Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattered

[jb747]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

West is best.. just extend your days a bit

Flying back home east however I like arriving early morning.. just force yourself to stay awake all day, a bit of exercise, and then you'll sleep very very well, maybe with a melatonin to help

You'll always sleep well the first night. But then second and third night syndrome kicks in....

 

[dajop]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

I find day flights, or evening arrivals the best, whatever the time difference, provided you manage in plane time well.

I've had several flight from Europe to MEL arriving back in the evening, and these seem to serve me well for preventing jet lag - with the proviso I do my utmost to stay awake during Australian day time (eg. if connecting via SIN, try to stay awake for most of the SIN-MEL flight). I see people sleeping SIN-MEL day flight and just don't know how they manage to sleep when they arrive home that night.

Day flights also make a big difference to me. A couple of weeks ago on the 20 hr journey from LAX to SIN - in economy - I opted for 10am departure/9pm arrival. I stayed up whole flight (worked for most of it to save a days leave) and went to bed when I reached home. Only jetlag effect was wanting to go to bed at 10pm instead of usual midnight and waking a little earlier as well (an effect I also get after returning from AU). I am sure if I'd taken the 8pm departure/6am arrival would have been much worse.

I'm not convinced of the age effect. The worst jet lag I can recall was coming back from LHR-MEL when I was 23 - took me days to get over. I wasn't so experienced at long haul travel then though.

 

[Pushka]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

I arrive home totally knackered whilst +1 starts unpacking bags, doing the laundry etc. I'm the one that gets more sleep on the plane. Don't know she does it.
Hopefully our next return from EU with a 2 day stopover in DXB helps.

My SIL is the same. I dont know how she does it either. They only travel in Y and she is painfully bright on arrival.

hmmm, I havent found that with DXB

 

[sinophile888]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

One other excellent strategy may be to adopt the drron approach and only travel by day, but not all of us have the time or money to choose only day flights and enjoy stopovers. Day flights can be annoying due to cabin crew insistence that window shades are kept down.

I have adopted a similar approach and only fly on daytime flights.

On our next trip, we are taking positioning flight to and from KUL and then flying EK to Europe back to KUL. We are staying for 2 nights at KLIA (just to be sure that we don't miss our connecting flight) then one night at Dubai and on to London. On the return leg, we will have 2 nights in Dubai and 2 nights in KLIA. Our flight from DXB to KUL doesn't arrive until 21:50 local time and that will be a bit too late to front up to our 9:45 D7 flight the next day.

The last time we adopted this approach, there was no problem with jetlag.

As for the shades down issue, I am flying J with a window seat and will leave the shades up. Kind of defeats the purpose of daytime flights otherwise.

 

[Jurahn]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

That'd be impossible. It would mean over 30 hours with no sleep. ie wake in Dubai that morning say at 7.30 am, stay awake until departure at 2.30am (19 hours awake) then another 13 hours flight.

Oh, it's not impossible ... but it's certainly not something I did deliberately! First trip to the US a few years ago with VA in PE, first sector was red-eye from PER to BNE - can't sleep on planes (even find it difficult in J) so had been awake around 24 hours on arrival in BNE, 5 hours sitting in the terminal feeling like zombies (no status back then, so no lounge access) and then the 13 or so hours to LAX, 4 hours there before connecting flight to LAS, arriving mid-afternoon I think it was. All up, around 48 hours with no sleep - NOT recommended LOL. Actually, it would have been a bit longer than that, because we (somehow) managed to stay awake at least until it got dark!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

West is easiest.

But even with flying Eastwards my wife and 1 (both 56) adjust pretty well.

Always:
- adjust to the new time zone on leaving re timing of meals etc (though sometime the flight and service timings make this hard.
- get outside if daylight on arrival and preferabally with a walk or cycle
- make sure that we do not go to bed early on arrival day. So if feeling very tired will "force" ourselves to stay awake

I do enjoy alcohol on the flights still.
My sleep varies from dozes to actual sleeping (it is mainly noise of other passengers and crew that wake me). My wife now sleeps very well in J or F. she did not do so in Y. But equally I think it is now that she is older that she is more relaxed when flying.

From longer flights like Europe or USA will feel a bit odd the first week back, but not so much that it is disruptive or I cannot work. First day bag will be a little slow of foggy, but all in not to bad.


PS: Pet hate. Why do airlines bother with breakfast service when say arriving at 6-8AM? For flights from say SIN this really cuts into the potential sleep one could have. Opting out of breakfast service is no good to me as the service noise for others, lights raised will always wake me up.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

My SIL is the same. I dont know how she does it either. They only travel in Y and she is painfully bright on arrival.

hmmm, I havent found that with DXB

Nothing wrong with economy travel. I'm just as tired travelling business. Learn to adapt if you want to travel.

 

[ellen10]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

My choice of pharmaceutical sleep aid is phenergan and you can buy it over the counter. Try it at home first. I take 2 about half an hour before I want to sleep and I get a good 6hrs.

The chemist recommended phenergan for seasickness.

 

[Pushka]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

Nothing wrong with economy travel. I'm just as tired travelling business. Learn to adapt if you want to travel.

Yes I agree. Travelling business class doesn't seem to make much difference to me.
I remember last trip to London and we were so tired we never got to see sunset (summer time).

 

[zahra01]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

West is easiest.

But even with flying Eastwards my wife and 1 (both 56) adjust pretty well.

