micnic

We are flying from Heathrow at 10.30 p.m. in April with 1.5 hr stop in Hong Kong and then on to Sydney arriving early hours.

I have read that a good way to cope with the change in time zones is to set your watch to the time of the country to which you are travelling (oz!) and having meal times etc at the appropriate times. has anyone done this and if so does it work! What time do the airlines adopt in terms of what meals are served when?

Any tips or advice greatly appreciated.

nev_n_angie

Hiya

Went to from Gatwick @ 10:30 - arrived n Dubai - not too sure what time - singapore after that - then Brisbane at 06:30 local time - 3 kids and me and hubby! Don't take any notice of what's on your wrist!!!! meal times all ove rthe place - you will be shattered and excited when you get there - we stayed awake until about 1300 local time - then went for a power nap. Set your alarm to give you only an hour or so. This way you will still be tired at 'bedtime'. We then woke in the small hours for a couple of days - sorted after that!! Even the kids were fine!!

Angie

Ozzidoc

Don't eat on the flight, or eat very little. Take your own empty water bottle and fill it just prior to boarding. Avoid caffeine. Yes, progressively stay up as late as poss for the 3 days prior to travelling.

On the day that you land, try to sleep at your normal time. Or, have a nap but DO NOT sleep past 1pm. Then when u go to bed that night, take an over the counter sleeping tablet about an hour B4 your normal bed time.
Works for me - and I fly about 100K miles a year these days, between UK, Oz and US.

geordie mandy

I flew via Hong Kong to Melbourne in Oct and i must confess i put my watch on local time, at every time change, i ate the meals when they were given and slept when the time said i was too.I also took some herbal Kalms (tablet) which helped me relax.
I did set of from Heathrow at noon though . We arrived at Melbourne at 8pm and i went straight to bed and woke the next morning at 4am and felt fine . I never really suffered from jet lag going but it took nearly 2 weeks for me to get back to normal on the return leg, despite following the same principles
Mandy

rebh

Have done the trip between UK and Oz about 100 times and tried lots of ways of beating jet lag, sometimes they work and somethimes they don't but find the best way for me is the same as Angie recommended.
Used to like taking the sleeping tablet as well but now I have toddlers I have to be able to pull myself together in the middle of the night to look after them if they can't sleep and find that a bit difficult with a sleeping tablet in my system.
On the flight don't drink too much alcohol it just dehydrates you and makes you feel terrible later

thebears

Drink a litre of water an hour

Forget anything Fizzy or with alcohol - try and avoid the airline food and pack your own if possible - just remember to leave on board when disembarking in Oz.

Try and sleep rather than watch the films

Do some moderate exercise before flying - nothing too brisk.

On arrival let every one rush off in front of you - take your time - point here is dont push the stress levels - Funny how even though we wait with kids we always seem to all end up standing at the baggage carousel together

TruBrit

as an ex flight attendant i never suffered with 'jet lag' and still travel a lot and have no probs...it's mind over matter, just set your watch to the time of your destination when onboard and don't think about the time it was when you left ...no probs and good luck

drivetrain

Just dont put a watch on, I flew from Manchester at 10:30 am via singapore and arrived in Sydney at 19:30, not problems whatsoever! Eat when they bring food round, sleep when you fancy and watch some good movies. I went to bed at 10:30 that night and got up the next day at 8am, didnt have any jet lag at all! Enjoy it!

CadburysFingers

From my experience of flying, which is quite considerable, I find jet lag to be a myth. Its all about common sense, if you are landing at a destination at say 9.00pm then dont sleep all through the flight, because when you land you will have to go to bed around 2-3 hours later, its a no-brainer really. Work out when you are landing and the time of day it will be and take it from there. What you basically want to be doing is sleeping for not long on the plane, then you will actually be tired when you arrive and actually be ready for bed. We have flown over here many times from the UK, and only ever sleep for around 3 hours of the actual door to door travel time which is about 24 hours, believe me you are ready to sleep when you land then.

TruBrit

totally agree, mind you if i had a few cadbury's fingers to munch on the way it would be nice esp if they were white ones

Centurion

Entirely agree. I have clocked up some serious flight time over the years and when long haul just getting on with it and dont think about it I find best.

I've simply always tried to sleep on the last leg of any journey if I'm arriving local time in the morning so I stand a better chance of being up all day and falling into the time zone quicker. If landing in the evening then stya awake on the last leg to enable you to crash (hehe) into bed when you land.

Drink water and lots of it. Somehow I never seem to say no to the polite "another glass of wine sir ?" though Purely medicinal and helps me sleep you understand....

ohippy

I take 5-HTP tablets from Holland & Barrett. Work everytime and we've never experienced jet lag or any tiredness since - even when I don't get any kip on the plane at all !

Wol

I envy those of you who don't suffer from jetlag, but I think you are very much in the minority!

Most people I have worked with get terribly badly mixed up, as I do. I've tried everything from melatonin to sleepers, diets exercise and so on - nothing has worked for me!

If you're not one of the lucky ones you will just have to learn to live with it.....

thebears

I pick myself up from the floor after falling from hysterical laughter

Wol

Me too! I was once told - quite vociferously - by a young nurse that there was no such thing as jetlag. I didn't argue since I was suffering badly from it at the time!