How to NOT Avoid Jet Lag

By Gaz under Travel

On Thursday morning we reluctantly left Orlando for the last time this year to catch our return flight to Birmingham International. In stark contrast with my previous posts on how to minimise the effects of jet lag I did everything wrong this time, and have yet to go to sleep or wake up at anything like a sensible time…

We wanted to spend some time with Octavia’s Uncle and family in Newark, so I booked an early flight at 9am from Orlando eventually connecting with the red-eye flight to Birmingham at 7pm after an 8 hour layover in Newark. We booked a taxi from our apartment at 6am to be sure of being in plenty of time for our 9am take off in Orlando, which meant getting up no later than 5am to be sure we would both have time to shower, eat breakfast and finish packing…

At the best of times, I have an irritating habit of not trusting my alarm clock or being able to sleep properly when I know getting up late will be a real disaster: going to bed 3 hours earlier than normal when I’m not even tired to ensure I have at least 7 hours of sleep made it even harder to get to sleep, so that by 4am after an entire night of broken, fitful sleep I’d had enough, and got up anyway. Taking daylight savings time into account, that equates to starting the journey on Thursday at 0300EST (take note if you want to check my calculations!).

The 2 and a half hour flight to Newark was too short to be able to sleep, but we had a lovely day hanging out with Octavia’s family, checking back in for our evening flight an hour before take off. Eastbound flights from Newark have the advantage of a tail wind, and take less than 7 hours, during which time the stewardesses plied us with the snacks, then drinks, then dinner, then coffee, then breakfast, then more drinks. I’ve always struggled to sleep on the plane, which I usually use to my advantage by using the sleep deprivation to make it easy to switch to a new timezone… however, I’d already been awake for 15 hours by the time we took off at 7pm, so I managed a few uncomfortable 30 minute naps between stewardess trolley runs

Once we’d collected our checked luggage after landing at Birmingham International at 7am, we were met at the arrivals gate by a friend who had saved our car from the floods, who drove us back to Tewkesbury where we spent an hour exchanging news, before embarking upon the 2 hour drive to Thrapston (a village outside Northampton). Barely able to stay awake at the wheel, with all the car windows wound down and the radio cranked up, we finally arrived around 2pm.

By now, we were supposed to making a hospital visit, but were in no fit state for more driving, and were desperately in need of a shower. We elected to freshen up, catch a couple of hours of much needed sleep, and arrived at the hospital for evening visiting hours at 6pm. When we finally got to bed it was 11pm or 2200UCT Friday evening. According to my calculations, that made barely 5 hours sleep interspersed throughout the 38 hours since waking up in Orlando the previous day following a restless night.

I might have redeemed myself if I’d have thought to set an alarm and get into UK time again, but I was too tired to think that clearly and slept through until yesterday afternoon… and I’m still Jet Lagged all to hell

Related Articles

1. How To Avoid Jet Lag
2. How To Avoid Jet Lag – Part 2