Jet lag is a pretty weird thing that is hard to explain. It is best experienced. The leading picture is a good example of being so worn out that you think it is a good idea to kneel on a chair for a little nap when common sense suggests that you should just go crawl in your bed or simply lay on the floor. I remember my first experience (1992 trip to Switzerland) riding to Berne from Zurich and being unable to stay awake and trying to support my head with my hand as we drove along with my head falling out of my hand every 10 secs or so and being too tired to do anything about it.
It seems to us to be worse coming back then going but there could be lots of reasons for that. I think the flight is longer due to the jet stream and I also think we are a little sad about our trip being over and this also makes it worse. So the way it worked we had a 25 hr day starting out in the early morning in Switzerland with the sun coming up and then fly with the sun all day eventually with darkness coming somewhere over Kansas. So after about 20 hours of sun it gets dark. I never can sleep on the plane, well, no what I call real sleep. At least not like picture number two with two little varmints.
This time around we awoke as a family at about 3:30AM bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for the day. We tried to get the kids to stay in bed in hopes they would sleep longer but they were up running around the house by 4AM. having a breakfast of mac and cheese. Then there was usually a mid AM nap and as hard as we tried we we couldn't stay up past 7pm. It took about 3 days before we were sleeping in until six. Now that it is a good 9 days later we are back on our old routines. The extremes are always surprising to me. How you can be so tired at 7pm and how you can be so awake at 3AM. I am happy to see it all behind us for now.
3 comments:
aargh! That is soo frustrating. So remember the price we pay every time we come to see all of you North Americans. How about travelling alone with your children without any help from your spouse and the air hostess telling you, no, she is not allowed to hold your baby while you use the bathroom, it is against regulations! What in the world? Ok, so I guess that turned into some kind of a fishing story, not my intention. Just wanted to remind you that are willing to go through agony to see you! Hope you don't put any of our impending visitors off....
Where were you sleeping with the two kids? On the plane?
Anyway, I get a little sick to my stomach thinking about jetlag and lack of sleep like that. Ick. Glad you're all back to normal.
welcome back!
sorry about the jet lag, glad you're better now. i remember a 3pm gspl mtg in moscow a few yrs ago, sitting on a sofa in a warm house -- thot i was going to die...
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