Tips for Travelers: Jet Lag

I haven't been everywhere, but I've been a place or two, and along the way I've learned some things...

JET LAG: The DOs & DON'Ts

Especially when it comes to transocean flights, these are tips that I've learned by attending the School of Hardknocks. Do what you will with them, but from here on, you can't say that no one told you.

DOs

1. DO accept before you leave that you are going to get tired of being on that plane. No one likes to be confined in a space with strangers for 8+ hours at a time. Just accept it. Then...

2. DO whatever the hell it takes to make it through the plane ride. Get up, walk around, sleep, make a friend, watch a movie, read a book, read a magazine, listen to a podcast, eat snacks. Whatever it takes.

3. DO wear comfortable clothes. This will make all of the above easier.

4. DO pack light. I cannot say enough about this one. Trust me, you do not need 8 different outfits and 5 pairs of shoes for an 8-day trip. And the less stuff you bring, the easier it is to get on the plane, off the plane, and travel generally. As a rule of thumb, if your bag is bigger than a carry-on suitcase, and you're not leaving for 2 months, you've packed too much. Essentials go in the bag first: some clothes, prescription meds and passports. Everything else (more or less) can be purchased at your destination if you forget it or can't fit it. 1 carry-on.

DON'Ts

1. DON'T take any mind or mood altering anything (caffeine, sleeping pills, etc.). Your body will be struggling to figure out what time it is, where you are, whether you should eat, poop, or sleep. Don't confuse it further by chemically altering the process.

2. DON'T go to sleep when you arrive if it's daytime at your destination. Get out in the sunshine, if at all possible, and don't go to sleep until it is dark or a "normal" time for sleeping. If you sleep during the day because your body is screaming at you that it should be nighttime and you're exhausted, you're going to disrupt your sleep cycles - and it could take weeks to get your circadian rhythms right again. Good luck with that.

3. DON'T rely on your cell phone as a clock or alarm to wake you the next morning. Sometimes your phone will change itself back to another time zone (possibly on another continent), and that will suck if you, say, wake up the next morning, look at your phone, see it's 3 a.m. but actually it's 9 a.m. and you should NOT go back to sleep. Yeah, that.

4. DON'T check a bag. See DO #4 above. Go ahead & assume that your checked baggage is going to get lost... because there's a good chance it will... and then you'd be without everything. Just pack less and save yourself the trouble.

This has been a public service announcement by The Travel Bug Itch Group, a subsidiary of Ponderings & Pensées. We're here to help.