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Jet lag

Jet lag is the feeling of tiredness and disorientation that you will get from taking a long flight and going through timezones. It effects some people really badly, and others not at all.

The general rule of thumb is that if you are heading East, with time, then the jet lag is worse e.g. to Australia via Thailand. This comes about because you effectively miss a day e.g. you take off at 9am, Monday UK time, which is 8pm Monday Australian time. 36 hours later you land 9pm Tuesday UK time... or locally 8am Wednesday in Australia (take off Monday, land Wednesday).

Heading West means that you go back on time, so with some flights to Canada and the US you land the same time you took off. In the reverse of the example above you will take off from Sydney Monday morning and arrive in the UK Tuesday morning (Tuesday evening in Australia).

Tips for jet lag
These are all very personal tips, so the best bet is to see what works for you and stick to it:

- Adjust your watch immediately to local time in your destination as you get on the plane.
- Get a good sleep on long journeys - most of the issues with jet lag are to do with tiredness from the long journey, so having a good rest will help. Being young you should have more natural energy that will help at the other end.
- Having a stress-free flight also works. Shut yourself off, relax, enjoy the food (ask for extras if you are hungry), have a nice drink and enjoy a good film (if you’re lucky). Try and enjoy the flight. Stress just makes it worse.
- When you arrive force yourself to stay up to the normal hour you would go to bed... and then sleep like a baby!
- Organise your first 48 hours e.g. sort out your accommodation and a rough plan based around chilling out and getting your bearings. Jet lag will be worse if you are running around trying to sort yourself out