Jet Lag is Real . . . and Really Annoying

Lengths of Travel and Jet Lag

You’ve determined where and when you want to go, now you’re trying to decide how long your trip should be. Jet lag is real, and it can drastically affect the quality of your trip. It’s important to include unexpected sleeping time into your trip planning.

When I was a new flight attendant I’d think nothing of jetting off to a faraway destination for three or four days. While that was a very fun and exciting way to live, I can’t imagine doing something so crazy today. The reason? Jet Lag! I hate feeling like a zombie.

My Anti-Jet Lag Rule:

Here’s a good rule of thumb, which you’re welcome to steal. If I’m:

• Skipping more than six time zones or
• If my flight is more than eight hours east or west

I will plan, at a minimum, a ten-day trip. Two weeks is even better if you can swing it!

If I’m traveling within four hours of my time zone, (basically anywhere in the Americas, Mexico and Canada) a seven-day trip will be fine.

A Note on Travel

If your flight is seven or more hours, you’ll lose a full day traveling each way. Your seven-day vacation is actually five days, less whatever jet lag recovery you have to deal with. Nap on the plane if you can. Every minute of sleep helps.

A Helpful Planning Tip

If you have three weeks of vacation a year and plan to go way outside your time zone, I’d suggest breaking your vacation up into two longer trips of ten days.

My Mixed Tolerance for Jet Lag

Traveling across the United States is no problem for me. I have pretty good jet lag defenses and don’t really notice time changes four hours in either direction (I’m lucky to live cushioned right in the middle in the Mountain Time Zone). I can start in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, have an overnight in Charleston on Wednesday, go to Palm Springs on Thursday and not notice there’s been a time zone difference. 

Well . . . if I’m in California, I find I might find I want to lunch a little earlier than usual. Haha.

However, I still have a lot of trouble going east, towards Europe. Time zone changes between six and nine hours will really screw up my brain. Flights from the United States into Europe usually land between 10 am and 3 pm local time, which is between 1 am and 4 am our time. I’ll land feeling hazy, even if it’s a bright sunny day. As far as my brain is concerned it’s the middle of the night. I should be in bed, sleeping.

Jet lag is very real and should be respected.

What It’s Like To Arrive in a Foreign Country After a Long Flight

Let me describe the scene for you.

After a very long plane ride, you land in a foreign country. Although it’s the middle of the day, your brain thinks it’s the middle of the night.

In a haze, you stumble off the aircraft. You’re barked at by a customs agent who stamps your passport and flings it back at you. As you walk away, you realize you now have to somehow navigate an unknown airport where all the signs are in a foreign language, illustrated by confusing stick-figure pictures.

To make things worse, you’re exhausted. You’re also really sore because you were crushed up in a little seat for hours and hours and hours. You worry you might smell bad. Suddenly you’re starving, but you have no idea what to eat because you can’t see a McDonald’s anywhere.

As you get into baggage claim you realize you need cash, but you have no idea how much 10,000 rubles is in USD. Because you’re confused by the exchange rate, you’ve become paranoid about draining your bank account. You go to look up the exchange rate on your cell phone, but it’s having a difficult time connecting to the foreign network and you start to worry that if you do use your phone it’ll charge you $100 a minute.

To make matters worse, you don’t understand why your brain is reacting SO SLOWLY and irrationally to all of your many, many thoughts. 

It’s Time for a Nap

All you really want to do is shower, brush your teeth and stretch out on clean sheets. 

The back of your brain is whispering, “Hey we’re in a new place, let’s explore!” The front of your brain is shouting, “I smell weird, I’m tired, maybe let’s sleep on that bench next to that stranger for a few minutes.” 

You take a deep breath and say to yourself, “I’m glad I’m here for ten days.” Then you smile because you’re a trip planning genius.

Trust me, I can tell you from experience that when you arrive on Day One (which is technically Day 2 as you’ve lost a day traveling), you’re going to be too tired and confused to do anything meaningful. 

Tools for Dealing With Jet Lag

My suggestion: Go straight to your hotel, take a brief nap of no more than three hours, shower and go out for dinner.

If your hotel is in a safe location, walk around a bit and get a feel for the area. Be back at your hotel by 10:00 pm sharp.

This Part is Important

Be in bed by 10:00 pm. Do whatever it takes to go back to sleep and get a full night of sleep . . . listen to a sleep app, take a melatonin, or whatever you do to fall asleep fast (please no illegal drugs). 

The sooner you get acclimated to the local time zone, the better.

Then You MUST Get Up By 8:00

The next morning, regardless of how tired or disoriented you are, set your alarm for 8:00 am. Then, be out of your room and on your way by 9:00. Make sure you have a fully scheduled day and STAY BUSY!

Don’t fall into the trap of asking yourself, “What time is it at home.” You aren’t at home, it doesn’t matter what time it is there. You MUST attune yourself to the local time.

The goal of your first day is to:

• NOT take a nap
• Have enormous amounts of fun
• Adapt to the local time zone

If you follow these tips and keep yourself busy, around 9:00 pm, you’ll be so exhausted you fall into bed and sleep like a baby. 

Jet lag conquered!

Follow My Tips, Jet Lag Won’t Be as Bad

As painful as this process is, when I follow these guidelines it usually takes no longer than two or three days to stop feeling any effects of jet lag. Be disciplined. Going through jet lag SUCKS, which is why I recommend taking longer trips when crossing more than six time zones. 

Going West Isn’t as Bad

I’ve found that going west (toward Asia), jet lag doesn’t affect me as much. When the time difference is twelve or more hours my brain adapts much quicker. I don’t understand the science or reasoning behind this, although I’m sure crossing the international date line has something to do with it. I have almost zero jet lag at my destination when I travel twelve or more hours westbound. 

However when I return home from Asia, jet lag returns with a vengeance.

Jet Lag is a Necessary Evil, We Must Adapt!

Jet lag is an unfortunate part of international travel that must be dealt with. Likely, you’ll experience jet lag on both ends. If you’re aware it’s coming and have a good plan in place to deal with it, it can be a minor annoyance instead of a major irritation. 

If you can, add in a few extra days to your trip so you can deal with any jet lag issues.  You’re traveling a long way to see sites you’ve dreamed of, you’ll remember your vacation better if you’re bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. 

Thanks So Much for Stopping By!

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I’d love to hear about your travel experiences, good and bad. We’ll all be better travelers if we learn from one another. 

The Art of Travel (TAOT) ~ Written by Kylie, thanks Alex for taking all these flattering photos.