Long w/e jet lag info

We did a five day turn around to London a couple of years ago. We prepared for it a little better by time shifting about three hours on this side. It was a direct flight so we ignore everything on the plane -- ear plugs, eye shades, sleeping pill. Took a two hour nap the PM (usual practice) we arrived and were fine till midnight. I didn't feel our internal clocks were anymore messed up than usual.

For myself, the first day is the worst. After that, no problems. Like most folks on here, I stay up until around 9pm the first day in Europe, and do a lot of walking to keep myself awake. On the second day, I may sleep in a bit later than I usually would back home, but I'm mostly on track with European time.

My husband travels to Europe for work and often has a 4-5 day turnaround. He has the same experience -- get through the first day, the rest is a piece of cake.

I spent 2 weeks over in Europe this summer and had the worst jet lag when I got back, though. Took a week before I could stay up past 8pm. But I'm older than I was when I started traveling!

I've got you beat, I flew into Glascow on a Friday, and out on Sunday. Had a 1 day meeting. I didn't even sleep on Saturday night. Our flight home we had to leave the hotel at 6AM. I was in a daze for 3 days after (at home)

I have also flown into London for a 2 day meeting, then home. I about fell asleep in the meeting a few times - especially around 5PM the first and second day.

You have more time to adjust your clock when in Europe, just jump into your activities and try to stay awake the first day until a normal bed time for you. Get lots of sunlight - that will help.

It's not so much the jet lag when you are there, it's when you get home that it really hits you....for me it's a 2-3 day recovery for my sleep pattern.

Linda,

That's a really tough schedule, as you'll barely be adjusted for the European time zone when it will be time to fly home. You'll probably find that the jet lag will affect you more after returning home than on the trip to Europe. It took me about a week to get back to normal after my trip this spring (and that was after 3-4 weeks in Europe).

Good luck!

I react to jet lag exactly like Maureen (I also take Melatonin, which helps me a lot, and helps my skeptical husband as well) so I think a 5 day trip is doable. Businesspeople do it all the time. Not ideal, but doable. My bigger concern would be making sure you had the quickest flights there so as not to waste time that way--pay more for a nonstop, etc.

Thank you so much for your replies. My biggest worry was about the return flight as I do need to report to work the very next day. Also, I have been scouring the net for quick flights, unfortunately, no non-stop. :( Thanks again for all of your input.

I never have jet lag when I arrive. I'm too excited to be there and just go all day until a reasonable bedtime. My problem is my return home. The first trip I took I didn't want to waste any vacation time, so I went to work the next day. That was hard! Now I try to build in at least a day after I get home to rest up. East Coast people might not have it as badly because there is less of a time difference. If the only way I could make the trip would have me going to work the day after I get home, I would still go for it!

I just returned (Thursday the 10th of September) from a nine night stay in Dublin from Los Angeles. Getting there I left at 12 Noon on Monday and arrived at 10 am on Tuesday, with one 1 hour layover in Atlanta. I went to bed Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. and woke at 5 am. I slept about three hours on the plane, stayed up all day until 11:00 that night and was fine for the whole trip.

Now I got back Thursday night, slept about two hours on the plane, left Dublin at 12:00 Noon, one stop in Atlanta for two hours and into LAX at 7:30 p.m.

I was so exhausted Friday and Saturday I couldn't believe it, felt like a zombie. Woke in the middle of the night for a couple of hours and then back to sleep, restless. So, on Saturday, after working half a day, I went to bed at 3 p.m. until 7 p.m., back to bed from 9 pm to 7 am and I'm almost back to normal.

Didn't take any drugs, my druggest recommended vitamin C and regular vitamins, and don't drink alcohol on the plane. I'm nearly 60 so I don't bounce back as quickly as I used to. Hope this helps.

I know what you mean Joanne. Why is coming home so much harder?

Well..we are going for it. We leave on the 7th and return on th 13th of October and luckily we are leaving from East Coast. I don't think I could do it from the West coast. I think one of the reasons it is so difficult to return back is that we just wake up over there and then start to fly and by the time you land you are still six hours ahead on European time. Maybe if the airlines left over there closer to late afternoon or early evening, it might be better????

I used to work graveyard shift I think and that messed up my sleeping. I can go up to 48hrs without sleeping. I try to get as much sleep as I can on the flight. As soon as I step off the plane, I don't need to reset my sleep clock. I'm excited and ready to hit the streets. When going home, it hits me a little. Back to work, just before or after lunch time, I start to feel quite sleepy. I could fly back home on a Saturday and use Sunday to recover but I want to maximize my time on vacation.

On the plus side, once home, you can get a lot of housework done at 3:00AM.