Jet Lag Question

I’m hoping to get some insight from those who’ve travelled to Asia before about how best to plan our flights to minimize the jet lag anguish on our upcoming trip to Vietnam.

Option 1: leave SFO at 1 pm, arrive in Hong Kong at 6pm the next day. Spend the night in Hong Kong and fly to Saigon the next morning arriving at 10:30 am. Entire itinerary in Business class.

Option 2: leave SFO at 1 am, arrive Hong Kong at 6 am and leave for Saigon at 8:30, arriving at 10:30 (HKG-SGN is the exact same flight as the other itinerary). With this itinerary, it is reasonably likely that the SFO-HKG flight would be first class. If not, would be business class.

All flights on Cathay Pacific.

Which itinerary would minimize the jet lag? My gut feeling is the second one would be preferable since we could get on the plane, eat some dinner, then try to sleep for 8 or so hours, going to bed on Vietnam time. Of course, I also admit that I may be rationalizing this just so I can enjoy bottomless Krug in Cathay first class… :slight_smile:

Todd - the Cathay midnight (or 1 AM) flight to HKG is my favorite. I find it perfect for addressing jet lag. You force yourself to stay up until the flight and then for the first half of the flight, so you are exhausted and can easily sleep for the second half. Then you wake up after a full night’s sleep when the plane lands at 6 AM and presto! You are on Asia time when you step off the plane. OK, it’s not quite that simple, but it is by far the best option in my experience. And, as you say, Cathay first class is very nice indeed. I would also prefer to get where I am going rather than break up the flight in Hong Kong for such a short amount of time - really just long enough to sleep and head back to the airport.

Enjoy your time in Vietnam. It’s an amazing country.

Option 2 is no brainer if u are traveling without kids.

If u have kids you run the risk of them not sleeping and then you are royally screwed when u arrive. Of course they could sleep too and you are fine but u run that risk

Not sure if your trip includes children or not so just pointing that out.

You’re a doctor, you’ll just power right thru whatever lag. All about your wife and kids and what works best for them.

No kids this time.

Thanks for the answers! You both told me what I wanted to hear. My wife is now “convinced” that I was right about this one. :wink:

I just got back from Japan, but flying coach.

If you are sure you and your wife will sleep well on the plane, I agree with everybody that Option 2 is best.

But if you won’t sleep well on the plane, I’d go with Option 1.

Modafinil

Def option 2. While the CX J bed is nice, I sleep much better in their first bed, much more comfortable.

I’d drink a half bottle of krug, pass out then wake up to some freshly scrambled eggs and a pot of Hong Kong style milk tea!

I’m a urologist Glenn. We are not used to sleep deprivation like you general surgeons are. Why do you think we chose urology? :wink:

Lol. You can always flash back to your real call memory bank!

Last 2 weeks I slept-walked thru 2 post call work days. Hurts more than it used to.

All I’ve learned in These past two weeks on my trip is you can’t beat jet lag, jet lag beats you. Love the food in Vietnam, the street food is tops.

I would do F over J as my first choice. However, I would do option 1 with the intent on staying up the whole time other than maybe a 1-2 hour nap.

Plus you have access to the good drugs :wink:

My advice, if you do take late departure, is to eat a normal or slightly late dinner, then get on the plane, ignore the service, and just go straight to sleep. That will help you be more alert and awake the next day, otherwise it’s a very long day after you arrive at 10:30am.

As someone who has made many, many overseas trips, to Europe and Asia, and can’t sleep on planes, my advice is to stay up as late as you can the first day you arrive, have something to take to help with sleeping through the night the first 2 or 3 nights. If you don’t sleep reasonably well the first night or two, you’ll be toast for a lot the trip. Third night is often the worst, surprisingly, because you’re reasonably rested, but your internal clock is still way off.

jetlag on the return is much worse

My friend Todd Holmes is working on a jet lag solution based on resetting one’s circadian neural network.

If wanting to avoid jet lag & general ‘washed-out-ness’, then I’d go itinerary 1. A good overnight sleep does wonders, even if in an airport hotel.

However I’d probably take 2, as I’m not looking to stay in airport hotels as part of my holiday, and it gets the journey over and done with in one go.

The key thing will be ensuring that once landed in Saigon, that you try to stay awake until at least 9pm. If successful, you could find yourself waking up at 7am, pretty refreshed and wondering what all the fuss is about jet-lag. On the other hand, if you sleep during the day, or are wide awake at midnight, then jet-lag can catch you for a few days.

I agree with Alan’s comments about closing your eyes and ignoring food service. Whilst the food should be decent (I don’t think Cathay code-share with BA on that route ;¬) ) sleep or even just shut-eye will be more rewarding.

One thing that has worked (but also failed as well) for me is to have a single glass of wine with a meal, but to have barely a sip with the meal and then polish the wine off at the end when the trays are being cleared, About 10 mins later I feel sleepy and with luck you can be snoring and drooling with the best of them. Failure of this ploy just gave me a slightly over-tired headache.

regards
Ian

I’m surprised by this comment. We’ve been to Europe multiple times and I have virtually no trouble with jet lag heading East. The return though, usually takes it out of me for a few days…

Personal experience? If so, care to share?

Yes. I’ve used Modafinil for 10+ years to help counter jet lag. It’s a pretty great drug. For the first 1-3 days after a transoceanic flight, I take 50-100mg of Modafinil when I awake in the morning. Usually, I take 100mg on waking the first morning (often before landing). I am sensitive to it (too much makes me speedy), so I generally find that after the first morning, 1/2 of a 100mg pill will be sufficient. I also take a 6.25mg Zolpidem Tartrate ER pill as a sleep aid on an overnight flight and at bedtime a few nights after arrival. 6.25mg is usually half the prescribed dose for men, but I don’t need more. I’m not a physician and I’m not advocating that anyone follow my regime without medical supervision, but it works for me.

Thanks! I’ve used Ambien (zolpidem) for years for jet lag, but have gotten to the point that I only need it for the flight and maybe one other night, though I’ve used melatonin for most of the duration of the trip the last couple of time. I suspect the jet lag this time is going to be more of a big deal though. Color me intrigued…