Everyone knows that jet lag can be such a bummer. It can start your trip off on the wrong foot and impact it entirely. I know firsthand what it’s like to get off that plane and just want to curl up in a ball and sleep for days.
When I first arrived in Paris to start my au pair adventure, I was exhausted. Those ten hours of flying had caught up to me immediately and I stepped off the plane feeling disgusting and in dire need of a nap.
Little did I know that there are some tips and tricks to defeat that sluggishness that causes all of us to want to scream & pass out.
For instance, instead of letting me sleep and catch up on rest, my French family immediately took me home and gave me a tour of their flat, took me to my own apartment to fully unpack & then shower to get cleaned up before we went out to a late lunch together. They kept me going the whole day after I arrived until the evening so that I could get on a regular sleep schedule again. That’s one of the biggest no no’s of jet lag – to try to immediately sleep it off. Sleep will just make everything worse. I made the mistake of letting my best friend sleep all she wanted when she came to visit me for Christmas abroad. She’d end up sleeping until 3pm every day and going to bed early. Sleep is never the answer! We learned that the hard way.
Aside from how I coped with my jet lag my first day in Paris, there are many other tips and tricks to defeat that seemingly inevitable stream of crankiness from flights and this article from The Huffington Post helped me immensely in preparation for my upcoming NZ trip! I learned so much through what The Huff Post had to say on the subject and now I’m getting even more excited for this loooooong flight!
Click here to learn some new ways to battle jet lag!
The Wandering Sunflower 
Great article, youre so right about trying to avoid sleeping though. Worst thing you can do. Stay awake and sleep at the right local time, you’ll soon catch up. We had no problems when we came to Australia as part of our little JWalking trip (https://jwalkingin.wordpress.com/) because we did exactly what you described. Nice post.
Exactly! Thanks so much! Love reading about your time in NZ, I’ll be there soon as well!
We couldn’t agree more, sleep isn’t the answer, staying busy and immediately following the new schedule is :)
Exactly!! So much more energy and less recovery time that way!
I also like to stay up late before a trip so I sleep better on the plane. I don’t recommend that too much because sometimes it doesn’t work haha! I used to live in Japan and the 14 hour flights back to america were just torture
Oh man I bet!! Where in Japan!?? I’m looking into moving there as well!
Its so nice there! I lived on military bases! I highly suggest Okinawa if you don’t speak japanese! Its so nice there, and its close enough where you only have a short flight to tokyo. It has a lot of the same cultures and its a little more tropical and tons of english speakers.
Awesome, thanks so much!