Flying to Oz

[sddsddean]

We are flying to Sydney next April and I'm just looking at flight times/prices. It seems nearly all flights leave late evening from UK and land 6-7am in Oz, though one Qantas flight leaves lunchtime and arrives 8pm in Oz. Friends have said, to avoid jetlag, if you arrive 7am DON'T go to bed(although hotel room won't be ready anyway), but stay up until the evening. Now I am wondering if it is best to do this, or try and get the Qantas flight(so you can go to bed and do your first day sight seeing refreshed), but if I do my body will think its morning and want to stay up (if you see what I mean). Has anyone got any advice!

[dzug]

One suggestion is if you can do so without too much extra cost, have a stopover in Singapore or somewhere and break the journey up.

Having done something like the Qantas flight (it was actually an evening flight from Heathrow that didn't get going until 9.30 next morning.....) and arrived in Sydney late afternoon, I was quite happy to transfer to a hotel, have dinner and go to bed. With that big a time difference your body will be confused enough to believe what you tell it.

[jes1973]

I have a friend who travels UK to Melbourne every 3 months... He usually flys Qantas arriving Melbourne 8pm c/over in Hong Kong). He attempts to sleep that night of arrival but does find it really quite hard and ends up loosing most of the following day from sleep... He travels on this flight 99% of the time and does prefer it to early arrival. I think if unlike him you went straight to a hotel on arrival and slept - having a good sleep in in the morning - you would wake more refreshed. Unfortunately he gets here -he is excited to see everyone & vice-versa and takes him a while to calm down and sleep. Regardless of flight - you really can expect to loose a day for sleep!!

[Trotbot]

I travel long haul a lot, and I try and work out when I need to sleep during the journey. When I arrive I try to get sleep patterns right quickly, but not at all costs. Try to get through a whole day is miserable. I would tend to drop my bags, go for a walk, have lunch and then a couple (no more) hours kip and go out again after a shower. I would then try and stay up until about 11 and if I got six hours sleep I would be pleased.
Jetlag gets people in different ways, and on a flight round the world it is very difficult to avoid totally. The usual boring tips apply, lots of water, no alcohol go out in daylight. I'm never very good at avoiding alcohol on flights though, particularly Qantas as it is usually ok wine

[sddsddean]

Thanks very much all for your comments. Food for thought!!