Married, with Miles

One of the difficult parts of this trip was that it started on Tuesday night and ended on the next Thursday afternoon, meaning I had to work the days immediately surrounding travel.  The flight from O’Hare to Copenhagen takes off at 10pm local (CST) time and arrives at 1:30pm local (ECST) time.  I had a conference call at 5pm local Denmark time when I landed, and had to be onsite with my customer at 9am the next morning.  Coming home, I had a 3:30pm local (CEST) flight that landed at 5:30pm local (CST) time, with a half-day with my customer to start, and work on Friday after arriving home.

All of this means that jet lag was not something I wanted to deal with at all.  Amanda, however had some tricks that we’ve used in the past, and once again turned out to work perfectly.

First: On the way there, I took a melatonin pill as soon as I got on the plane, which knocked me right out – so much that I missed both meals (very glad I had a Clif bar snack). 

Second: Upon arriving, I got outside as quickly as possible, and stayed out as long as I could, without wearing my sunglasses.  The light therapy really helps me set my body clock to local time.

Third: Took another melatonin pill when I went to bed, and made sure I went to bed at a normal time to get 8 hours of sleep.

Fourth: Woke up on time Thursday morning, had no headache, no sleep problems, and felt great all day.  Got a little “post lunch” tired in the afternoon, but nothing debilitating.

On the way home then, was even easier: I just slept at night like normal, went to my customer in the morning, and on the plane home allowed a short 1-hour nap at the start of the flight (as if I slept in), and otherwise stayed awake so it was just a really long day.  Friday I felt great all day long.

We did the same thing with our vacation to Barcelona 4 years ago, and to Sydney last year, with the same results – this was just my first time needing it to work, and I felt great.  Hope that helps you, too.