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Europe is always a difficult one for me. The flight from NYC is relatively short, so I don't really sleep on the plane, maybe a short nap. I don't last long and will be nearly asleep by late afternoon. The only exception to this is usually if I have to make a connecting flight. For some reason, I'll conk out completely on the last flight and manage okay once I arrive.
Asia is a different story. I don't get jet lag when I fly there.
From the west coast, 9 hours over the pole to Europe leaves me stumbling around like a zombie. I check into my hotel, find the corner tavern and drink a litre of beer and go to sleep. The next day I am fine. I think a lot of it is dehydration, which the beer fixes.
Last year I flew from the US mid-south to Beijing with 3 stops ~ 22 hour flight, took taxi to hotel, took a shower, met a collegue for dinner, drank in bar until 2 AM (subsequently drying up the entire PRC supply of Jack Daniels), at that point I had been up for 48 hours...felt fine.
The next morning however....jetlag and hangover are not good combinations. China and India trips, which at this point I do about every 3 months, take me about a week to adjust, at which point of course when I am finally adjusting, I finish my jobs out there and return home.
Trips out to the west coast of the US or Europe? Pffffttt. I hardly notice.
Going from the Eastern USA to Europe or the Middle East usually isn't a real problem but usually more tired when returning.
Going from the Eastern USA to Asia/China it takes me probably a week to adjust to the time difference in both directions.
I'm pretty bad with jet lag, my last long haul trip was from Singapore to NYC back in 2011. Despite sleeping for about half the flight I was still pretty exhausted when I arrived and my sleep cycle was totally out of whack for the first 3-4 days, don't think the totally different seasons helped either. Next time I think I'll just force myself to stay awake until at least early evening.
Despite conventional wisdom saying it is better travelling west I found it to be the opposite, found it quicker to recover on the trip back home.
Last edited by sulkiercupid; 01-14-2015 at 12:09 AM..
Doesn't bother me too much, but I work rotating shifts (alternating between nights and days), so I think this helps me. I usually take melatonin the first night I'm there and I'm good to go. I actually seem to have more difficulty coming back.
Jetlag only effects me when flying from Asia to the US. And only when I am inactive. Like if I fly back to the US and immediately start working, it isn't a problem. But if I am just chilling out, it can screw up my sleep cycle for a couple weeks or so.
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