February 23, 2004

• Nytol and a Gameboy SP.
• It helps if you have some way to put your feet up. A friend of mine constructed a little wooden platform (that folded up for easy storage) that she could put her feet up on, and said it made a huge difference. For some reason - that seems to help.
• any advice on actually sleeping? Booze. ... or how to entertain myself if I don't fall asleep? Booze. I like booze :)
• oh mickey, you have my sympathy!! ick. i fly overseas all the time and NEVER am able to sleep. the sound of the engines bothers me. i am VERY tempted to buy these thingies. i tried them on inside a noisy airport and they really are quite remarkable.
• I can't sleep on long flights either, and usually end up watching the crappy movies. It's too loud to concentrate on a book and too hard to get comfortable anyway. Best flight I ever went on was one of the 747 Longhauls that had the game consoles. Played Hangman for ten hours straight.
• "Those thingies" really work. My wife has a Bose-branded pair (now, before you mock us as Brookstone
• gabriel garcia marquez and an ipod. derail: what's your longest nonstop trip, monkeys? I did a oneway nonstop greyhound for 24 hours; anybody beat that?
• I too have trouble sleeping on a plane. dont try to sleep until after the meal is over. (kills some time) If you have access to something like xanax, valium etc & dont have objections to taking something like that, then take a normal dose & have one drink. this could potentially enable to you to sleep for as long as 6 or 8 hours. also, bring music, reading, crossword puzzle type things, journal etc., not one of them, but several because you will still have several hours to wile away. hydrate, stretch when you can, stare out yr window & day dream... good luck & enjoy yr trip!
• Read. And I despise with every fibre of my being those that manage to sleep the whole damn way across the Pacific.
• I once spent over 36 hours on a train in Europe. Also managed to get my backpack stolen. I'll never forget that hellride.
• My longest flight was coming back from NZ to California, then hopping over to North Carolina for hubby's work. I think it was about 30 hours total, with stops in Auckland, LA, San Jose (to get a night's sleep) and Dallas. I got bumped up to business class for the San Jose-Dallas leg which was nice, since we were delayed for an hour on the tarmac checking a non-existent fuel leak. Turned out the refueller had just dribbled some fuel on the ground by accident.
• oh! yeah! i second what goetter says about hydration. i also use this stuff to keep my head from drying out -- which happens really easily when you're in a plane for longer than five or six hours. longest nonstop flight would have to be from LA to western samoa. we actually started in kansas city. loooooong haul. but worth it! the south pacific is gorgeous, i envy all you NZers.
• My boyfriend swears by Ambien for transcontinental flights. Take one when the wheels go up (not before!) and by the time the meal service is over, you're on your way to sleepyland. My longest nonstop trip was 38 hours in a bus from Salvador, Brazil to Sao Paulo. I had a great time backpacking around Brazil in college, but I'd sooner chew my arm off that do that again.
• I gots you all beat, having done the Wellington to London run and reverse. Spending a couple of hours in LAX wating for the conncetion to London with the toilets blocked up and the whole United terminal stinking of human excrement was not my idea of a good time. Anyway, I'm another non-sleeper. Best advice I can give is:

  • Pick the right airline. Airlines differ significantly in terms of seat space. Air New Zealand economy has as much leg room as United business. (United, incidentally, wins my vote for Worst. Airline. Ever.) Someone like Air NZ, Signapore, BA, etc, will make even economy a great deal more comfortable than a shithouse carrier like United.
  • Carry water. Drink water. Don't drink too much booze. It will hurt later in the flight.
  • Carry entertainment. Modern well fitted out planes (like the Air Caledonia A330 I flew on last year) are stunningly good in terms of music, movie, and game selections delivered to the individual seats in economy, but I'd still take an MP3/tape/CD/whatever player, a good selection of music, a couple of books, and (if you have them) a Gameboy or someuch. Note that a variety of books is key: I may start out the Auckland - LAX flight reading serious non-fiction; ten hours into the flight I feel like Terry Pratchett and nothing more demanding.
