it even on the flight then to be safe, and to have peace on my mind. And as for the sleep, okay, I guess the general advise is sleep as much as I can, instead of just normal 8 hours of sleep. Is it advisable to take medicine like Melatonin during the flight itself? Or is it only for the night of the first days to "force" me not to wake up too early the next mornings?

You don't take melatonin during the flight. It resets your body clock, so take it at bedtime once you arrive. I take it the first few days and it works like a charm. I can't sleep on planes, so I just stay up. My flights always arrive in the morning and I just stay active all day. But, I almost never make it past 7 pm, and that works just fine for me. With a melatonin, I sleep through the night even though I've gone to bed early. I don't worry about my valuables in flight. I've never heard of in-flight theft, and really, they can't go far. If you have them overhead or under the seat in front of you, you or other people are going to notice if someone's looking through your stuff. It's actually pretty disruptive when someone goes into the overhead bin, so people notice that.

Stewart, It's unlikely that theft from your Daypack would be an issue during the flight, but even so I'd be nervous about leaving my wallet and Passport in the Daypack. I normally keep them with me during the flight. You could certainly wear your Money Belt during the flight, but I often leave that in my Daypack (without any money) and then go to the washroom in the plane just prior to landing and put it on. Regarding the jet lag issue, there are a variety of solutions as everyone reacts to that a bit differently. Although I always try to sleep during the flights, I've never been too successful at that (don't want to miss enjoying that fine airline cuisine!). I usually end up watching a couple of movies and perhaps taking a few short naps. I usually choose an aisle seat, so it's difficult to sleep when the person in the window seat needs to go to the WC or whatever. BTW, you'll be sleeping in your seat (keep the seatbelt fastened). Rick normally recommends getting lots of fresh air and sunshine in your first destination, retiring early and then waking up at a normal time (for that time zone) the following day. As your plane lands at 07:00, it's going to be VERY difficult to stay awake until 21:00 or so. Not sure what to recommend on that point? Good luck and happy travels!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I thought we are only allowed to bring 1 bag onboard? So, because I already bring a daypack, am I still allowed to bring like a shoulder bag too? By the way, I will have my DSLR camera, pocket digital camera, and netbook in that daypack as well. Should I use a padlock for that daypack? The daypack will be kinda bulky, so put it under the seat might takes most of the feet spaces. My longest flight is only about 5 hours, and I usually couldn't sleep well while sitting like that. Many times I would wake up, and then dozed off again. For this flight, I will be sitting on the window seat. And actually, Amsterdam is only a transit (for 6 hours), which I am planning on getting out of the airport for 2 hours of walking around the city. So I am hoping to be able to that walking around Amsterdam right after getting of the plane. After the transit, I will have a 1.5 hour flight to Nice and land around 3pm. So, I will have to keep awake after landing on Nice on that afternoon, which I guess will be quite difficult. But I will get a lot of sunlight and try to keep moving on the day.

Re the number of bags, it depends on the rules of your airline/airport. From the US, one is typically allowed one carry-on, plus a personal item such as a purse or small bag. Even if you were only allowed one bag, you could put a smaller bag in that bag til you board, then store the backpack up above and take your smaller bag out and put it by your feet. Overall though, the safest thing to do is keep wearing your money belt. It's quite likely you will not even notice it's on.

I would keep my cash, wallet & passport on me at all times. Too many stories about people stealing out of others' luggage while everyone else sleeps.

As tightly as my bag fits under my seat, and as full of a variety of things as it is, I'd sure like to see someone try to fish anything of particular value out of it while I'm sleeping. With the limited foot space anyway, I think I would notice someone crawling around down there. I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Okay, so I will always wear my money belt. And I think will put a padlock on my daypack on the overhead compartment just to be safe. If the daypack is not too big, I probably will put it below my seat.

"And I think will put a padlock on my daypack on the overhead compartment just to be safe." That's probably overkill. Unless you have to put the bag in a compartment far from your seat, it will be pretty hard for someone to get to your bag without you noticing.

Here is another thought about jet lag: It has been reported that fasting for 12-14 hours resets your body's biological clock when your normal pattern has been upset by lack of sleep. I tried this approach on my last trip but couldn't hold out for the full 12 hours so I can't say that it definitely worked. I didn't feel as tired as on a previous trip, though, so who knows? Anyway, do a search on "fasting to beat jet lag" and you'll find lots of links, mostly to a 2008 study, I believe. It is worth a look.