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Before the trip, one of the things I was looking forward to was the flights. I've never flown long-haul before, so to me the prospect of 21 hours flying seemed great. "I can read, watch movies, listen to music, it's a great opportunity to catch up on things I never have enoug time for!". Actually, those 21 hours are more for being uncomfortable, hot, tired, uncomfortable, sleepy, restless and uncomfortable. I have no real frame of reference, but I'm lead to believe that Emirates are one of the better airlines, in terms of service and space. But my bruised and aching derrière is testament to how painful even a generous economy class seat can be.
The flight from Auckland to Sydney was ok. But that 4 hour flight was just the starter. The 14 hours from Sydney to Dubai nearly did my head in. Couldnt sleep. Couldn't stay awake. Couldn't get comfortable. I'm dreading the return journey from London to Sydney.
The flight from Dubai to Manchester was much better. It was in daylight, so the disorientation wasn't as bad. It was pretty uneventful, except for the fact of sitting in the very front row, next to the toilets. With no seat in front of us, we had plenty of legroom, but we also had an impromptu audience of people queuing to use to the toilet. It wasn't too bad, and definitely better than the Sydney flight.
All in all, the flights weren't too bad. I've learned a lot, as you do, and hopefully I'll be beter prepared for the next one. I'm thinking a tranquilizer dart before takeoff should do the trick, with someone to revive me at the other end.
- comments
Jen I forgot to tell you before you left.... We bought some no jet lag pills, forgot to take them on our way to america, but on the way home, we took one as soon as we hopped on the plane. It was a night time flight, so we had our dinner, watched a movie and slumped down in our chairs, I listened to music while drifting off to sleep. I woke up and they were serving breakfast and starting the descent into Auckland. It was great, woke up had something to eat, watched some tv and hoped off the plane. We were in the city on our way home at 6.30 in the morning, and had pretty close to a full nights sleep. I would try and get some kinda pill before you leave, and try and stick to your normal "Evening routine". Also Steve once slept for 16hrs wen he came back from England, waking for breakfast when everyone else was eating dinner..... His advice is to keep to your normal routine when you get back home, got o bed a bit earlier, but don't just come home and crash, or else you will take much longer to get back on track. (have a quick nap but not a proper sleep)
Todd I have also found no jet lag homeopathic pills useful. I can't say they helped me sleep or that there was any medicinal value at all but they doi seem to 'even things out' for me on long flights.