Boston to Narita Japan flight

I like to listen to podcasts, and read. And sleep, for sure.

 

Hope you have a good seat. I would get up every couple hrs and find some space near an exit door/galley and do some stretching.

 

On my 9-hour Atlanta to London flight, I watched two movies (with a nap in between) and had two meals served to me, and this was in coach class! There was enough to keep me entertained.....

 

Tim - my wife used to be the same, and then I got her a set of Bose noise-cancelling head phones, loaded her iPad with all her favorite tunes, games, etc. - and she's a much happier camper on long flights. Of course, booze and flying first class helps too! In fact, we've gotten to the point that we fly less often, but when we do, we go first/coach. It gets you there ready to tackle biz/vacation…T

 

YES! by all means get up and walk or move around to keep the circulation going in your legs. I know of a good book that you could read.

 

Honestly, there really isn't much you can do that will make a huge difference.

Earlier this year my daughter and I did Houston-Beijing which was just over 15 hours. The first 8 hours or so passed fast enough. The last 4 hours seem like 20.

There was this little Chinese lady in the aisle seat on our row. She was probably 60 or so. She slept the entire 15 hours, except for maybe 20 minutes refilling her water bottle and drinking. She was so small that she would put her tray table down and put her legs on it, indian style. Lol.

 

Here is something that works for me. Get on the plane after staying up all night. You will be so tired that you will probably sleep most the flight even if you usually don't typically sleep well on planes. Although staying all night may not be the most comfortable thing to do- would argue it is more comfortable than being bored out of your mind in an airplane.

Also, I have found that by doing this I adjust to the new time zone much faster. Especially in cases where the flight arrives sometime in the AM of the destination time zone.

 

I bring an ipad and watch movies most the flight. Better than movies is a TV series you haven't seen but want to. A few games on the ipad can be fun too. Maybe you'll get into Candy Crush! But the important part for a flight that long is to make sure everything is fully charged. ipad is good for 8 - 10 hrs. Phone?

Anyways, that's what I do and I'm flying the plane.

 

As an alternative to Galt's advice, I would wake up 1 hour earlier than normal starting 4-6 days before leaving for Tokyo, then the day of the flight only get ~3 hours of sleep. Then right before boarding the noontime flight out of O'Hare I'd pop 3mg of Melatonin (buy at Walgreens. "Natural" sleep aid) then drift off to sleep soon after takeoff and get 5-6 hours of solid, restful sleep.
After waking read a book, watch a movie, eat, read a magazine etc for the rest of the 7-8 hour flight. Noise cancelling earphones are a great
luxury.
Land ~3PM local time, walk around the area I was staying (usually Yokohama, so Chinatown was the place to be), eat a nice dinner, fight to stay awake until ~11PM and then take another Melatonin.
Wake up ~5AM and be SO much fresher than colleagues who had no strategy for the massive time difference. They'd be passing out all through the day and awake all night.
The second night usually take 1 more Melatonin, then for the rest of the week I was pretty much on Japan time.
Coming back and re-adjusting to US time was another story, but if you'll be there for more than 2 or 3 days and the goal is to make the most of the time over there (and why wouldn't it be?) this strategy can't be beat as far as I know.
BTW: I always had a window seat so could get fairly comfortable with a pillow against the wall (and one in my lap to rest my arms and a book), and would typically get up once to use the bathroom and stretch, but there was one time I didn't leave my seat once through the whole flight. Did some seated stretching several times but didn't have to use the bathroom.

 

If you are not in first/business, then at least upgrade to economy plus (or whatever it is called) if available. Makes a huge difference at relatively small $.

What airplane type are you on?

 

Are you flying JAL and the 787?

 

Can you pick up Pandora on a plane?

 

You obviously haven't seen this thread yet:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/aviatorchat-com/379448-747-8-flight-report.html

 

Noise cancellation headphones are a must! Light music and noise cancelling will help you sleep over plenty of noises in the cabin.

Charge everything you can to the max so that you can play games, music, watch movies, etc... (plane may have Wifi)

Galt and Kurt nailed the other one. Staying up late the night before or reducing sleep may help ensure you sleep. Granted this has backfired on me twice when I was doing 4 hour flights to vacation destinations. Arrive in Mexico on about 2 hours of sleep but couldn't sleep on the plane due to excitement.

Lou is freight!

 

You would need Wifi.

 

Fixed it for you Tom, reminding me of the Wolf of Wall Street skit flying to Switzerland.

 

Thanks, Tamas, for the assist - I knew I could count on you buddy.

I tried the "get drunk enough to sleep" techniques once on a flight to Rio. Long story, short - I arrived in Rio w/ a hangover and sleep deprived. Fortunately, a couple of caipirinhas in a bar in Copacabana with some Irish sailors and I was right as rain.

Tim - if you're plane has wifi, perhaps try and start a McLaren vs. Porsche vs. Ferrari thread on F-chat before you leave and then kick back and watch the fun? That should be good for multiple hours of entertainment! ;-)

T

 

Hahaha reminds me of my Chicago - Toronto - Vancouver flight (layover in Toronto). I left in the afternoon arriving I think around 6pm to Toronto. Flight was meant to be leaving at around 10pm if I recall. I went to the lounge in Toronto that served food (wasn't great but who cares) and booze!

It happened to be a leaf game and I stuck to scotch to avoid the seal issue on my upcoming 3-4 hour flight. Long story short I ended up in the lounge drinking double scotch/coke with guys I met who watching the Maple Leaf game on the nice tv and comfy chairs. Flight got delayed which meant MORE time in the lounge .

Lounge closes (10:30-11) so we proceed to the bar to enjoy another drink. Plane is still delayed we end up taking off around 12:30am. I happened to be coach and got free drinks so why not crack a beer.

Once it was all said and done I got to my Vancouver hotel room around 2-3am (local time, which is around 5am Toronto time) and woke up for work with quite the hangover.

Yay for flying.

 

I usually catchup on a year's worth of movies never get the chance to see.. also sleep well.. heck just last month on 13 hour leg I didn't even need to go to the loo after orange juice, coffee and wine with dinner.

 

Yeah, I fly commercially, but I fly freight now. We do some Deadheading (crewmember traveling as a passenger) and that's when I do all that I mentioned above. Don't worry, the guys up front know what they're doing. Relax and enjoy the ride. You could always look out the window to kill some time. It's funny how pretty much no one looks outside anymore. They may as well make planes without windows.

 

I always try and get a Window seat but during an overnight/over the ocean you don't see much

 

After flying through the night, it seems reassuring to see the first light in the eastern sky. When I first saw the Irish coast, I felt a little like Charles Lindbergh.....