Jet Lag Prevention and Security in Flight

Hi all,

I will be flying from Singapore to Amsterdam overnight by KLM. This will be my both first intercontinental and overnight flight. The plane will leave Singapore at 1am just after midnight, and will land in Amsterdam at 7am in the morning on the same day. As Amsterdam is 7 hours behind Singapore, it means the total fly duration is 13 hours.

I want to prevent jet lag as much as possible. I have been reading many posts about jet lag, and most people advise sleeping in the plane, and then not to sleep before 9pm in the day of arrival. Arriving at 7am means that there will be a whole day ahead to stay awake.

My questions are:

1. I will bring my daypack to the cabin. And I will bring cash, passport, and wallet. Usually I put them in my daypack and stored in the cabin. But as this will be overnight flight, where I will be sleeping, is it safe to do that? Or do I have to put them in money belt and wear the money belt throughout the whole flight?

2. How long should I sleep in the plane? Just normal 8 hours, or as much as possible (like 10-12 hours)?

Thanks a lot!

I never sleep a wink on a plane - even after 36 hours so I won't give advice about that! Do stay up till "bedtime" though.

As for money/passport - keep them on your person at all times. Includes overnight busses,trains etc too.

I tend to find that, despite the best of intentions, I never sleep very much on flights; I get side tracked by all the movies that need watching and with the hostesses bringing round food every few hours... dont expect quality sleep unless you plan to knock back a couple of sleeping pills.
One thing I will say is, if you want to sleep, absolutely take one of those horse-shoe neck cushions or else if you do manage to get comfy enough to nod off, you'll wake with a massive crick in your neck!

Duration wise, I'd say just sleep as much as you can; you're going to be really tired coming off a flight that length no matter what. And, yeah, soldier through until at late as you can handle and when you wake up at 4 in the morning, don't get up, try to get back to sleep if you can. (again, sleeping pills a big help here... I find over the counter ones like Nytol brilliant for this sort of thing.)

Security wise... while I'm sure stuff does get nicked on flights, I've never met anyone it's happened to. There are always a lot of pother people awake and the stewards, if someone started rifling through your stuff, it'd get noticed. It's more likely to go missing out of your checked-in luggage. If you're worried, put a padlock on your daypack and keep it at your feet rather than overhead, then you'll be more likely to notice if someone goes for it.

I never put passport, cash, wallet in my pack, always om my person while traveling.

As to sleep I just try & get as much as I can on the plane & don't plan a busy day upon arrival.

Hi all, thanks a lot for the suggestions.

I always put my wallet + passport in my daypack on the cabin without anything being stolen, although I never had flight more than 5 hours let alone overnight flight. I have a money belt, so I guess I will use it even on the flight then to be safe, and to have peace of mind.

And as for the sleep, I guess the general advise is sleep as much as I can, instead of just normal 8 hours of sleep.

Lucky Luke, I agree that my neck is usually very tired when sleeping while sitting. I never use the neck pillow thingy. Is it really helpful?

Also, Is it advisable to take medicine like Melatonin during the flight itself? Or is it only for the night of the first days to "force" me not to wake up too early the next mornings?

Actually, Amsterdam is only a transit for 6 hours, which I am planning on getting out of the airport for 2 hours of walking around the city. So I am hoping to be able to that walking around Amsterdam right after getting of the plane. After the transit, I will have a 1.5 hour flight to Nice, France.

Sleeping 10-12 hours on a plane!!! Wow.... I do envy you if you can

But seriously try to sleep as much as you can on the plane and stay awake for as long as you can

Safe journey

Thanks AsaG!

Yeah, I usually can't sleep well on plane because sitting on the seat. Will try to sleep as much as possible though.

I’m green with envy, I have so often arrived with bags under my eyes! So trying to stay awake until bedtime can be a challenge. My most embarrassing (and risky) moment was falling asleep in the middle of Thiamin Square in China… waking up to find lots of people gathered around and staring at me.

Lucky Luke, I agree that my neck is usually very tired when sleeping while sitting. I never use the neck pillow thingy. Is it really helpful?

I definitely find it a big help. If I try to sleep otherwise, I can't get comfortable cos my head keeps lolling around waking me up and even if I do drift off, I wake up with a sore neck and often a massive headache. I used to used an inflatable one, for space efficiency, but got given one made from memory foam a while aog and jsut LOVE it.

Those dam plane seats just don't recline enough. (I dream that one day I'll be rich enough to fly business and get a lay-flat bed!)

Lucky Luke, thanks for the suggestion. I have bought an inflatable neck pillow. I figure I can also use this for the long train/bus travel when in Europe.

AsaG, what an experience. I can't imagine how tired you were that you fell asleep in that kind of place!

www.mayoclinic.com/health/jet-lag/DS010 ... e-medicine

Done a few of these over the years always adjust my time zone with melatonin

sleep as much as I can lots of fluids no booze heavy meals everything of value

in my money belt worn to the front under clothing go for best seats like an exit if I can.

Trip Insurance always wise for me saved me a ton flying over the artic circle

around the Iceland volcano this year. ... Happy Journey,

My favorite method for preventing jet lag is a rather simple trick. I change the clock on my ipod immediately to local time wherever I'm going. Last summer I went to Namibia and it was a full 7 hour time difference. And I had 26 hours worth of flights to get there. So I decided, if I would be sleeping where I'm going, I will sleep. If not then I won't. It's difficult to do, but is possible. I landed in Windhoek at 11 pm there and because I had stayed awake so long, I slept like a baby and was ready for the next day.

i usually don't prefer sleeping in plane(its really hard to sleep there). So can't suggest you that. Although it will be good if take good long hour sleep as it will help you after landing.
As far as passport and wallet is concerned, keep them personal as you never know what can go wrong. So it will be good if you take proper care.

Here's a post I wrote about jetlag prevention. Some great tips already in this thread, though!

Nick