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Good morning, everybody — or is it good night? I’m finally back from my sojourn to the land of kiwis and bungee jumping, where, being on the “other side” of the international date line, it’s frequently tomorrow. (It was a little surreal leaving Auckland at 10pm and flying for 12 hours only to arrive in Los Angeles at 3pm, but that’s just the crazy modern world we live in, I suppose.) Needless to say, I’ve got tons of kiwi-flavored floss to share with y’all this week, but right now I wanted to meditate on that thing which is most occupying my brain space: jet lag.
I thought I’d be OK. Going over was easier: we left at 10pm, popped an Ambien each (no sleep-driving/eating/sex occurred on the plane, I’m happy to report), and when we woke up the plane was landing, and it was 5am — two days later. No matter; it felt at least psuedo-natural to us. After one freaking long day, during which we were lucky to have an Auckland-based friend to keep us entertained and awake (thanks, Doug), we hit the sack and were more or less adapted.
Coming back has been a different story. I feel like my brain is swimming in a thicker-than-usual soup, and strange things, like doing my laundry, have taken on a heavy, new, almost spiritual importance. It’s a bit like being under hypnosis and realizing it: you feel the urge to tell strangers about where you’ve been, and if asked the right way, you’re in danger of confessing to almost anything. Jet lag is like truth serum that way; perhaps part of it has to do with the nature of traveling itself — even when I’m with a group, I find myself striking up conversations with other travelers and with locals whenever possible, out of a need to engage more deeply with the places I go. So it’s hard to suddenly come back to America and normality where I’m not supposed to have deep conversations with my neighbors or say hi to everyone I see on the street!
Anyway, hopefully I’ll be myself tomorrow; in the mean time, we’d love to hear about some of our well-traveled readers’ experiences — good or bad — with jet lag!
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My first ever trip was from Ottawa to Bangkok. I had no idea jet lag was going to do me in the way it did. I was ok for the first week or so, my sleep schedule was off (usually sleeping 4 am-10 am or so), but not so bad. The second week? Phew. All I can remember is being at the language school I taught at. I felt like I was about 2 feet tall, and the whole place was kinda swimming. My head was in a serious fog, and I was having issues trying to speak. I just could not find the right words. My director came over to say hi to me, took one look, and said, “uh oh. Jet lag has you bad. Call your family, say hi, then go home and sleep.” I remember being really touched by his kindness, crying my face off, calling home, and then heading to my apartment. That was finally the day it broke for me, and my sleep schedule rearranged itself. But I can still remember that tiny, foggy, crying feeling. No one warned me about that….
posted by Amdela on 4-28-2008 at 10:00 am
I went to India a few years back, and my return itinerary had a transfer at O’Hare. It was February, so needless to say, there were quite a few delays and cancellations that day. I’m still amazed at how well the word “CANCELLED” managed to penetrate that thick fog of sleep deprivation.
One minor piece of advice, if you haven’t already heard it: If you’re in the habit of always doing something at a particular time, then continue doing it while travelling. For example, if you always have tea at 4pm at home, then try to have tea at 4pm local time while you’re travelling. This won’t fix your problem entirely, but it will help you adjust.
posted by jeem on 4-28-2008 at 10:59 am
In my opinion, I find traveling to Asia easier than going to Europe. Europe, you depart at night and arrive during the day. Jet lag during the day is tough. When I fly to Japan, you leave in the morning and arrive at night. I have a nice night cap, hit the sack, wake up the next morning and no jet lag.
posted by Mr. T on 4-28-2008 at 12:14 pm
I have been traveling back and forth between Germany and the US a lot in the past few years, and I find that going west (thus to the US) is a lot easier than going east (to Germany), simply because of the time difference.
There’s one quote that I find to be very fitting, by the German journalist Helge Timmerberg:
(roughly translated) “They say that during flights, the soul travels more slowly than the rest of the passenger, generally it will arrive three days later. This is often confused with Jet Lag, but it really doesn’t have anything to do with it.”
(and the German original, in case someone cares..) “Man sagt ja, dass bei Flügen die Seele langsamer reist, als der Rest des Passagiers, in der Regel kommt sie drei Tage später an. Das wird oft mit dem Jet Lag verwechselt, hat aber nichts damit zu tun.”
Just thought I’d share…
posted by Anne on 4-28-2008 at 2:23 pm
I agree that traveling to Asia isn’t all that bad, the jet lag just hits you on the second day (weird).
