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Why the hell does one feel so terrible after basically only sitting around for 25 hours. Sitting reading; sitting with headphones on; sitting, sitting, sitting. The most exercise I got was walking between terminals in Los Angeles.
When I landed I got the one taxi driver who’s only been taxi-ing for 5 minutes; after only being in the country for ten. He also apparently only lives a few miles from the airport and rarely comes over the border to DC. Lots of extra sitting on the way home!
Got to bed about midnight and was wide awake at 4am thinking that I’d had a (long) afternoon nap and that it was now time to go out wining and dining!
I think it’s going to take a lot of caffeine to get through my first day back in the office tomorrow.
Any jet-lag remedy suggestions?
Aussie Emjay's Blog 
When you want to get home you want to get home. You should have told him you were on The Amazing Race to try and get him to go faster,lol. Welcome home. Why you came back I have no idea.
LOL – I got the impression that my driver would be as clueless of the Race as some I’ve seen on the show. At least he knew where the River Road exit was off the Beltway so that was a start
I ask myself that same question about coming back…..
Welcome back! It is such a long journey back, I can’t believe you are due back to work tomorrow. I just remember on my way TO Australia, I went across so many time zones, my body didn’t know what time it was supposed to be so I didn’t have much of a problem.
Usually I just try to force myself to stick to my regular schedule and not take any naps or go to bed too much earlier than normal but other than that I don’t know! I’m tired just thinking about it. Good luck at work tomorrow.
Because I had a month away my body got time to acclimate itself to the Aussie clock. Yesterday I was really flagging out by mid morning as my body was saying bed *now* please.
Not much you can do about jetlag except bear it out. You sure cut the return home and back-to-work day close.
Yes, I’m starting to think that I need 2 days before heading back to the office after one of these trips. I just hate cutting down on my time in Australia to make that possible though. One extra day resting here is one day less with family there.
I’ve read that one reason you feel crappy after a long flight is that you become dehydrated in the dry air of a jet. Another is that your body isn’t used to sitting for hours in one seat without some movement.
Oh well, welcome home! Hope you’re able to get some rest and the manservant brings you a nice plate of sushi and a bowl of miso soup (quality protein!).
Oh if only the manservant was here to wait on me! He flew from DC to Seoul the same day I was flying into DC – at least he left some milk in the fridge for my coffee!
I always wonder why they call them vacations when one really needs one or two weeks after to get the rest to become both back to ones rutine or aclimatized to being home!
nice to see you found a home to settle into here then the old “VOX”
Hope someone gives you a good cure for jet lag the best I have is drink alot pass out for a day then start your engine with coffee
drink alot pass out for a day then start your engine with coffee – LOL that sounds like a plan!
I would say “Welcome back!”; however, that doesn’t make much sense from Thailand. I guess, “I’m glad you made it back safely” is more in order. Good luck getting through work tomorrow!
I always dread the trip to/from the US. I hardly eat and never sleep on the plane. By the time I get to my destination I’m a zombie!
Thank you – I never eat on the plane but I do try to drink water – then I get stressed about really needing to go to the toilet just as we hit turbulence and the seat belt sign comes on!!! I usually arrive acting like a 2 year old that has not had their afternoon nap!!
Just sitting around is hard hard work! 🙂 I hope you’ll get over the jet-lag really quickly. It’s just annoying.
If I can come with a suggestion which worked in the end for me after my return from the US this summer: eating tuna, and taking a long shower with a shower bath from Body Shop which is called “Deep Sleep”. They have also in the same series a pulse point balsam which works wonders.
That Body Shop stuff sounds nice – I will have to look for it. At least tomorrow is “hump day” (middle of the work week).
Australia is just so far away from anywhere. No wonder no one knows who we are. And now they have those little screens that show the flight of the plane!! My god. I remember when we went to Thailand and I sat there watching that screen. I’d been watching it for five hours before we were even out of Australia.
Ha LOL … well there was a lot of the Pacific Ocean on my little screen. That “time remaining” seems to decrease very slowly.
