The day is finally here!

[marine6357]

Well today is the day I am finally going to make my way to the Philippines for my long awaited vacation. I am flying out of JFK to Taipei. It is quite a long flight from NYC to Taiwan over 15 hours flight time. And then little under 3 to Cebu. Total travel time is just over 27 hours. Long time to stay awake. So hoping anyone can suggest a way to find sleep on these things? The longest flight I have ever taken before was only 8 hours from NYC to Frankfort so this is almost twice as long. Any help is appreciated. Have heard that benadryl could be of help? So any advice please give me.

Thanks Mark

[stevewool]

The only advice i can give , is get a good nights sleep before the flight, then in the flight watch everything on the tv then read then go to sleep, but try to get a window seat , thats unless you have a weak bladder.

[marine6357]

Thanks Steve I do have window seats nice place to lean your head against. Lol no weak bladder for me thankfully. Good advice on just wear myself out then? I will try that.

[Gator]

Good quality ear plugs or an over the ear headset connected to your own phone or tablet loaded with music or movies you like. I hate the inflight ones as I tend to fall asleep with them on and would constantly get woken up by PA announcements. And without them it can get noisy. I splurged a few years ago and got the Bose Quiet Comfort ones - they’re really great at blocking out background noise. 

I generally stay up or only grab about 4 hours of sleep the night before the flight so I’m dead tired when I board. Once we’ve lifted off they tend to feed you pretty quickly and turn down the lights. A full belly, a glass of wine or bourbon, a couple of Advil PM’s and within 20 minutes I’m out for a good 8-10 hours. 

You might also want to wear loose fitting clothing and bring a light jacket like a hoodie. I also wear crocs as they’re easy to slip on/off and my feet/ankles tend to swell from sitting for so long (drink plenty of fluids to help combat that). Nothing worse then trying to stuff your feet back into your shoes or sneakers after they’re swollen up. Compression socks help too - the they run about 10$ at Walmart. 

I also use one of those donut shaped neck pillows (filled with husks, not the foam) and, having cronic back pain, I use the pillow they give for lower back support as I tend to slip down in the seat. 

Hope you have a safe flight and a great trip!

[bastonjock]

The flight from London takes 13 hours .i get up early in the morning, i leave the house at 6am and go to work for the day ,i finish and get home at 3pm and jump in the car and drive to lomdon heathrow ,the flight takes off at 10 pm ,i wait untill i am fed then i put my ear plugs in ,i have custom made molded ear plugs with bluetooth and i listen to a story book ,i generally manage to sleep untill almost in manila ,i wake up periodically for a leak and finally breakfast 

Its best to get a window seat 

Dont take sleeping pills ,by all accounts they make you drowsy for days

The trick is to be tired before you fly

[Queenie O.]

Have a great time Marine!  I used to fly out of JFK, and after many trips I used to feel it was all part of the journey getting here, so I'd mostly just "ride it out" and sleep off and on for a bit. I'd always look at many sleeping people around me, and wonder what their secret was. Once you get to Cebu, the bright sun will set your body clock, and you'll be fine I predict.  In all my past visits, I never suffered jet lag in arriving to Cebu. Always upon arriving home to the US.

[Lou49]

Ambien works for me. No hangover.

[Mick]

As much red wine as you can keep down does the trick for me.... 

[Jollygoodfellow]

3 hours ago, bastonjock said:

and i listen to a story book

[GeoffH]

I can strongly recommend a decent set of noise cancelling headphones, they really do make it easier to relax (even if you can't sleep) and it's less tiring when wearing a set.