  • Something that can be useful: Carry some good info on your destination (Lonely Planet guides or whatever). I find reading that sort of stuff on a flight to somewhere invaluable.

  Also, if you're going across tiezones, I find forcing myself to go to bed and wake up at the normal hours pretty much prevents jetlag.
• Ack. Timezones, not tiezones. Although interpretation on the appropriateness of the Windsor knot may vary around the world, too.
• I found that after 9/11 I could get Xanax very easily by explaining that I was feeling a lot of anxiety about my upcoming transatlantic flight. I now would never fly without being drugged. I now apparently sleep through all the delays and turbulence and wake up in time to brush my teeth before landing. This is also very helpful on those international flights where you arrive at 6:00 and can't check into your hotel until 3:00, as being well rested makes that so much less awful.
• and be sure to get up and walk around! so you don't get economy-class syndrome
• A friend of mine had good results from melatonin - was able to sleep soundly on a California to Australia flight. I've found that one of those half circle pillows that go around the neck keep the neck from getting stiff and give you a comforting spot for your cheek - those filled with buckwheat chaff are my favorites.
• Two things; Concur on United being the worst airline in existence. Just flew them from Seattle-San Fran-Tokyo-Beijing. That was long and I hated United more with every mile. And I've always thought about drugging myself for long haul, but I'm afraid of a "hangover" at the other end. Anyone have any wisdom regarding this. I think the best way to overcome jet lag is to go immediately onto the new timezone, ie don't sleep until 10PM local, go out if you get in during the day, etc. (Well, that and some kickass sleeping pills at bedtime.)
• I sleep like a baby after I masturbate. If you don't make too much noise, only the people really near you will know....
• part of your troubles depend on which way you're flying. if you're going east, you're in for trouble. it's easier for your body clock to adjust to staying up later (ie, going west) than it is to adjust to getting up earlier. the good news is that you have several body clocks. the one in your brain adjusts pretty quickly, the liver and other tissue clocks adjust more slowly. the bad news is that different clocks adjust better in different directions. so, while flying east is hard on your brain, your liver is quite happy. going west your brain is OK but your liver gets all out of joint. if you can sleep on the plane, that will help. a little. of course i don't do a lot of long flights, so i don't know many "on the plane" tricks. i just study circadian rhythms. so this is probably off topic a bit.
• I've done a couple of the trans-atlantic hops, flying Brisbane-Auckland-LAX (or Buenos Airies). I umpteenth the water/carry own bottle suggestion, as it IS a life-saver. I've had good experiences with a _small_ amount of alcohol - polished off one of the little Quaintarse bottles on the way back from LA last time and that sent me straight to sleepyland. At check-in, specifically ask for a bulkhead seat if they're available (non-window). This is ESPECIALLY important if (like me) you're over six foot, as you get LEG ROOM! Sweet, sweet, legroom. The window-bulkhead seat, however, gets seriously gipped on legroom as it abuts the door. No matter WHICH way you're flying or how much rest you got on the plane, try to immediately adjust to the local timezone. So if it's daytime, stay up, no matter how hard. Makes the adjustment so much quicker (but not necessarily easier :p). Finally, if the plane is half-empty have NO compunctions about upping and moving to an empty row. Put the arms up, stretch out, and sleep. You wouldn't believe the difference it makes.....
• Here's a page with some tips on jet lag. One interesting tip on resetting your body clock is to shine a bright light on the back of your legs. One study showed you have photoreceptors there that can reset your rhythms.
• Jump up, brandish a knife and yell "Take this plane to Honolulu!" Five minutes' entertainment right there.
• BBF, plastic knives just aren't as effective. Not that I've, er, tried or anything. And it was Cuba, not Honolulu.
• Forks, I think I can beat that. 36 hours, one way non-stop Des Moines to Boston on the Greyhound. I got off the bus and was sick as a dog for 2 more days. Least favorite memory.
