Business travel and a good nights sleep

I can relate.

I used to travel weekly all over NA and occasionally to Europe for business and I almost never slept well until about the 3rd night. You get out of your usual routine and it just messes up your system - even if it was in the same timezone....

 

Don't pull a "Fight Club" on us Peter!!!

 

Yes....it does.

But then again I live on east coast time in so cal.

 

as a consultant i used to travel about 90 percent.
Im looking for a local job as i speak.

but.. i will say Mondays are always the absolute worst..
6am flight.. which means i wake up a 3am... get to the client site about 9 -10am.. and dont get to the hotel till around 7pm.. Mondays were horrible.

thats why i always like the move.. "duets".. where that guy would wake up in a hotel.. and it was in the wrong city.. and the miles points everyone tries to pull... lol.. its soo so realistic !

Mike

 

Same thing happened to me. The cause was coffee at 8:00 pm though. Why do girls want to grab a coffee at night, mind boggling.

 

Peter,
What were you doing for 4 1/2 hours before falling asleep. Sleepless in Dallas? Should got out, and visit some night spots here.

Well it may not work, as you may not be sleepy anymore then,,,

BTW, 1-2 hours time difference is harder to deal than 14-15 hours time difference.

 

And with that, you found the secret to Business travel.

 

What kills me about hotels isn’t the service, or the clean sheets and towels everyday.

It’s that giant ****ing sponge sitting in the middle of the room that hasn’t been changed in two years. Sure they put a mat and a new sheet on it, but you are essentially sleeping on 2+ years of homo sapien detritus left behind by who knows what.

I read a study that the average household mattress weighs TWICE what it did when new after 5 years. Dust mite ****, bodily secretions and other such wonders of being human usually wind up embedded into the mattress.

Now, onto the commercial mattresses. The people before you may well have just plopped down onto it to sleep. What about the random weirdos with enema fetishes? What about the Peter Norths of the world? You know, they can wash the sheets all they want, but the thing underneath is still dark and gross and is full of all kinds of things that would peg the CDC’s diseaseometer.

I would rather sleep in a bathtub.

No wonder why you have a hard time sleeping.

 

WHOA!!! we might have seen each other, i was there as well. Ended up staying in Dallas the night b.c we were late leaving philly and missed our connection and we were numbers 48 49 and 50 on standby for the next flight.

 

and niether of you fokkers let us know you were in town so we could take you out for a beer (or root beer ).

 

Unless you are changing 14 or 15 time zones (depending on the time of year), never complain to me about jet lag. You'll have no sympathy from me.

Ways to make it better.

Watch the sun go down
Exercise
Eat a light meal
No alcohol

 

I agree...take a few 14+ hr flights. Based upon where I travel I make adjustments. When I fly to Europe or ZA, I leave NYC at night on BA and fly to London where I land in the early AM. Take a shower in the lounge and then jump on my next flight.

When I fly in the states it's worse, however I try to fly early in the AM and get a few more hrs of sleep on the plane. When flying in late at night, I may take a Ambient or 1 NyQuil tablet to help me sleep either on the plane if more than 4 hrs or at the hotel before bed.

I also used to take my own pillow as I like down and it let me sleep better.

Adam

 

Yeah ya bastages! And I was OUT last night in the FERRARI and I live in RICHARDSON!

It's ok, we'll just ignore you guys when we come to YOUR towns.

By the way Peter, try Ambien.

 

international flight simply takes years of my life....i fly biz-class on all my international travels yet, i've never been able to blink an eye let alone sleep on the plane.

being inside a plane for over +14 hour on one single stretch is an exercise of mental toughness....it isn't helpful that i can't sit still in one place for more than 5minutes....i am always so envious of those people who can sleep for 14 hours straight even before the flight takes off and they don't get up again until the flight attendant wakes them up for landing.....it's sickening...

once arrived at destination, it takes me about two weeks to get adjusted to the 12 to 13 hour time zone differentials....just in time to head back home.

 

I'm travelling between NYC and Europe for the last 18 years.

It takes one hour per day to adjust to a new time zone. This means that this month I have only six days where I'm not adjusting my biological clock.

 

I'm the same way, except I can sleep on a Northwest flat seat.

I tried 1/2 an Ambien the last trip over and managed to get 5 hours of sleep. Noise cancelling headphones help.

 

nothing helps me, E. i've even tried every prescription sleeping drugs available on the mkt today to no avail....i agree about not drinking. i'd get sick for sure. i normally hit the gym hard the day b4 and limit sleep the nite b4. by boarding, it gets me tired and make me care a little less...but still "sleepless in flight"

this is why i never schedule any business function the day i arrive or return...those are my crash&burn days.....speaking of c&b day, i have one of those coming up in a few weeks. you guys have any visiting trip home soon?

 

I've got to go to Seoul sometime in May, but its not nailed down yet. Come on over.

 

I've taken lots of 14+ hour flights in both directions (30+ actually) and it doesn't bother me any more......mainly because I learned thru sheer self preservation after 2-3 flights how to sleep comfortably onboard. And once I did that....everything was fine.

-Remove shoes
-Wear loose baggy clothes
-Use earplugs
-Use eye mask
-Use neck pillow and blanket
-Always get a window seat (usually exit row) or an upgrade to bizz/first once your status qualifies you for them on the airlines FF program
-Drink lots of water
-DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL
-DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL
-DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL

 

Been there done that! That flight is GRUeling.

A couple more tips....

DON'T SAY ANYTHING to the guy next to you unless you can endure a 12 hr. life story and sleeping pills.

DL

 

I was having a really bad day a while back. I got on a plane I had my sunglasses on, my headphones on, and had the seat leaned back like I was sleeping. The guy next to me still kept trying to talk to me. I eventually had to tell him that I needed some sleep. Then he started talking to the guy across the aisle.

I can sleep on planes but I can't sleep in hotels or other peoples homes. Even in nice hotels with good matresses and pillows I just can't sleep but I managed to fall asleep in a big leather chair in a cigar bar with a band playing 30 feet away.

 

During my last trip back from Rio, as I was falling asleep, I tell the (motormouth) guy next to me I'm really tired to which he replies, "I guess that's ok." When I woke up, he was staring at me like he had been waiting the whole time (7 hrs) and just started talking again.

Unbelievable!

DL

 

I'll let you in on a world traveler secret.

Fly KAL or Asiana. Eat the kimchee with the meal. Fart like hell after the meal. Those that don't pass out will not talk to you.