Dealing with Time Change/Jet Lag?

[Iggipolka]

Hi there,
I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on managing the time difference between the mainland and Hawaii, especially with kids. We're actually lucky because it's only a three hour difference from California to Hawaii, East Coasters must really have it rough!

I just remember our last trip when my then 3 year old, was up a 3:30am Every Single Ding Dang Dong Day, ready to go and couldn't understand why it was still night! She finally adjusted to the time change on our departure day ( of course).

Thanks!

 

[gpb_1]

Hi there,
I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on managing the time difference between the mainland and Hawaii, especially with kids. We're actually lucky because it's only a three hour difference from California to Hawaii, East Coasters must really have it rough!

I just remember our last trip when my then 3 year old, was up a 3:30am Every Single Ding Dang Dong Day, ready to go and couldn't understand why it was still night! She finally adjusted to the time change on our departure day ( of course).

Thanks!

Start adjusting your schedule as soon as you get on the plane, earlier if possible. Change your watches to the destination time zone and start eating, sleeping etc as though you were already there. You will wake up early for the first couple of days, but just make the most of it. Enjoy the sunrise, go for a walk, grab a chair by the pool/on the beach.

It's an 11 hour time difference for us!

 

[alohamom]

I have 2 very different children, personality wise but it still came a surprise that my son dealt with the time change differently than my daughter. She was 18 months old her first time and we had no issues but she is a bit of a night owl. My son is a very scheduled type of person and was a totally scheduled baby. His first Hawaiii trip was at age one and he did the same thing as your child, sat up straight at 2:00 am and wanted to PLAY! It took a couple of days before he was getting into the new time zone. That was 16 years ago and now he does finally sleep in a little! My point is there really was not much I could do, he was wired for that time and I just did the best I could to coax him into longer naps during the day. What didnt work was trying to get him to stay up later, that just made him cranky but the fresh air and all the water play tires them out naturally.

 

[doombuggy]

When I went in October 2014 (from the east coast) I had the worst time trying to adjust to the 6 hour time difference. I was up at 4 am every day, regardless of what time I went to bed (although the latest was probably 10pm for me). I did go to Diamond Head on one of those days, since I was up early and they were open. With a small child you might be kind of stuck, since there is not much to do that early and the resort is fairly isolated (versus being in town). The idea of trying to change the schedules before you leave sounds pretty good. Good luck!

 

[redkop1969]

coming from the UK to LA, we tend to adjust clocks as soon as we get on the plane, then stay up to our normal bed time once in LA, yes it means we have probably been up for 24 hours, but we get into the local time zone straight away

 

[Rubygoose]

We had a really long day on our arrival day coming in from Victoria on daylight savings time change day! Our flight left Victoria at 6am (our time), so we got up at 3am, which was midnight in Hawaii! The nice thing was, though, that we had plenty of daylight to enjoy once we arrived at the resort. We kept the kids up until about 9pm (Hawaii time), but they were still awake at 4am, and stayed awake until 5am that first morning. My kids are old enough that I was able to explain to them that they needed to go back to sleep to adjust to Hawaii time, and they slept until about 7:30am. All of the other mornings they were awake by 6:30am. We just tried our best to go by the clock for eating a sleeping so that we could adjust. It's tricky now that we're at home, though, as it's hard to get up before 9am!

 

[vikequeen]

FYI, the time shift can work to your advantage. we found getting up early to be very helpful getting to activities at Aulani and offsite ahead of others. my kids were up at 430 our first day, and by 730 they were climbing the walls and more than ready to hit the pool, which helped us get a good spot for the day.

 

[sleepymouse]

I agree with vikequeen. We are traveling from the West Coast too, and I plan to not really mess with our schedule. We will just get up early, find some pool chairs, and enjoy. Besides, the one complaint about Aulani is that there is nothing to do in the evening. So why stay up late anyway?

 

[Deirdres]

we always try adjusting slightly, about one week before the trip, and then once we have arrived we don't try to completely adjust. We liked getting up early, more sunshine that way!

 

[ratt1345]

My wife and I were there in October 2015. We arrived at 12:57pm Hawaii time. We live in FL, mind you. At 4:30pm, I was out like a light and slept until 2:30 am. However, I went back to sleep and woke up at 6:00am. After that, I personally didn't have any trouble.