In any case, traveling back was much worse for me because I had to do Monday twice. It worked out almost perfectly that I left Tokyo on Monday morning and arrived in Seattle early Monday morning. Needless to say, I definitely “had a case of the Mondays.” Now on to the ass kicking…
posted by Louis on 4-28-2008 at 9:38 pm
I never really had a problem with jet lag. Most of the places I’ve flown to have time zones close to mine (Malaysia), like Philippines, Thailand, etc. I remember going to New Zealand and Vancouver a while back, it didn’t take much time for me to adjust.. weird. For me the biggest challenge flying anywhere is the local weather!
posted by Ezanee on 4-28-2008 at 11:45 pm
My only horrible (but somewhat funny in hindsight) bout with jet lag was mostly caused by poor decision making on my part. I spent several weeks at the end of 1989 with friends and family in Australia. Here are the events that lead to several days/weeks of insanity/confusion/Braingoo City.
1) My return flight was New Year’s Day – never a good idea to travel long distances when there is a darn good chance you will be hung-over
2) I had a ticket to see Boom Crash Opera, Crowded House, AND Split Enz all together in Sydney, but started drinking so early in the day that when the time came to catch a train, I decided it probably be way more fun to continue drinking and watch Rugby League with my guy friends (and it probably was).
3) I missed the last train back to my town so I had to crash at one of my guy friend’s house – one whom I’d had a mad crush for a while on but was too shy to let on.
4) In hopes of some sort of action, we both stayed awake (I remember watching Auntie Mame) until the first morning train came (of course I was too naive at the time to realize HE stayed up that whole time, too – I doubt he was just being polite).
5) We finally had a big long movie-like kiss on the train platform – last time I saw him.
6) I make it to the airport on time (whew!) but am already to that funky state of consciousness where my brain felt wrapped in grey fluff from too much vodka and no sleep.
7) The first few hours of the flight were olfactorily offensive due to the stench of a nearby passenger.
8) While in the bathroom, I realize the stench is still there – it’s me, or, more accurately, it’s the ungodly amounts of garlic I had consumed a few days before seeping out of every pore, follicle, and orifice of my hung-over body.
9) I take the best sponge bath I can in the tiny toilet area and try to sleep, now just to avoid the embarrassment of being the smelly girl.
10) We make it to LA early without anyone reporting me to the sanitation crew. I had a long layover so I again try to get rid o,f or at least mask the B.O. cloud (like Pig Pen) in a larger bathroom.
11) Feeling a little more together, I find my gate over an hour early and play solitaire while waiting to board. Somehow, solitaire was so enthralling that I missed all but the last boarding call. No problem, I gather my belongings and head for the jet way. Turns out, I missed the “Get-your-boarding-pass,-dumb*ss” step. I had to take my ticket back to the ticketing area and get a boarding pass, which would likely cause me to miss the flight.
12) Are you still with me?
13) I take off in a dead run through the terminal only to trip and discover the hard way I had not zipped my bag up after putting the cards back in it; stuff went EVERYWHERE! I just lay face down in a stupor for what seemed like eternity until strangers started gathering my things out of pity.
14) I make it to the ticket desk sobbing. I missed the flight, but they put me on the next flight 45 minutes later (I believe they may have bumped someone off to make room for my pathetic being – maybe they just wanted to rid LAX of my stench)
15) I get to DFW and manage to make my connection for my final leg home, but for some reason, they have bumped me to first class which is great for me, but pure torture for those around me. Now, in addition to the unique aroma, I am having another drink, babbling uncontrollably, (kind of like this post – I want you to get a true feel for the fatigue level), and surely not making a shred sense.
Finally, after a New Year’s Day that was literally and figuratively over 40 hours long, I made it home. Of course, I have no recollection of the first two weeks of January, but I also have no regrets.
Thanks, Ben Pearce!
posted by elizabutt on 4-29-2008 at 12:45 pm
Wow, elizabutt, that was entertaining. (at least to me)
As a frequent traveler, I can tell you that traveling to the US from Asia always feels worse than going the other way. I think it’s because you tend to crash at like 3 pm, which can be disorienting. So you’re dead to the world for several hours in the middle of the day, and then up half the night because you crashed in the afternoon. I find that coming to Asia, you are a bit tired, but just wake up really early. And, yes, the 2nd day is oddly worse than the first.
The arriving before you leave thing always throws me for a loop. Or arriving 2 days after you leave- I know people who have missed birthdays because of it. Last year, I was in the US for a conference for 5 days. We arrived back in China (where I live)on a Wednesday evening, and went back to teaching Thursday morning (my birthday). I was not very happy. This year, I’m spending more than 5 days in the US… Which is good because I haven’t seen my dad in 2 years. Sadly, there will be jet-lag involved.
posted by greenstrawberries on 4-29-2008 at 8:26 pm