We are in Japan right now. The only thing we do is not be ambitious about booking pre start of tour extra site seeing. We want to save our energy for the tour. We wait until we see how we are the day after we arrive and then decide what we want to see and do. We do make the effort to get out in the daylight to fool our body clocks. This is of course more difficult now popular sites need to be booked online. If things are a must to see, then we make sure to arrive more than a day early. We just keep going. It took us three or four nights to get onto a similar schedule as home apart from needing to go to bed earlier.
We have found that getting over jet lag is no easier even if you travel business class and in theory get more chance to sleep.
On this particular tour, at least 8 people arrived just as we were headed down for the Welcome dinner.
So many suggestions out there and it's completely different advice depending on whether you're going west or east.
For going east, if we get to our destination in the morning we get out and walk around, have lunch, find an ATM, etc. At least until the room is ready. Then we might take a short nap (1 hour) and get back out again walking, having dinner and trying hard to stay up until our normal bedtime. If we arrive in the afternoon we do the walking around, dinner and staying away. No nap. If I've done that I can usually be over jetlag in a day or so. I might still have morning when I wake early and can't go back to sleep. I usually leave my husband sleeping and go to the gym or on river cruises head to Arthurs for coffee. Lovely quiet start to the day.
Supposedly going west is easier as you mainly just have a very long day but I find my body takes a week to adjust everything back on schedule.
I had hoped business class would improve my sleeping on long haul flights but I don't get much more than in economy but my body feels much better. I used to arrive feeling I'd been beaten up. Hotel pools are good for relaxing after a long flight. Worth packing your swim suit.
Because of the adrenaline the jet lag going to the tour seems to be gone in one day. On the return home, in the absence of that adrenaline it seems to last a few days.
To minimize it on the way to the tour I try to get on the sleep cycle of the destination ASAP, meaning even if you arrive early in the morning we stay up until we know that we can sleep through the night, whatever time that is. When we get up the next morning, with the adrenaline of getting things started the jet lag seems to be gone.
We've found that any naps just extends the jet lag.
We also try to manage the amount of sleep we try to get on the flight to the destination based on when we will be arriving.
If we arrive early in the morning then we get as much sleep on the plane as we can since we will have the whole day to get tired again.
If we arrive late in the day, then we minimize the amount we sleep on the plane so that we will be really tired at the normal go to sleep time at the destination.
This has worked well for us.
I totally agree with Claudia's statement "I had hoped business class would improve my sleeping on long haul flights but I don't get much more than in economy but my body feels much better." Being 6'6" tall sitting like a pretzel in coach for 8-12 hours has a much more severe impact on my body than any jet lag.
Staying hydrated with water and avoiding alcohol on the flight over work well for us. Direct flights also help. I typically only suffer from jet lag upon returning home. Like Steve above, my husband can fall asleep instantly and he hardly ever reclines his seat to the full lie-flat position. He's too afraid he will miss the ice cream service mid flight.
I take a sleeping pill. I see people fall asleep all around me and I’m constantly wide awake. It has never been easy for me to fall asleep because i don’t like to miss anything. I’ve tried yoga, ambient music, not indulging with chocolate or coffee or alcohol etc. and nothing works.
Japan is a thirteenth hour difference ahead of of US East coast time, plus, you cross the international date line and lose a day. We acclimated quite well this trip but we are walking up to 15,000 steps a day, which helps.
I might be in the minority, but here goes. If I am going on Tauck trip outside the US, I am flying business class...no question about it. I have long legs even though I am using 6 feet tall. Otherwise, I experienced swelling on a long flight from Budapest/CDG then back to Texas. For us it is so worth it, especially when you are already spending $$ on these Tauck trips.
Cathy, 37 hours minus 24, you lose 24 hours, you don’t experience them. Coming back you gain 24 hours but you don’t experience them. We loved Singapore.
We flew coach to Singapore thirty years ago via Singapore airlines. The service was wonderful in coach though I had only flown business class once at that time.
Check out the “Timeshifter” app. Gets good reviews. Can try it on one roundtrip trip for free. If you like it, you can subscribe on a couple of different options. I’m trying it for the first time on our upcoming trip to Japan. We’ll be flying direct to Tokyo from Seattle. Arrival in Tokyo is very early a.m. Seattle time, but about 19:00 Tokyo time. Based on prior long transoceanic flight experiences, I agree with those who suggest business class (thank goodness for mileage award flights), avoiding alcohol, and hydrating.
