Monday, August 06, 2012

5 More Hours, Please


Jet lag. Those two little words can mean a tired tourist as you try to adjust to a new time zone. Tom and I have a few tips that seem to work when we fly to Europe.
  1. Take an overnight flight.
  2. Wear ear plugs and an eye mask.
  3. Stay hydrated by drinking lots of water before, during and after the flight.
  4. Try to go to sleep right after dinner. A glass of wine helps me.
  5. Prior to landing, freshen up. Brush your teeth and wash your face.
  6. Keep on moving! Tom and I will usually walk and walk and walk around until dinner time.
  7. Drink coffee! It might not keep you awake, but it helps! One of my funniest travel memories was when Tom and I were in Seville, Spain and he fell asleep while holding his coffee. That was after a flight when even after taking Simply Sleep (over-the-counter that’s no longer sold) and wearing earplugs, we were kept awake by some Japanese businessmen chatting away... all… night… long.
  8. Don’t nap! If you must, try to only sleep for 30 minutes or less.
  9. Go to bed at a normal time.
Traveling with children shakes things up.  During our recent trip to Europe, our poor baby passed out at dinner the first night.  This was after napping a lot during the day. I took her back to our hotel room, but apparently Isabelle thought she was just napping again, because she was up at 11:00 pm and stayed up for a few hours. She was ready to play! We were not. Lucky for us, she did sleep in the next morning!

At dinner our first night in Switzerland.

Moments later with a very sleepy baby.
*This post was inspired by lack of sleep and brought to you by coffee.

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