Jet Lag

[battymum]

How does jet lag usually affect those travelling from Sydney?

We will hopefully flying Delta and set to arrive early evening (6:00ish I think) I am guessing we will head straight to the resort for food, shower and an early night.

It seems many Aussies are awake in the early hours for a couple of days, should I just roll with that and make an early morning ADR for breakfast at Tusker or Crystal Palace, then aim for an afternoon rest. We only have 6 days so cant really afford to lose a day sleeping. (Family is high energy,)

I quite like the idea of an early morning walk around the resort.

 

[Travel Mum]

Yes, I'd like to know that too as, when I read the recent trip reports that started in New York, I was shocked to see how much your time clocks were mucked up and for how long it lasted! As we will have 9 nights onsite at POR, I had planned for that first full day (we'll be arriving at about 8pm the night before) to have no arrangements and thought we'd just explore the resort and visit Downtown Disney plus maybe do Disney Quest. But, if we are wide awake in the early hours of the morning that day, it would be a bit of a waste not to get to a park rope trop!

 

[Travel Mum]

Oh, and Battymum, where's your ticker ?

 

[PrincessInOz]

If this is your first time to the US, you won't know until you actually get there whether you will experience jetlag or not.

You can always schedule an ADR just in case.

 

[battymum]

Travel mum,
I am trying to create a ticker, I know princess left some very detailed instructions a while back, I will search for them.

That will make it real, I, like you am still waiting for flight prices, would be very dissappointed if I couldnt make it happen,

 

[austraveler]

We had no jetlag issues. Our boys are 6,8 and 10 and we flew united. We arrived at POFQ at about 11pm and went straight to bed. All the boys were raring to go at 6.30 the next morning. I think we all dozed so much on the plane our time clocks were mucked up anyway.

 

[Travel Mum]

We had no jetlag issues. Our boys are 6,8 and 10 and we flew united. We arrived at POFQ at about 11pm and went straight to bed. All the boys were raring to go at 6.30 the next morning. I think we all dozed so much on the plane our time clocks were mucked up anyway.

That's very encouraging to know Austraveler

 

[Snickals]

This is my first international trip so I'm not sure how it'll affect me but I'm landing a little before 11pm and at the resort will probably eat (if hungry) and head to bed, my first full day though I have planned as a 'rest' day. I may head to Downtown or I may just relax for a while and hope the body clock kicks into order.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Snickals - What resort are you staying at? Depending on the resort you may not find anything opened to get food past 11 pm; and it may not have room service.

Depending on where you are departing from, I recommend that you buy some food in the terminal and carry it on board the plane with you. That way, you can have a quick bite on the plane before you land.
The airlines will sell food - but I always find that I have a wider selection in the terminal than on the planes. Plus, DH is vegetarian, so his choices are even more limited with airline food.

 

[ehsmum]

We didn't really have an issue with jetlag on the way over, although we only went as far as Los Angeles. We arrived 6am-ish, slept from 2-4pm and then went to bed around 10pm, up at 6am and we were fine from then on.

The way back was another story though. I was jetlagged for weeks!

 

[Snickals]

PrincessInOz - this may sound silly, but it's my first international trip so I am new to all of this. Are you allowed to take food from Australia on the planes through to America? I'm staying at Pop Century, so no room service I know.

 

[PrincessInOz]

What sort of food are you taking in?

If you're on an international flight, you should have 2 meals and a snack bag provided for you from Australia to USA. I am assuming that you will be transiting in LA or SF? If this is the case, you can buy some food at either terminal. I usually like to buy a box of salad to carry on the internal flight - you can always see that the lettuce is fresh or not - and its nice and light to eat without being too filling.

I normally take additional snacks with me on the plane eg muesli bars, chewing gum etc.

You cannot take water through airport security. You can buy water once inside the terminal.

I took an empty'ish bag across as checked luggage. I put 6 bottles of water (600 ml) in my checked bag. Water is $2.50 per bottle in WDW and I didn't want to pay that. Worked well for my 3 day trip and with the late arrival, both DH and I were glad that we had the bottles with us in the resort room. We also took Tim Tams and other chocolates to give away as gifts through checked luggage without any issue. Just remember to declare it.