Comments
We are in Japan right now. The only thing we do is not be ambitious about booking pre start of tour extra site seeing. We want to save our energy for the tour. We wait until we see how we are the day after we arrive and then decide what we want to see and do. We do make the effort to get out in the daylight to fool our body clocks. This is of course more difficult now popular sites need to be booked online. If things are a must to see, then we make sure to arrive more than a day early. We just keep going. It took us three or four nights to get onto a similar schedule as home apart from needing to go to bed earlier.
We have found that getting over jet lag is no easier even if you travel business class and in theory get more chance to sleep.
On this particular tour, at least 8 people arrived just as we were headed down for the Welcome dinner.
So many suggestions out there and it's completely different advice depending on whether you're going west or east.
For going east, if we get to our destination in the morning we get out and walk around, have lunch, find an ATM, etc. At least until the room is ready. Then we might take a short nap (1 hour) and get back out again walking, having dinner and trying hard to stay up until our normal bedtime. If we arrive in the afternoon we do the walking around, dinner and staying away. No nap. If I've done that I can usually be over jetlag in a day or so. I might still have morning when I wake early and can't go back to sleep. I usually leave my husband sleeping and go to the gym or on river cruises head to Arthurs for coffee. Lovely quiet start to the day.
Supposedly going west is easier as you mainly just have a very long day but I find my body takes a week to adjust everything back on schedule.
I had hoped business class would improve my sleeping on long haul flights but I don't get much more than in economy but my body feels much better. I used to arrive feeling I'd been beaten up. Hotel pools are good for relaxing after a long flight. Worth packing your swim suit.
Fly business class and get a massage the first full day there!
Because of the adrenaline the jet lag going to the tour seems to be gone in one day. On the return home, in the absence of that adrenaline it seems to last a few days.
To minimize it on the way to the tour I try to get on the sleep cycle of the destination ASAP, meaning even if you arrive early in the morning we stay up until we know that we can sleep through the night, whatever time that is. When we get up the next morning, with the adrenaline of getting things started the jet lag seems to be gone.
We've found that any naps just extends the jet lag.
We also try to manage the amount of sleep we try to get on the flight to the destination based on when we will be arriving.
If we arrive early in the morning then we get as much sleep on the plane as we can since we will have the whole day to get tired again.
If we arrive late in the day, then we minimize the amount we sleep on the plane so that we will be really tired at the normal go to sleep time at the destination.
This has worked well for us.
I totally agree with Claudia's statement "I had hoped business class would improve my sleeping on long haul flights but I don't get much more than in economy but my body feels much better." Being 6'6" tall sitting like a pretzel in coach for 8-12 hours has a much more severe impact on my body than any jet lag.
Staying hydrated with water and avoiding alcohol on the flight over work well for us. Direct flights also help. I typically only suffer from jet lag upon returning home. Like Steve above, my husband can fall asleep instantly and he hardly ever reclines his seat to the full lie-flat position. He's too afraid he will miss the ice cream service mid flight.
I take a sleeping pill. I see people fall asleep all around me and I’m constantly wide awake. It has never been easy for me to fall asleep because i don’t like to miss anything. I’ve tried yoga, ambient music, not indulging with chocolate or coffee or alcohol etc. and nothing works.
Japan is a thirteenth hour difference ahead of of US East coast time, plus, you cross the international date line and lose a day. We acclimated quite well this trip but we are walking up to 15,000 steps a day, which helps.
I might be in the minority, but here goes. If I am going on Tauck trip outside the US, I am flying business class...no question about it. I have long legs even though I am using 6 feet tall. Otherwise, I experienced swelling on a long flight from Budapest/CDG then back to Texas. For us it is so worth it, especially when you are already spending $$ on these Tauck trips.
Cathy, 37 hours minus 24, you lose 24 hours, you don’t experience them. Coming back you gain 24 hours but you don’t experience them. We loved Singapore.
We flew coach to Singapore thirty years ago via Singapore airlines. The service was wonderful in coach though I had only flown business class once at that time.
Check out the “Timeshifter” app. Gets good reviews. Can try it on one roundtrip trip for free. If you like it, you can subscribe on a couple of different options. I’m trying it for the first time on our upcoming trip to Japan. We’ll be flying direct to Tokyo from Seattle. Arrival in Tokyo is very early a.m. Seattle time, but about 19:00 Tokyo time. Based on prior long transoceanic flight experiences, I agree with those who suggest business class (thank goodness for mileage award flights), avoiding alcohol, and hydrating.