Jet Lag SE Asia

Jess_S

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 14, 2015
I am curious to hear everyone's experiences with jet lag on the SE Asia trip, especially if you traveled with kids. How does it compare to your jet lag experiences in Europe, for example? I am looking at flight options now (not yet sure if we will do group or on our own) and the realization of just how big the time difference is seems daunting.
 
On our SE Asia trip we flew in 1.5 days before the trip started. We arrived late at night so we went to bed. We had pre-booked a day trip the first full day before the tour started which really helped deal with the fatigue. We then went to bed at the normal time and on the first day of our tour we were fine.

We're going to Australia in a few months and we land first thing in the morning and we plan on spending the day touring. From everything I've read you need to stick to normal bedtime routines to help you adjust.
 
It's definitely a shock to the system. The closest thing you can compare it with is RETURNING from Europe, but that doesn't really scratch the surface, because the time difference may be double what it is for Europe. I tried melatonin and adjusting my sleep schedule before I left. I didn't find either made much of a difference. For the first few days after arriving, I was wide awake at 3 a.m.! You'll likely arrive in the afternoon/early evening. I can recommend trying to sleep in the early part of the long haul flight over. Then, check into your hotel and have dinner (even if your exhausted). Try to stay up until a decent hour, and then go to bed at 10 or 11 p.m. local time. You'll probably still wake up at odd hours, but that's the best advice I can give. Sleep aids may help some, but you won't get as restful sleep. Talk to your doctor about what might work for you. Arriving a day or two early is also a great idea.
 
Thank you both. The flights I looked at do arrive in Asia around 5pm, which will be very different in itself. We are used to arriving in Europe early in the morning and then having a torturous day trying to stay awake until after dinner. Getting to go to sleep not too long after arriving almost sounds better -- assuming we can actually fall asleep.

Having researched the options, I am leaning towards an on our own trip this time around and saving the ABD trip for when my son is older. My son is asking for a wildlife focused trip. (We had hoped to do the ABD to Africa, but they raised the price on that so much this year that I had to take it out of the running).
 


Jet lag is always worse flying east. Make sure to budget recovery days before going back to work.

-Paul
 
Thank you both. The flights I looked at do arrive in Asia around 5pm, which will be very different in itself. We are used to arriving in Europe early in the morning and then having a torturous day trying to stay awake until after dinner. Getting to go to sleep not too long after arriving almost sounds better -- assuming we can actually fall asleep.
I recommend the later flight. I found it much easier to deal with the jetlag landing in the evening when flying to Hong Kong. Even though I knew it had been a day and a half, I tricked my body into thinking it was that same night. Went to bed at a normal time, and really had very little trouble (for me) getting up the next morning.

Sayhello
 
It is a long flight.....and we find our response to jet lag to be a bit unpredictable
From our ABD SEAsia we have one of our favorite stories. We spent two nights in Hong Kong, then headed to HCMC on a late afternoon flight. DD (then 8) has always tended to sleep on flights (first flight at 8 weeks, first flight to Australia at 10 weeks.....)
As we landed in HCMC, she woke up and said 'Did we leave Hong Kong yet?' Jet lag hit her hard........
 


Jet lag is always worse flying east. Make sure to budget recovery days before going back to work.

Yes!!! Flying to Japan - Hey I have a minor headache but this isn't bad at all. Flying back to the USA - Please kill me.
 
I worry about this too. I've flown to both Germany and South Korea and it always takes me about 7 days to adjust but maybe that's because I know I have the time to adjust as those were moves and not tours? Anyone ever done both and can comment?
 
Went to bed at a normal time, and really had very little trouble (for me) getting up the next morning.

Sayhello

This made me smile. I think the last time I had no trouble getting up at all, I was in college. So anything that's like a normal -- never particularly fabulous -- night of sleep for me is good enough.

It is a long flight.....and we find our response to jet lag to be a bit unpredictable
From our ABD SEAsia we have one of our favorite stories. We spent two nights in Hong Kong, then headed to HCMC on a late afternoon flight. DD (then 8) has always tended to sleep on flights (first flight at 8 weeks, first flight to Australia at 10 weeks.....)
As we landed in HCMC, she woke up and said 'Did we leave Hong Kong yet?' Jet lag hit her hard........

My son does this when he falls asleep while travelling too. I think he fights sleep so hard that he just assumes he was merely resting his eyes for a minute -- not several hours.
 
It's weird, I always seem to have worse jet lag flying west, maybe because of the time when I fly back?

Anyway, one of the problems I have often, flying from Florida (I've been overseas to Asia on 7 occasions from Florida) is the extended flight times, stops, and layovers that can make the whole experience take 24+ hours.

The fix I found, is to fly to the west coast like L.A. or Seattle, stay overnight at a hotel, get a PROPER night's sleep, then take a flight to Asia from there, which should cut it down to a 12-14 hour flight overall and you'll feel much more refreshed in my experience.

Of course if you're already on the west coast, this won't apply to you :)
 
It's weird, I always seem to have worse jet lag flying west, maybe because of the time when I fly back?

Anyway, one of the problems I have often, flying from Florida (I've been overseas to Asia on 7 occasions from Florida) is the extended flight times, stops, and layovers that can make the whole experience take 24+ hours.

The fix I found, is to fly to the west coast like L.A. or Seattle, stay overnight at a hotel, get a PROPER night's sleep, then take a flight to Asia from there, which should cut it down to a 12-14 hour flight overall and you'll feel much more refreshed in my experience.

Of course if you're already on the west coast, this won't apply to you :)
I do this when I go to Hawaii. It makes flying to Hawaii a *much* more pleasant experience!

Fortunately, I found a non-stop from Chicago to Hong Kong, so I went with that. It was a LONG trip, but actually not nearly as bad as I thought it would be!

Sayhello
 
It's weird, I always seem to have worse jet lag flying west, maybe because of the time when I fly back?

Anyway, one of the problems I have often, flying from Florida (I've been overseas to Asia on 7 occasions from Florida) is the extended flight times, stops, and layovers that can make the whole experience take 24+ hours.

The fix I found, is to fly to the west coast like L.A. or Seattle, stay overnight at a hotel, get a PROPER night's sleep, then take a flight to Asia from there, which should cut it down to a 12-14 hour flight overall and you'll feel much more refreshed in my experience.

Of course if you're already on the west coast, this won't apply to you :)

I slept the *entire* flight back from Japan except when they pushed food in front of me. When I landed at LAX it was later in the day and I ended up staying up all night. I was so screwed up for at least a week.
 
The general rule is that it takes 1 day to recover for each time zone that you cross. Most people can adjust faster and survive, but that is the minimum time to get rid of all side effects.

-Paul
 

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