• Forks - how non-stop is nonstop? A couple of years ago I took the Greyhound across half of Canada (Ontario to BC). The way there I did it slowly with many breaks, but the way back I was in a bit of a hurry (as much as anyone every is on the Greyhound). I did Prince Rupert to Calgary (about 25 hours), took an afternoon off, then did Calgary to Ottawa (the greyhound website says 50-55 hours, but I honestly must have blocked at least 24 of those from my mind - I have no memory of the extra day), leaving Calgary Sunday night and arriving in Ottawa Tuesday morning. I then took the bus from Ottawa to Toronto Tuesday night (a measly 6 hours, except we were stuck in traffic and 3 hours late). I didn't go the fastest way, because I wanted to see Calgary and Ottawa on my way through (now I've done all the provincial capitals except Saskatoon, because that was the middle of the night). All in all, even the fast trip is 72 hours. But that said, Canadian Greyhound is a LOT nicer to travel on than the American. Mostly because we only switch drivers every 12 hours or so, and so the entire bus has to stop for safety breaks and lunch and dinner breaks. I find the 16 hour trip from New Haven to Toronto a lot more unpleasant than the 50-something trip Calgary to Ottawa was - you can't believe what a difference being able to step outside every four hours or so makes.
• Oops - I mean, I arrived in Ottawa Wednesday morning. (I told you I blocked out that extra day).
• You ferriners sure do travel a lot.
• 72 hours. Adelaide-Sydney-Singapore-Bombay-Frankfurt-Rome-London-Paris. Air India? Never again.
• That's nothing. I have to circumvent the traffic system in Northwich every single morning.
• Xanax
• I don't usually have trouble falling asleep in planes. Or cars, regardless of whether I'm driving. But my neck is usually sore, so I recently got an inflatable "U" neck pillow so I can look cool while sleeping. Although usually the biggest problem I have with sleeping on planes is the distracting episodes of Friends that play silently because I don't buy headphones. My longest nonstop trip was a 28 hour drive from northern Indiana to the Florida keys with no stops over 45 minutes for fast food. But it was really just a big party with high school friends on our chartered bus, so I'm not going to complain. Greyhound is HELL.
• I can't find my copy right now (and can't easily find it via Google), but Stanley Coren's "Sleep Thieves" mentions a study showing that you will not reach full REM sleep unless you are able to recline past a certain angle (something less than 30 degress from horizontal, if I recall). Basically, most airplane seats don't let you recline far enough to get effective sleep.
• Really Wolof? A friend of mine took Air India from New York to London and back, and said he liked it. Better food than BA, but that's to be expected.
• b of j
• No - was just wondering if it was an airline that was fine for short hauls, especially between obviously non-stop destinations. I am trying to think of cheaper ways to get to Europe - someone suggested to me today that you could fly into Ireland for cheap, and then take a discount flight to the UK. Or that you could fly to Stanstead (sp?) to save money.
• What helpful monkeys! Thank you all for your suggestions. I feel so prepared already. Drugs ... check. Footstool ... check. Earplugs ... check. Cool neck pillow ... check. Water bottles ... check. iPod ... check. Books ... check. No room for clothes ... check. wait a minute ...
• Stanstead isn't a bad option: hubby flew out of there to Italy before Christmas. Just keep a close eye on your belongings. He lost a company sweatshirt and a pair of prescription sunglasses (why anyone would want either of those things is beyond me -- and why someone would need sunglasses in winter in England is even further beyond). It seems to be a popular place for the budget airlines to fly in and out of.
• Booze not good enough for ya, eh Mickey? **swigs from bottle of meths, passes out, providing an example to others not to follow his moronic advice**
• quidnunc kid - I could get some of those cute mini bottles on the flight.
• While we're on the subject of airlines - and to save making another Curious George post - what are the cheapest ways that people have gotten from New York to London and back? I'm not above any number of stops or layovers, or to flying into regional airports (I'm actually going New Haven to Cambridge, so any airport a non-driver can get to for not too much money will do). I would take the bus, like I do around North America, but there's that little water problem, and I don't have enough time to work my way across on a cattleboat like George Bailey. My only restriction is that I have to get there in June and leave in late August, at the peak of high tourist prices.
