Travel Tips: Dealing With Jet Lag

We all hate jet lag, but rather than write a post complaining about it (really, Sacramento to Rome in 14 hours is not worth complaining about), I will share what has (and hasn't) worked for me.

I'll get the one you'll hate me for out of the way first. The single best experience I've had on an airline was when I got bumped to first class for a flight from Toronto to Rome on a brand-new Air Canada plane and slept like a baby for the entire flight, except when I was tossing back complimentary beers. You can read about that here.

The London Eye Ferris wheel seen from a hop-on/hop-off bus
my first time in Europe, when I was trying to deal with jet lag.

Suffice to say that when I got to Rome around midmorning, I was ready to go and almost completely unaffected by jet lag.

Another time I did fairly well with jet lag was when I flew to India, leaving Sacramento at five or six in the morning and arriving in Mumbai (Bombay) about 10 or 11 p.m. (local time, which was about 13 hours' difference). I did not sleep on the flight over, but I was out when I laid down in my hotel room, and I woke up at about 8 a.m. the next day. My sleep schedule was a little messed up for the next three days, as I kept waking up before dawn, but it wasn't so bad.

The best way to deal with jet lag is to stay awake until it is time to sleep wherever you are. On my first trip to Europe, I didn't think that would be too difficult.

Flying to London from the states, the sun never set, though night passed (the fun of flying so far north in summer).

I arrived in London, stood in a long and excruciatingly slow customs line at Heathrow, then dropped my bags at my hotel. I honestly can't remember what I did that first day, other than wander around a bit and try to keep from imitating their accents.

One thing I do know was that I took one of the open-top, hop-on/hop-off bus tours (which I highly recommend, by the way). The photo at the top of this post was taken from that bus, but it was pushing 6 p.m. in London and I had been awake for about 28 hours without really having slept more than a few hours the previous night.

I remember trying to stay awake as the bus lolled along in traffic, and the next thing I knew, I was swearing at the completely unexpected pain in my forehead. Apparently, I had nodded off and let my face fall forward to smack the metal rail on the seat in front of me.

Jet lag affects everyone differently, and the rule of thumb is that for every hour you miss, it will take you one day to adjust. Therefore, on a trip from California to Europe, expect a nine-day adjustment time. I have found that I usually adjust in about four or five days, as long as I stay awake as long as possible when I arrive.

If you can sleep on the plane, do it. I'm somewhat unfortunate in that I can't ever seem to sleep on planes, except the time I flew first class.

Do not get to your hotel at one in the afternoon and settle in for "just a little nap." It ends up throwing you completely for a loop.

On my last trip to Europe, I took advantage of the fact that I was waking up at 5 a.m. in Pragua and not being able to sleep. I went out and explored the city at an hour I am almost never awake for. You can read about that here.

Regardless of how much you are or aren't affected by jet lag, the trip is always worth it. The only real ways to deal with it are to do everything possible to force yourself onto the local sleep schedule and to just give it time.

Travel Tips: Packing Light

The photo below includes everything I took with me to Europe for 16 days over Christmas in 2008, minus what I was wearing.

I can't stress enough how important it is to take as little as possible if you are going to be traveling to more than a couple of cities.

I almost never stay in the same place for more than three days, and lugging around a cartload of stuff I don't need makes it very hard to get on and off trains, subways, taxis and airplanes.

Taking only a carry-on suitcase and a backpack also means I don't need to check any luggage on the airlines, so there's really no chance of my bags being lost before the trip even starts.

And yes, women can travel just as light. My mom and sister each carried everything they needed for the trip in equally small packages.

In the picture above, I have my digital SLR camera with a flash and an extra lens, an iPod, a GPS unit, a pair of shoes, a camera tripod, three novels and a guide book, 12 shirts, four pairs of pants, my snowboarding jacket, a beanie, boxers and socks for 16 days, my soap, toothbrush, shampoo, razor, shaving cream and a bottle of water I forgot I would have to chuck before boarding the plane.

Thats obviously not enough clothes to sustain me for the whole trip, but that's what laundromats are for. Knowing you're going to be buying souvenirs, thus adding to what you're carrying, it's best to bring as little as possible.

One guidebook author recommends setting out everything you're going to take on a trip, getting rid of half of it, then doubling the money. I think that's great advice.

Look at the two pictures below. The first is Paris' Metro. The second is Rome's. When you're worried about pickpockets and keeping all of your luggage with you, along with that bag of sandwiches you just bought at the corner market, the last thing you want to do is try to negotiate the crush of people getting on and off at each stop with more bags than you can carry.

Traveling in winter meant I was taking some bulky clothing. I had a full-length coat and a pair of bulky waterproof shoes for hiking around muddy trails up to castles and through vineyards. The best solution for transporting the bulky clothing is to wear it.

Since my bags are always full when I go, I either bring a collapsible duffel bag or buy one wherever I'm headed to make room for souvenirs. It invariable becomes the place for dirty laundry that I end up checking for the flight home. I won't shed any tears if my dirty laundry gets stuck in Chicago for a couple of days anyway.

Travel Tips: Foreign Airlines Provide Good Alternatives

Air travel is expensive, and options often seem limited for that flight to, say, Prague. One thing I discovered in flying with United Airlines was that money can be saved by flying with their Star Alliance partners, including Air Canada and Lufthansa (of Germany).

