As you’ve already read, we had an interesting trip over. Typically, when we arrive in Europe we stay up until we can’t stand it, take a short nap, then get up for dinner in an effort to acclimate to the European time zone. However, the teens were spent by the time we landed and considering the stress we went through with the bags, there was no way they were staying up.
So we let them nap for a couple of hours upon settling in to the apartment we rented. For me, this didn’t work as well as my typical method and I found myself having a bit of jetlag the following day. The teens, however, were fine.
You’ll find tons of blog posts about fighting jetlag so there’s no need for me to drone on and on. My best advice is to get yourself on to the local schedule as soon as possible. If you’re tired, get outside in the sunshine and keep moving. Use the excitement of your new surroundings to keep you going and if you find that you’re absolutely exhausted, a short nap might be all you need. Make sure to set an alarm though so you don’t oversleep and ruin the next few days.
Keep in mind that there’s also a fine line between fighting to stay awake and not being alert. In a foreign country, no matter how safe or how many times you’ve visited, you need to remain vigilant.
I’m always interested in reading about how others fight jetlag so feel free to leave me a comment with your method of choice!