• (sorry - when I mean cheap, I mean student trying to eek out funding in American dollars that are now only worth a few cents more than the paper they are printed on. Those exchange rates are so painful right now)
• What about something like New York -> Montreal, Montreal -> Paris, Paris -> London, (thru Eurotunnel). But if I remember correctly, my French friends were going to London first to take the Eurotunnel to France. Therefore, huh, check the exchange rate for $CAN to $US. Montreal might be cheap. Our canadian money is going the way of monopoly money.
• I can't really think of Canadian money as monopoly money, despite the pretty colours, considering that when I moved to the States a year and a half ago, the American dollar cost $1.60 CND, and now is $1.30 CND. I thought Toronto-London was more expensive than the NY-London, which is why I decided to fly directly from the States. I flew from Toronto last June, and paid $750 CND, about $600 US. Is this a normal trans-Atlantic price? Or low or high? (for economy, over-night)
• Follow up: On the flight out (daytime) I closed my eyes to doze off for about an hour-long nap. I wasn't really asleep the whole time, although I had earplugs and a sleep mask and an Excedrin PM. I ended up reading quite a bit and fighting over the armrest with the guy next to me. On the flight back (overnight), I was so exhuasted that I tried to fall sound asleep several times but that giant twitch your body does as you relax woke me up every time. No mask or earplugs since it was dark and everyone was trying to sleep, but I did have 2 Excedrin PM. The plenty of water tip can't be stressed enough. Also, get up & walk around every hour or so. I did that on the flight out, but not on the way back. When I got home, my ankles looked like they were 8 months pregnant. Scary.
• Glad you're back. Did you bring us all presents? *smiles sweetly*
• kid, I saved 2 mini-bottles of Capt. Morgan's Parrot Bay rum, just for you. Aloha! The rest of you - consider yourself lei'ed.
• I love you, Mickey :)
• what's your longest nonstop trip, monkeys? 36 hours - Kathmandu to London by way of Abu Dhabi and Bahrain on GulfAir. :) The 36 hours was the flying time, including hanging around at airports waiting to change planes. It doesn't include getting to the airport 3 hours early to check in (and having all my bags searched for stolen treasures or weapons; due to the Maoist uprising in Nepal, they are very security-conscious and my bags were searched trip). It also doesn't include about 3 hours to get home from the airport (travelling across London and all the trains were messed up!). So it was probably around 42 hours from beginning to end. Less tiring than it sounds! The view of the desert over India was great in broad daylight; I got something to eat and read some magazines and did some shopping at Abu Dhabi; Bahrain is a very comfortable airport to relax in and I tried to buy some shoes (all too small, unfortunately); and I may have dozed a bit on the flight over Europe - I can't remember watching the in-flight film anyway!
• As long as we're discussing cheap transatlantic flights, I need to get from LA to Cambridge in August. It's looking very pricey right now, any suggestions would be welcome.
• Longest non-stop trip? 104 hours, Moscow to Chita by train. Took it four or five times. What a way to commute, I tell you.
• A little over two weeks aboard a merchant vessel, Halifax NS to Manchester, [long time ago, at times slow because of mines, so lifeboat drill every day].
• Cali - I'm guessing you mean the original Cambridge in the UK, since you mention transAtlantic. If you are a student, STA travel isn't bad - they quote the full price on their webpage, not just the price before tax. Most flights would probably go to London - if you have any questions about taking the tube and the train to Cambridge (I've done this recently), please feel free to email.
• Thanks, jb. Yes it is England, and no I'm not (currently) a student. I'm just balking at paying $900 in airfares.
• Orbitz has flights starting at $764, including one stop, but yes, most are about $900. Perhaps if you could combine one of those sales on flights from the West to the East coast, with a flight from the East coast to Britain, that might save money. But not much more - best non-student price I found NY to London was about $600 in summer. But good luck!