Always:
- adjust to the new time zone on leaving re timing of meals etc (though sometime the flight and service timings make this hard.
- get outside if daylight on arrival and preferabally with a walk or cycle
- make sure that we do not go to bed early on arrival day. So if feeling very tired will "force" ourselves to stay awake

I do enjoy alcohol on the flights still.
My sleep varies from dozes to actual sleeping (it is mainly noise of other passengers and crew that wake me). My wife now sleeps very well in J or F. she did not do so in Y. But equally I think it is now that she is older that she is more relaxed when flying.

From longer flights like Europe or USA will feel a bit odd the first week back, but not so much that it is disruptive or I cannot work. First day bag will be a little slow of foggy, but all in not to bad.


PS: Pet hate. Why do airlines bother with breakfast service when say arriving at 6-8AM? For flights from say SIN this really cuts into the potential sleep one could have. Opting out of breakfast service is no good to me as the service noise for others, lights raised will always wake me up.

RE your pet hate...exactly..this flight we took came home via Singapore so the Singapore leg was the overnighter...then over an hour before landing, its clashing and clanging everywhere, matresses being whipped up all so we can just sit there for another hour. Think ours was a 7.30am landing.

 

[harvyk]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

I'm a bit different to others here, I prefer the night time flights, that way I don't get a huge amount of sleep. That way I can easily get to sleep at my destination at "normal" time in that time zone.

I also tend to force myself to have meals when offered, so that 4am breakfast even on shorter flights from Asia doesn't bother me, in some ways I feel it helps me to adjust.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

PS: Pet hate. Why do airlines bother with breakfast service when say arriving at 6-8AM? For flights from say SIN this really cuts into the potential sleep one could have. Opting out of breakfast service is no good to me as the service noise for others, lights raised will always wake me up.

I think it's good to have the option. Some pax exSIN will forego supper and rather have breakfast. But not all crews, and not all airlines are equal. SQ is usually pretty good at tiptoeing around (and lights dimmed) not to disturb those sleeping.

 

[SBD]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

I'm new to this (slightly old) thread, but here are my thoughts.

It certainly worsens with age, for me.

When I was a kid and flew across the Pacific up the back of Pan Am 741s and 742s, I thought jet lag was something adults made up to make the kids go to sleep at dusk on arrival.

(Those flights were good: you got an hour to walking around the outdoor Honolulu terminal while refuelling. You could leave your carry-on aboard, from memory.)

Now jet lag whacks me worse and worse each year, even in J (though of course it's more comfortable).

My personal struggle is very short trips. I’m going from Sydney to Denver for a day and two nights next month – arrive Denver Friday night, leave Denver Sunday morning. In that situation I never really get off Sydney time, but I still struggle going airport to office at both ends.

I don’t drink alcohol but I do drink coffee, and it’s important to get my coffee timing right.

Also, a really good, comfortable, eye mask is a worthwhile investment (not the cheap and nasty ones you get for free). Makes dozing on daytime flights when it’s night time at my destination a lot easier.

SBD

 

[Justinf]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

Jetlag doesn't discriminate.
I flew home Dallas to Sydney in F and was horribly jetlagged.
Flew LAX to Melbourne in Y, got 10 hour sleep and went for an 8km when I got home.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

Why do airlines bother with breakfast service when say arriving at 6-8AM? For flights from say SIN this really cuts into the potential sleep one could have. Opting out of breakfast service is no good to me as the service noise for others, lights raised will always wake me up.

I think it's good to have the option. Some pax exSIN will forego supper and rather have breakfast. But not all crews, and not all airlines are equal. SQ is usually pretty good at tiptoeing around (and lights dimmed) not to disturb those sleeping.

Last time I flew ScootBiz SIN-SYD, breakfast was served midway through the flight, rather than one or even two hours before arrival. They wouldn't budge on that plus it was lights on with enough noise to wake the cabin if the lights didn't do the job :idea:

 

[RB]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

We generally have no great problems & have gone to work after eastward & westward flights. Living in a regional area sometimes poses an extra test with having to sit around between arriving from OS & then catching a domestic flight-we always allow a long buffer in case of delays.
Just on Melatonin, I have never used but I was under the impression that Aust over the counter versions were pretty poor & had limited useful ingredients compared to the US versions?

 

[Pushka]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

Over the counter melatonin preparations are herbal. The good stuff comes from overseas.

 

[ICUDr]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

In my experience I found that 3-4mg of slow release Melatonin made by compounding pharmacies are the most effective kind but I believe you need a doctor's prescription to buy it in Australia.

If the issue is being unable to fall sleep then I'd suggest to close down the curtains and take a fast acting melatonin.

Slow release melatonin, on the other hand, works better for someone who struggles to have a long, good quality sleep and who wakes up in the middle of the night. This is the one I take when I am jet lagged

 

[ICUDr]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

Over the counter melatonin preparations are herbal. The good stuff comes from overseas.

You are correct Pushka OTC melatonin is useless. However melatonin made by a good compounding pharmacist/pharmac_ is quite effective. We use it quite a lot

 

[brucebrad]

Re: Flying home to Melb from Colombo all in J on Ek and still jet lagged and shattere

Sun (especially with exercise in the morning) and melatonin work for me. Melatonin via a prescription. Unfortunately sun can be difficult when arriving in winter. How I fly and what I do on the flight make no difference. Don't wear sunglasses for the first few days.