Traveling east is pretty commonly accepted as more difficult time adjustment than traveling west. That’s because you (generally) arrive in the morning after an overnight flight when traveling east, which makes it a very long day, while most flight west depart mid-morning to early afternoon, and arrive mid-late afternoon, so you get to sleep pretty quickly after arrival. It could be that the excitement and diversion of arriving at a new destination helped you going east, but once you’ve done it a few dozen times, that excitement will fade away 
Dr. Todd Holmes, referenced above, says that traveling west is more disruptive of one’s neurobiology/circadian circuit. I thought along the same lines as Alan, but Todd disabused me of that notion with a long explanation that I can’t replicate here, as I only understood a few words. Like ‘and’ and ‘the’. And ‘light’. And maybe one or two others.
Last 2 weeks I slept-walked thru 2 post call work days. Hurts more than it used to.
My god, it does hurt more. Getting old and crotchety.
I don’t know about and, the, and light, I only know that of the 100+ overseas trips I’ve made to both Europe and Asia, it’s always easier to handle the westward leg than the eastward.
Great explanation Mark! ![[rofl.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7452fcd8e675af869f8da01174474a545b03944.gif "rofl"){kind=small}
Yes it is, but I don’t think the explanation holds. Consider LAX-MIA, which I do more than monthly. Flying east I lose time, flying west I gain time. Also, due to the jet stream, flying east is shorter, flying west is an hour longer. My travel day on the return is much longer than the outbound travel day - I get in 3 hours from when I left (local time to local time, i.e 6 hours travel minus 3 hours time change).
For travel to aisa, I don’t think it’s true that most flights leave then. A lot leave at 11pm.
I wonder which way around the world would be better, flying east, losing clock time, riding the jet stream or flying west, gaining clock time, I’m planning on trying both someday.
Then my friend adroitly pointed out that the way to do it is to fly west in the southern hemisphere, gaining clock time and riding the jet stream (which moves in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere). Another thing for my bucket list.
I’m with Alan on this. I haven’t made as many trips to Asia as he has, but I’ve made quite a few. I try to take something very mild to help with sleep on the plane (melatonin/OTC material) then get a full night’s sleep on the plane. Since that ‘full night’s sleep’ is inevitably not all the restful, I’m usually tired enough to go to sleep at maybe midnight or 1 am at my destination and start to get my sleep cycles on local time. My secret is to take some kind of mild sleep aid for the first 3 or 4 nights on the trip (which is often the entire trip for me). I used to do 2 nights … but then that third night would be a sleepless mess.
No matter what I do, I have major tiredness lulls (jet lag!) at weird times during the day. But if I get sleep every night I can be productive on the trip. Especially important for a 4 or 5 day business trip.
And I’m not a fan at all of any system that involves “stay up until your exhausted” or “skip a night’s sleep” techniques. More sleep is always better than less, even if it is at odd times. I find even a 30 minute day time nap extremely rejuvenating.
Of course all this is for my body chemistry. YMMV (and likely will)!
I’ve made the Asia trip over 50x, and can say that there’s no good answer. Any way you get there, any time, Jet Lag is going to bust you hard, and if you’re there more than 5-7 days, the return to home may be even harder. So go with whatever travel schedule fits you the best, seems the easiest, and just accept the hit.
Yes, Asia is tough, and I haven’t done it as often as some others, but a few times. It’s a big difference as to whether you are doing it for work or vacation.
I don’t agree with the advice about go to sleep right away for an 11pm departure say. Good advice for Transatlantic, but Sarah has it right for the 16 hour flight to Asia leaving at 1am… If you are arriving at 6:30 Am, what you want is to be sort of just getting up from a long sleep. So I stay up for about 6 hours plus, sleep for 8 (if you are on Cathay, you can do that comfortabley) and then you are more in sync with the locals, and more importantly, with the sun.
Also, I believe in a nap if needed, but limit it to two hours max. Don’t sleep so much during the day that you’ll be up all night.
Might be some slightly different experiences based on which side of the country you start from. I’m in California, so it’s a shorter flight, with different departure times to Asia. Europe, OTOH, takes longer (of course). East coasters may have different recommendations.
I was permanently cured of jet lag 20 years ago. Working in Beijing, I flew to Chicago for a week, but had to go to London after 2 days. Spent two days in London, flew to Qatar for two days to follow up on the deal, back to Chicago for 2 days and back to Beijing. To make it worse, I can never sleep on planes I’ve never had jet lag since - I think my body just takes it cues from the sun. Unfortunately, I have to deal with my family’s jet lag.
I’m another one who has almost no problem with jet lag when travelling to Asia but suffers horribly upon returning to the US.
So I’m fine when on vacation (yay!) and in a fog for several weeks after getting back home.
YFFMMV
I’d go with option one. I can’t imagine landing in Asia so early and trying to stay up all day. I’d do much better landing in the early evening and getting a good nights sleep in a real bed.
Problem I find is getting that good night’s sleep after landing. Making yourself fall asleep that first night if your body thinks it’s 8AM can be difficult without pharmaceutical assistance. Making yourself stay awake is definitely uncomfortable, but it’s at least possible.
I appreciate all the comments. It’s a done deal- we’re taking the 1am flight. As of now, business class seats, but I’m hopeful that Cathay will release a couple of first class seats closer to departure. On return, we’re flying Singapore first class, so I’m guaranteed to get my Krug (and Dom!) going in at least one direction. 
I’m definitely going to give the modanafil a try. With only two weeks, I want to minimize the down time…
Todd - you probably know this already, but British Airways website is great for showing Cathay award availability. We are headed out on Oct 1, and I managed a First Class seat at the time of booking earlier this year, but my husband was only in coach. Starting two weeks ago, I checked the BA site every day. One seat was released on our flight last week, and I grabbed it. Had to call AA to book with points, but it still beats having to call every day to check.
I check their website every day!* (And I realize that the likelihood that two First Class seats for a flight next April are going to show up in September are small, but I figure it doesn’t hurt and I’m getting a feel for the release pattern by checking near term flights too…)
*Except today- thanks for the reminder. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Don’t forget to check the SQ website daily for suites space even though you might have it wait listed already!
Krug/Dom in a double bed!
We’re flying HAN-SIN with an overnight stopover. Then SIN-HKG-SFO, leaving at 6pm. Already in First Class, but it’s the 777, so no suites. There were no waitlists that worked for us getting back in time to relieve the grandparents, so I went with the “plain 'ol First Class” ![[basic-smile.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/83717c74df9b0ce202453063bc4f11baf0ee6b8a.gif "smile"){kind=small}
In this age of worrying about carbon emissions, how the hell does anyone justify a “suite” on an airplane. Serious question. For Christ’s sake, if you can’t deal with sitting in a nice business class seat while flying for 10-12 hours, something is royally wrong. After all, you’re flying! You’re sitting in a chair, in the sky!
OK, a little levity to go with my holier-than-thou rant
