Traveler’s Rule #4: Plan for Jet Lag

Plan to deal with the inevitable

Have you read any books where the main characters travel to Hawaii? They would get on a plane in New York and spend 10–11 hours on the flight. Once they land, they will accept a lei around their neck at the airport and go about their business of investigating crimes, chasing fugitives, or having romantic encounters.

Those book characters never have jet lag. It would be an inconvenience to weave it into the story.

Real life is different. You will always have jet lag, even when the time difference between two points is only 2–3 hours.

Jet lag is not something to be “mitigated” as a risk. A risk is something that might happen — or not happen.

The jet lag is a certainty. It will happen, and the only way to deal with it is to plan for it.

Which of these tips will work for you will depend on the duration of your trip, the time difference, whether you will gain or lose time, and even somewhat on your activities.

1. Know the time difference on your travel dates

It sounds like a no-brainer, but if you make a mistake, it can mess up your plans.

How can you possibly make a mistake?

If you look up the time difference online, you will find out what is the difference today. It may be off one hour in either direction on different dates depending on when (and if) each place switches to or from summer savings time. I use worldtimebuddy.com and select the dates first. You can choose up to four locations.

And don’t forget about the dates! Every time I plan a virtual meeting with someone from Australia or New Zealand, I have to check three times whether it will be “my Thursday — your Friday” or the other way around. My brain gets stuck and needs help.

2. Have a place to crash

If you are flying west to east overnight, you often depart in the evening and have a short night. If the flight duration is 7 hours, you will only likely get 4–5 hours of sleep, unless you can sleep through all the in-flight clamor.

You will arrive in the morning local time, but it doesn’t mean you will have the first full travel day. Unless you are superhuman, you will need to crash and nap somewhere. Ditto when you have kids with you.

When we arrived in Reykjavik at 7 am after a 6-hour flight, we were in the middle of the night biologically.

Even though we had breakfast at the airport, we could barely keep our eyes open, and missed most of the incredible lunar scenery while driving to our Airbnb.

We somehow made it on lots of caffeine. Luckily, we’ve cleared our early arrival in advance with our hosts.

We checked in and crashed immediately. A few hours later we restarted the day, got some food, and had a short local outing.

Plan in advance where and how you will rest on your first day. Don’t plan more that half-day of activities.

3. Help your body fall asleep

Melatonin is a reliable over-the-counter supplement that helps most people. It tells your body that it’s time to sleep. Check with your doctor if you are unsure and bring some with you — at least for the first few days.

Your body also needs darkness to switch to night mode. Use a sleeping mask and draw the curtains when you need to sleep.

4. Don’t force it

Don’t overdo it and try for “the right time” on the very first day. If you’ve travelled east, plan a late dinner, have an evening outing or a stroll, so that you come back tired, and try to get to the right schedule, 2–3 hours each day.

If you are able to crash and nap earlier in the day, you might plan a late-night show for this day since you will be wide awake anyway.

If you’ve travelled west, try to stay awake for a couple of extra hours by keeping busy, and then continue the next day.

5. Stay in the home time zone

On a short trip, you can continue to live by your home time, if this agrees with your activities.

One of my friends can fly from North America to Europe to ski and ignore the five-hour time difference. She would ski in the afternoon and the evening and go to bed by her clock, and then sleep late.

If it works for you — it certainly makes a five-day trip easier.

6. Shift your day in advance

Some very disciplined people manage to shift their schedule by a few hours before their flight. Then, they are ready to go as soon as they arrive.

If you ever managed to do it, please tell me how.

For me, travelling with a big family means the last few days are too hectic to take on another task. And it only works if the whole group does it together.

7. Plan activities conservatively.

Don’t even think that planning an expensive tour on the first day will somehow force you to go along with it and forget about the jet lag. You can’t trick nature.

You will be tired and miserable, and will likely waste your money.

8. Leave room for recovery when you return.

We are always tempted to use up the last possible day before having to go back to work. But you are deluding yourself if you think you can be productive with a major case of jet lag.

Before COVID, many people would suddenly have to work from home or take a sick day, or clock in and then fall face first on their desks.

After COVID, they don’t turn their video on and will be suspiciously quiet during virtual meetings.

You are human — just face it. Plan to get over the jet lag on both ends of your journey to be alert and alive.