Jet Lag

One of the biggest challenges to flying to Japan is the jet lag. Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time - so at noon in New York it is 1AM (the next day) in Tokyo. One of the tips I got before coming to Japan was that, in order to reduce jet lag, I should not sleep the entire flight over. I was skeptical, but I slept A LOT on the flight over for our look-see visit, and had terrible jet lag (which I never really got over in our whirlwind trip - the plus side being that I had NO jet lag when we flew back). Therefore, I thought the no-sleep-on-the-flight thing was worth a try.

It's not that hard to stay awake the entire flight. Most leave around noon Chicago time and last about 13 hours, so it's really just like staying up really late. I spent the flight reading and knitting. I did slip and have a little nap about 8 hours into the flight. Surprisingly, I wasn't completely spent when I landed. Part of it was undoubtedly the adrenalin, but hey, I'll take what I can get. I also slept a little on the bus ride into Tokyo. I was tired when I got to the house, but I managed to stay up until about 8:30 and then - SLEPT THE WHOLE NIGHT!

Usually, when I fly to Asia, I spend the first night up to the bathroom three or four times and wake up for good around 4AM. This time I did go to the bathroom once, but slept through until 7AM. It was great. I did get a little tired in the afternoons the first week, and went to bed pretty early, but all in all, the jet lag strategy worked. I would do it again in a heartbeat. The pain of staying up on the flight was nothing compared to the pain of a week of jet lag.