Carry On Bag | Sneakers

Following up on last week’s Travel Tuesday post, How to Survive a Long Haul Flight, today I want to share a few tips on preventing jet lag.  There’s nothing worse than being tired, groggy, and hangry upon arriving at your destination (a place that I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to visiting for quite some time!).  So without further ado …

Ten Tips on Preventing Jet Lag

1. Try to book an overnight flight.  Obviously this only applies if you’re flying somewhere far enough away that it would take an overnight flight to get you there, but I always try to book my long haul flights to leave late at night.  I prefer 8pm or later as that gives me time to get to the airport after work with plenty of time to spare!
2. Get a good night’s sleep the day before your flight.  Along the same lines of giving yourself plenty of time to get to the airport, getting a good night’s sleep the day before helps reduce your stress level leading up to the flight.  Don’t arrive at the airport frazzled and running on 2 hours of sleep.
3. As soon as you board the plane, set your watch to your destination’s time.  The sooner you can get on your destination’s time schedule, the better.
4. On that same note, once you’re on board, switch your meals to coincide with the new time zone.  Be sure to still eat every few hours (nobody likes a hangry traveler!), but don’t over indulge (save that for your actual exploring #alllllllthegelato).
5. Be the weird person on the plane – get up and stretch/do a few yoga moves in the aisle or take a few laps up and down the aisles.
6. Hydrate.  Hydrate.  Hydrate.  (Water only, no wine or other booze!  I know it’s temping.)
7. If you land in your final destination in the morning or afternoon, stay up.
8. Don’t plan any big activities on your first day of vacation.
9. For your return flight home, always give yourself an extra day at home once you return.  Have to be back at work on a Monday?  Then book your return flight home so that you arrive back on a Saturday.  You’ll need that extra day to adjust back to your home time zone and catch up on sleep.
10. Power through.  You’re going to be tired no matter what.  If you apply this tips, you’ll definitely minimize the jet lag effects, but there’s no doubt that you’re still going to be tired.  Just power through, you’ll survive!

I hope that helps! If you have any other helpful tips on preventing jet lag, share them in the comments below – I’d love to hear!