Aulani - Jet lag question

[Cruiser1969]

We'll be flying to Aulani from the East coast (6 hours time difference). What is to be expected for jet lag? We are flying out at 10:30 am eastern time and arriving 6:30 pm Hawaiian time (which will be midnight to our bodies). Thanks for any insight as I try to plan our first few days realistically

 

[WDWLVR]

The biggest thing I found was waking up early (like 3:30-4:00 am) the first couple of days because my body was still on Chicago time. I had someone chastise me once because I was on the DIS instead of out enjoying the Hawaiian sunshine. I then told them the sun wasn't up yet but I was.

 

[jockotaco]

My wife and I made this trip in February from Colorado (MST). This trip was for our ten year anniversary and without kids so your circumstance might be different. We tried to stay on MST time and it was great. We would go to dinner around 6 and have a coctail and listen to music around 9 generally in bed by 10 but we were up and went for a walk almost every mornning around sunrise. A quiet sunrise in Hawaii is amazing on the beach with a cup of coffee. Very few if any other guests, just the sunrise and the sounds of the ocean.

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

Yeah, we never really totally adjusted to Hawaiian time (even though we had stopped off for 3 days at DLR).

We just got up each day early (for us it was around 5:30 / 6:00) and we watched the sun rise each day and turned in around 9:00 PM each night.

It never really felt like jet lag.

 

[Cruiser1969]

Ok, thanks for the input!! Rising so early is probably not a bad thing with sunrises and early trips to Pearl Harbor , Huanama Bay, and Diamond Head!! Hmmmm, this may work in our favour! As long as we maintain the early rise and early to bed routine, right?

Does it wear off as the week goes on? We are there 10 nights, so I'll plan our early excursions for the first part of the trip.

 

[princessaloha]

IMHO coming from the east coast to here, Hawaii, the time difference is an asset. You're the first to get up, the first to get breakfast, the first in lines etc. As far as going to bed earlier than everyone else, not usually a problem as most things close by 10pm in Hawaii.

The problem is for those of us traveling the reverse. 8am on the east coast is 2am in the morning for us. Trying hitting any rope drop between 8-9 with little ones. That's 2-3 am for us. Forget trying to have breakfast before hand or avoiding the sweltering afternoon Florida heat. And bedtime at 10pm is only 4pm in the afternoon for us. Even a midnight bedtime is still only 6pm, ugh. And I'm not going to even mention trying to get your stomach to coincide with any normal eating times.

So fill lucky and enjoy being "first" with perky open eyes while in the islands!

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

We were there for 7 nights. We just settled into the early rise / early to bed schedule for the week.

And for anyone who has seen the first Die Hard movie.....you're supposed to make little ball / fists with your feet on the carpet....

 

[snackyx]

A quiet sunrise in Hawaii is amazing on the beach with a cup of coffee.

For sunset, replace coffee with Mai-Tai...several.

 

[trs518]

We were there in March and we didn't suffer jet lag to bad. Like everyone else we got up around 6:30am and went to bed around 9pm.

The best advice we were given, is to stay up the first night until the time you'll want to go to bed the rest of your time there. It forces your body to adjust.

 

[rpcvpanama]

The worst part is the return to the east coast. Leave yourselves at least 1 day, if not 2 to readjust to east coast time. Adjusting to HI time was relatively easy. When you arrive, go to dinner then bed. You will likely wake up early but then to bed early. We were there for 2 weeks in June and by the end I was pretty well adjusted.

But, like I said, the return to east coast time was much worse. Took me a full week to really adjust. Felt tired every morning that I woke up to go to work for the first week. We returned on a redeye, arriving on Saturday morning, for reference.

 

[Cruiser1969]

Thank you so much for all the input!!! Getting so excited now

 

[dsneygirl]

We were there in March and we didn't suffer jet lag to bad. Like everyone else we got up around 6:30am and went to bed around 9pm.

I think the whole resort operated on this timeline. It was a ghost town after 10. Also with all the sun/sand etc we were pooped every night.

Coming home was far worse. It took days to shake the foggy feeling.

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

After our first trip from NY to Hawaii, DH and I decided to switch things up.

We now stay up ALL night the night before we leave. That's when we pack and we watch movies, etc. It's usually pretty easy to do - we are always both too excited about our trip to sleep anyway. We always book the earliest flight we can to Hawaii (usually arriving at around 3 pm Hawaiian time - 9 pm for us). We force ourselves to stay up till about 10 pm Hawaiian time on arrival day, and we're good - instantly adjusted to the time change! It also helps us conk out on the long flight there.

Coming home is a bit more challenging, but we don't seem to have a problem when we arrive any more. We've done this on our last 4 trips.

 

[LoriKutchey]

The worst part is the return to the east coast. Leave yourselves at least 1 day, if not 2 to readjust to east coast time. Adjusting to HI time was relatively easy. When you arrive, go to dinner then bed. You will likely wake up early but then to bed early. We were there for 2 weeks in June and by the end I was pretty well adjusted.

But, like I said, the return to east coast time was much worse. Took me a full week to really adjust. Felt tired every morning that I woke up to go to work for the first week. We returned on a redeye, arriving on Saturday morning, for reference.

This is SOOO true! We went for 2 weeks Big Island/Aulani in May. It was relatively easy adjusting to Hawaii time but coming home it took me a whole week to adjust coming back East.

 

[podsnel]

Ok, thanks for the input!! Rising so early is probably not a bad thing with sunrises and early trips to Pearl Harbor , Huanama Bay, and Diamond Head!! Hmmmm, this may work in our favour! As long as we maintain the early rise and early to bed routine, right?

Does it wear off as the week goes on? We are there 10 nights, so I'll plan our early excursions for the first part of the trip.

We're doing this too- I remember the last time we went to Hawaii, on the first night we were stumbling around the resort after an early dinner, and then we were up at 4 am! I remember being VERY impatient, waiting for that sun to rise so we could go out and do something!!

We were in bed every night by 10 at the very latest- by the end of our 10 day trip, we were a little bit better at staying up, but not much- it's great to take advantage of that early to rise stuff in Hawaii!

We'll be in Hawaii in August, too- we get to Aulani on 8/21- when will you be there?

 

[sue]

We have flown to Hawaii 3 different times. We live in Minneapolis. Our flight was 9 hours. We always stay up late the night before we fly, so that we are pretty tired by mid flight. We then take about a 1 or 2 nap and by the time we get to Hawaii, we are pretty acclimated to their time zone.

Now, on the way back is another story..... We usually take the red eye home. The last time we flew home from Hawaii, we had island hopped for a stay on Kauai, which meant on the return flight home we flew from Kauai to Honolulu to LA and then finally home to Minneapolis. That was a KILLER on jet lag!! We were able to fly non stop on the way TO Hawaii from MN but on the way back home, Delta had made changes on their flights to Hawaii and they no longer were offering non stop flights. We flew home on super bowl weekend and I had a former Super Bowl player from another team who was in Honolulu for the Pro Bowl and then was flying to Dallas from Honolulu ( but was going through LA to get to Dallas) sitting right in front of me. He had his seat reclined into my lap the entire flight. I swear this seat he was sitting in went back further than any airline seat I have seen. Made it really hard to get comfortable enough to sleep. We also had a rather turbulent flight too. My jet lag was horrible the the next week after I returned home.

What we do for the beautiful vacations we go on right?? LOL