Sleep. Mexican food. Sleep some more. VItamin E.
Oh – I wish I could sleep, sleep, sleep! I can do the Vitamin E though – I’ll knock it down with a nice white wine 🙂
Welcome at home–I´m glad that you are back and hope good things for your first day in the office-I know it is hard.
Maybe Thai curry will help.
Thank you Kerstin. I was falling asleep in the middle of the afternoon yesterday but I did a bit better today.
I can’t believe you’re back already!
Have a good rest. I hate longhaul flights too, not being used to sitting still for any length of time – not enough oxygen either.
It’s amazing how quickly a month can go! 🙂 I agree about the diminished oxygen. Probably doesn’t help that the air is so dry either – my hair was just a bundle of static by the time I got back.
Welcome Home! I think we all enjoyed your visit to Aus vicariously through your great photos! Have a look over at the alphabet photo blog, it’s something you might like to join…..
Thank you – I still have plenty of photos to bore you all with 🙂 I will check out the alphabet photo blog – though I haven’t finished the photo a day project yet (though I admit to now missing a couple of days! – shame!).
Welcome back. I always have some kind of chemical help for sleeping the first three or four nights after changing continents, and stick to my normal bedtime and getting up time as much as possible.
Yes, I think chemicals might be the way to go. I did take a sleeping “aid” on Sunday night because I really wanted to get some sleep before the alarm went off! I got about 5 hours sleep which is not nearly enough for me – I barely function on less than 7 !
i use to try all sorts of things. now, i resort to just taking a sleeping pill to force me to sleep when night comes.
sets my clock back right away!
Yes, I think the sleeping pill option is the best too. This is the 10th year I’ve flown home and each year it’s getting harder to “readapt” when I get home.
Welcome back. I hope you adjust soon. I’ve heard its best to drink lots of water and to avoid caffeine. I think the avoiding caffeine part would be very hard though.
Yeah I really needed the coffee yesterday afternoon – 2 cups of it. Today I got by on just one cup.
No naps – your next rest should be at night, when you usually take your sleep. Unfortunately, you must behave very sensibly and heathily for the next 24 hours. It’ll hurt, but will soon pass.
Thanks Aubrey – it was quite frustrating being in bed at the usual (DC) time and not feeling like sleep at all. I think tonight might be better…..
An immigrant complaining about immigrant taxi drivers …
After 25 hours of sitting I’d be dead!
LOL – yeah we immigrants are not very tolerant of newer immigrants…
Hope you survived your first day back at work. I didn’t have too much trouble the day we flew over to Hawaii, but the trip home was terrible. The best sleep I got was draped over our stuff on the chairs at LAX. It took me a week or two to recover!
LOL @ your best sleep being draped over those awful chairs at LAX! I once lay down on the floor at LAX – I had something like a 5 hour layover!!
Melatonin! http://alford.fastmail.us/melatonin.html
Interesting about the daylight. I did have a little stroll outside at lunch today and also took a break near a big window. I felt much better today – I’m sure tomorrow will be almost normal….
Sleep at your desk and hope no one notices?
LOL …. yesterday someone actually did come by at around 3pm just to make sure I was still awake!!
For whatever reason, I have found jet lag worse when traveling eastward than westward. 25 hours. Can one imagine sitting in a semi comfortable chair in a house/office for that amount of timer?
I agree about the direction making a difference. When I fly home to Oz I land early in the morning and seem to make it through the day with just a slight daze. When I fly back here I land at night and feel like crap but can’t sleep OR do anything.
UUUUgh…..jet lag is awful. Hope you’re feeling better. Glad you’re back!
There are some oddball remedies involving melatonin, I think, and some jet lag Rx remedies in the works, none that sound less than too scary. Water, water, water…..but I don’t think they’ve solved the problem just yet.
Jetlag remedy? C’mon Emjay….this is me who refuses to sit in an aeroplane for more than 1 hours flight.
Hope you recover soon……maybe castor oil…..my mum used to say it would cure everything. 🙂