Surviving the Jet Lag

Ok..I've flown five times from Scotland to Florida...Jet lag does not exist when we arrive..Example...Our last trip in 2012 ( we go every two years ) Take off from Glasgow..Approx 09.00 am..Arrive at Sanford 1.00 PM..Check in at PORS at approx 3.30 PM..Hit MK for our first night..Leave approx 10.30 PM....In bed by 11.30 PM..We wake up at 6.30am the next morning, fresh as daisies...Must be the Pixie dust..Lol..

My personal experience in crossing several time zones is the opposite of yours. Travelling east to west, I adapt to the new time zone in two or three days, whereas travelling west to east means several weeks of feeling out of synch with the local time.

In my case, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I am naturally a night owl and have little trouble staying awake an extra hour or more each night until the new time zone feels normal, whereas the only way I can go to sleep earlier than usual is with pharmaceutical assistance. So I imagine that for people who are naturally early birds, the opposite would be true.

The time difference is 5 hours to Florida so midnight in the land of mouse 5am UK. I usually feel tired for a couple of days but not too bad, where as G doesn't feel it at all. We normally try to sleep on the flight and that does help. Yes coming back is worse, night flights are the pits but I use Melatonin (when I remember to buy it) and it works a treat for me.

I learned from Psychology 101 back in college that for most people, going east to west is more manageable compared to going from west to east. You "lose" time going from west to east is what I've been told and your body clock needs to adjust itself because jet lag throws off circadian rhythms, the biological clock that helps control when we wake up and fall asleep. It can take up to a full day for every time zone you passed while travelling until your body gets adjusted to a new time zone.

From an article from the Washington Post: "Each morning, your body compensates for this slight discrepancy by contracting your internal clock to synchronize with the 24-hour sun cycle. When you travel west, you gain several hours, so your day is extended and your body gets the extra time it naturally wants. But when you travel east, your day is shortened; that makes it harder to adjust."

I've been to the Mediterranean (6 hour difference from my hometown compared to Southern Europe of Greece, Turkey and Italy) a while back and I've also been to China and Taiwan (12 hour difference from where I live!) but I do remember feeling a lot more refreshed going back to the US from the Mediterranean than I did going from Taiwan back to the US!

Sounds like you have a fantastic reunion planned.

I find it relatively easy adjusting to the time difference when travelling to Florida. The flights are always during the day so i don't miss any sleep. When I arrive it's just the a case of staying awake for as long as possible. I'm normally awake early the first morning (about 5am) and it gradually gets later over the next few days but i find this ideal for making RDs for the first week. Then by the second week i'm sleeping in more but staying up late. Flights back to the UK always seem to be overnighters and I don't sleep on planes so by the time i'm back in the UK i've missed a nights sleep and it usually takes a good 3 or 4 days before I'm feeling human again.

As above, it's not so bad going east to west as you gain time, although I have to say that gaining a whole 8 hours as I did when I went to the West Coast was harder to adjust to than it was on the East Coast. Five hours is fairly easy to overcome and I'm pretty sure your son will have some tricks up his sleeve being in the Air Force on overcoming jet lag.

If he has issues, just get him out to the parks until he drops, let him sleep then get him out some more!

I've done the trip from East Coast to Hawaii twice now. It's a six hour difference during Daylight Savings Time, similar to the time difference from the UK (five hours I believe). Going over is much easier than coming back. You just nap on the plane and force yourself to stay up late when you get there, no matter how tired you are. That's how we did it and were up 7 am the next day. Coming back, now that was tough.

Travelling from London to Florida I am fine, it might be the excitement but I just don't feel jet lagged at all, like watchmaker said we can be up from 5 am and carry on till midnight Florida time which is 5am then sleep nd be fresh the next morning. Coming home though...... Well that's a different matter

Spot on..I do think it's the excitement that keeps me buzzing,but when coming home it's early bed that first night..

I have only flown to Canada..so I can't help you too much..
but I did want to say I'm glad your son has been safe and will
be able to join you on this magical vacation!
Please thank him for his service to our country

we do not suffer jet lag at all going to Florida even when we left 2.30am one day from our local airport Newcastle and changed at Amsterdam and Detriot and didn't arrive into MCO until 6pm (11pm our local time) we were up a solid 24hrs by our body clocks yet we were up 7am the next day ready to go!!!

like everybody says coming back............I'm still recovering from 2013!!!!