The benefit to programs like the Star Alliance is that travelers can make use of different routes and, often, cheaper fares. Furthermore, with a partnership program, you can book different legs of your flight on different carriers, but since they work together, you're not out of luck if you miss a flight. From my experience, the amenities on foreign-flag carriers exceed those of American carriers.

Lufthansa, for example, offers free beer and wine, and you need not be 21. Oh, and the beer is good German beer. You can actually have anything you want, said one male flight attendant to my sister, adding, "even me."

I don't mean to bash on American carriers, but I just felt more pampered when I flew on Air Canada, Lufthansa and British Airways (Even economy carriers in India, like SpiceJet and Kingfisher, took great care of the flyers).

There are, however, boundaries. Unlike the United States, where we have a tradition centered around the ideal of the customer is always right and really have good service ingrained in our culture, some other cultures are more willing to give it to you bluntly.

When I was aboard a Lufthansa 777, soaring somewhere over Ireland as we dropped toward Frankfurt, a German flight attendant carrying a pitcher strolled down one aisle, offering, "tea, tea, tea."

Though it was obvious to me what she had, a woman in the row in front of me wasn't so perceptive. "I'll have coffee," she said, excitedly.

The flight attendant leaned toward the lady and said, "I have tea. That's why I'm saying, 'Tea, tea, tea.' " With each "tea," she moved a few inches closer to the woman.

Perhaps the customer is usually right, but sometimes stupid.

Waiting to take off from Brussels on a British Airways flight, the chief flight attendant, in her English accent that just somehow added to her authority, told everyone to turn off the cell phones, electronic devices, etc.

Several seconds later, her voice addressed the entire cabin again. This time, she was clearly annoyed. "One of my cabin attendants has informed me that someone is using a mobile telephone. Turn it off immediately. You may think you're being clever, but you're not."

Of course, everyone in the plane looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the sufficiently chastened passenger.

To me, those episodes were comical and well-deserved. Having served a few thousand people in the restaurants I worked at, I also understand that many Americans simply can't take that kind of criticism. If that's you, perhaps you should stick with Delta or something.

Foreign-flagged carriers are a great alternative for flights to distant parts. They often allow a better option for arrival and departure times, and are sometimes government-subsidized, allowing for cheaper airfare. I would do a quick Internet search on their safety records before booking a flight, but it's always in their best interest not to crash multimillion dollar aircraft, so they all typically make safety a chief concern.

A State Ablaze

California is currently awash in fires, mostly started by lightning strikes from dry thunder storms. Yesterday, I was able to see some of the fires from the air, as I returned from a family reunion in Kansas and Missouri.

For weeks, those of us who live remotely near any of the fires currently raging throughout the state have woken, day after day, to smoke-filled skies and an angry red sun that seems to be frustrated by its inability to penetrate the haze.

The pouring rain I flew away from in Kansas City would have been a welcome presence in the forested areas of California, but we're not so lucky.

As the plane entered the Golden State, I looked out the window to see great clouds of smoke obscuring the usually proud mountaintops. I might have mistaken the smoke for fog were it not for an ethereal red-orange glow emanating from within.

I stared at the glowing patches of fires too remote to bother fighting as they slowly passed under the wing. I grabbed my camera too late to catch the eerie effects of the flames, but I got a few shots of the fires sending smoke toward Nevada.

I've lost track of how many fires are currently burning, but I think it's somewhere around 300. The smoke continues to hang in the valley, making for foul air, but fantastic sunsets and a blood-red moon.

Air Canada, eh?

With all the news about canceled flights and airlines going under (aloha, Aloha), I thought I would write something positive about the industry that takes me where I want to go.

I love travel, but squeezing my 6'2" body into a coach seat for as much as 16 hours (Mumbai-New York) has yet to become something I look forward to. When I flew to Italy last year to visit my sister, I was prepared for a quasi-night of restlessness only to arrive in Rome in the morning ready for bed.

I flew Air Canada, and the trip from San Francisco to Toronto arrived on time. I ate my last cheeseburger for 10 days and got ready to board my plane to Rome.

It was delayed. All of us were sent to another gate, where our new plane supposedly arriving from the hangar never showed. Then we went back to the first gate and boarded the original plane - now apparently mechanically sound.

I got my boarding pass printed, and the ticket said, "5K." I tried to picture the layout that would allow 11 seats per aisle.

I was all the more puzzled when I saw the first 10 rows or so were first class. My ticket was for coach. With the feeling that I was about to be cruelly teased, I hesitantly approached the inexplicably numbered "5K," which sat in the middle of a three-seat row.

The "seat" looked like a small cubicle and had an electrically articulating seat, a real pillow and a down blanket, not to mention the flip-out TV screen.

I stood in the aisle, blocking it like an idiot. The flight attendant came up and asked me if there was a problem. I think I motioned to my ticket and pointed to the seat. She laughed and said, "Yes, this is your seat."

I wasn't about to argue. I sat down and snickered as all the other passengers trudged to coach.

Because the plane I had been ticketed for was in a different configuration than the one that actually pulled up to the gate, I was automatically bumped to the world of the wealthy. On the LCD screen that flipped out, I could watch more than 40 movies or set up playlists from more than 2,500 tracks.

But what did I do? I read for an hour, reclined my seat into a bed and didn't wake up until breakfast was served somewhere over the U.K. or France.

I was four hours late to Rome, but rather than resembling a narcoleptic, I was well-rested and ready to catch up with my sister in the Eternal City.