 

[hjd0411]

Ditto above! Just remember when transiting in LAX that you can't take liquids onto the domestic flights - so no duty free alcohol, water bottles, perfumes etc. If you have some, see if you can repack your checkin suitcase before you give it back to TSA for transfer. You can buy water after security.
I have bought food in the terminals to take on the flights - there is a reasonable choice at LAX and MCO for your return.
I haven't really suffered too much from jet lag - the first night is usually an early one, but I push through tiredness until at least 6pm if I can!! Then the next day I take it easy and after that seems fine. Your body will tell you what you need to do!
Have a great holiday.

 

[Snickals]

Thank you two so much I feel silly asking questions like that but I guess it's the only way to learn. I have 2 domestic flights in Aus and then fly Sydney to SanFran on United Air and then onto Orlando, on the way home I go to LA instead. Can you take things like muesli bars on the international flights? Or just buy them at the SanFran airport?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Don't feel silly. We're all here to learn!

Yes, you can take muesli bars on International Flights.

And San Francisco is a smaller but nicer airport to transit in the US c.f. LAX. If you have a afternoon flight out of San Francisco, I recommend you pick up some food in the terminal before you board the flight to Orlando. That way, you have what you want to eat; rather than relying on buying the airline food.

We cleared customs in SFO. If you have to do the same, you might have to pick up your checked luggage at SFO and re-check it in again. But there is somewhere you can do this without having to go to the main desk.

 

[Snickals]

Ohh thank you
I knew you could take food that was checked and declared but didn't know you could take it on the plane with you. I know there are some foods you obviously wouldn't be allowed to take but but is there a list somewhere of what you can and/or can't take?

 

[PrincessInOz]

US Customs and Border Protection is where I used to go...and it looks like it's as slow as it always was.


Here's a link that may help.

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/de...-bringing-food-into-the-u.s.-for-personal-use

 

[DizOz]

We have never had a problem with jetlag going from Australia to US. We do the same thing when we arrive and that is to keep on the go that first day and crash around 6-7pm and we always get a good 12 hours sleep and fall straight into the time zone.

Doesn't matter if I am travelling for business or pleasure always do the the same thing and seems to work for us.

Coming back is another issue. This time round the whole family was awake the first few days at 2am.

 

[Travel Mum]

Coming back is another issue. This time round the whole family was awake the first few days at 2am.

This sounds like it's a common issue and that's a worry for me as my oldest daughter will have to go straight back to school (as well as DH back to work) the day after we arrive home! This is because I'm pushing out our holiday days to the absolute maximum!!

 

[AussieCaribou]

Hi,

Oh jetlag. I really don't love jetlag. But after many overseas travels my family and I have learned to manage it.

Firstly and most importantly, make sure to set you watch to your intended arrival spot when you get on the plane (if not before). Live your life by that watch. Might as well have the overtired bit while on the plane than when you get there.

Eat well and drink a lot of water on the flights. Make sure you get up and walk around (go to the toilet, get something from the galley).

Once you get there, if it is day, go outside. If it is night, lights out in the room. It will reset your body clock faster.

As others have said, our jetlag is worse coming home to Australia rather than heading to the US.

So, as an example of how we work going over: this Dec we have to get up at 2am (yuck) to get dressed so that we can catch the taxi to the bus and the bus to the airport for our 11:30am flight. Normally I would be upset about this time. But it's 7am in Anahiem! So, it's the beginning of the day. Then we will set our watches to CA time and go by them once we are on the plane. Until then, we will stay up...reading, cranking at each other, whatever is required. Once on the flight, we will wait until after the meal is served and then we will start the wind down to sleep, hoping to go to sleep about 9pm CA time. Then it is just sleeping (resting) until it's breakfast and landing. We get into CA about 630am. Then we have the 1 or 2 at LAX until we can get on the ground transport to the hotel. We will drop the bags off and get to DL asap (maybe by 9 or 10) and then stay there as long as we can. By day two, we hope to be on Pacific Standard Time.

I wish you no (or minimal) jetlag. Have a great time.

~AussieCaribou