I’m taking a vacation to Europe next week, which means I have to deal with the stupid overnight plane flight again. (I’m glad I have the chance to make the complaint, don’t get me wrong.) The flight leaves JFK at 9:30 PM and arrives at 11 AM or so, so I’m completely screwed if I don’t sleep on the plane. We’re talking roughly 32 hours of being awake if I did the math right, which is just rough.
So the problem with sleeping on the plane is that I just can’t do it. No matter what I’ve tried on various flights, I just can’t get any decent sleep. Part of it has to do with it being way to early to go sleep, until most of the way through, so I’m just not tired. Damn my night-person-ness. And then there’s the whole deal with just barely fitting my knees under the seat in front. Makes relaxing tough?
Any sleep tips from frequent travelers? Or ways to deal with the time difference and such if I don’t get any sleep on the plane?
You are going to be on the plane about 13 hours? Why not take a couple of Sominx or Tylenol PM (No drinks if you take the Tylenol). That is what I usually do. They wear off on me in about 8 or 9 hours. I don’t know if I would take them if I didn’t know how my body would react to them though.
Maybe bring a pillow. Try to get a window seat so you have something to lean on. Bring a sleep mask to cover your eyes and some ear plugs.
As soon as the door closes on the airplane, set your watch to the time at the destination, and do things according to that time. Give you a jump start on jet lag. But in this case, sleep as soon as you can. Set up some sign that you do not wish to be disturbed if asleep. Buy one of those horseshoe looking pillows, it can make sleeping in coach much more possible. Bring earplugs. Don’t be shy about getting a blanket.
Which city are you flying to? If its western Europe the flight should take about 8 hours (based on my memory of flying it before).
Your height makes a BIG difference. I’m just over six feet tall (not particulularly tall by anyone’s standards) and I have real trouble getting a good night’s sleep on long haul flights.
One tip I can give you is try to get to the airport early and get a seat just behind one of the dividing walls, and get an aisle seat. After everyone has settled down on the flight, you should be able to get your legs stretched out (using a bit of the aisle) and get at least some sleep.
Having a couple of drinks is good advice, but don’t drink too much. The pressure in the cabin means that you become dehydrated, and alcohol dehydrates your body anyway. The combination of these factors can make you end up feeling rough by the time you get off at the other end.
In Conceivable: It’s 13 hours on the clock, but only 7.5 hours in realtime with a 5 or 6 hour time change.
UncleBill: But then I’ll miss the food! I’ve seen people do that hardcore though, to the point of fully reclining across 3 seats in the center aisle of a 747, before we even left the ground. I think I’ll try the horseshow pillow though. Last trip I flew Virgin and they gave complimentary mask and earplugs (they rock). I’d never tried that before and that worked very well for the isolation. You just don’t realize how loud those planes are in particular. But the seats were still so damn uncomfortable I couldn’t sleep, so maybe the pillow would help that.
samarm: Paris is the destination. I’m about 6 foot, so my slouched down posture on a plane is essentially the same as my normal one, regrettably.
I’m toying with the idea of getting up at some unholy hour that morning, like 4 AM. Then work all day, go to the airport, and be exhausted by the time I get on the plane. Could it work?
In all seriousness, I slept on a 3 hour hop once, even. Of course, it helps that I got to Montreal (I was flying out of Mirabel) at about 7 or 8 in the evening, and to sleep at about midnight (if at all - most uncomfortable hotel bed ever). And then had to be at the airport by 4:00 in the morning. Yeah…
Absolutely. That’s what I did when I flew to Spain. I stayed up packing all night the night before, stayed awake for my Minneapolis-Newark leg, and by the time I got on my 8 p.m. Newark-Madrid flight I was shot. Put on the mask, put the pillow under my head, leaned up against the bulkhead, listened to them announce they’d be teaching us how to use the 777’s personal entertainment system in just a few minutes…and the next thing I knew we were descending.
I was really REALLY dehydrated when I got off the plane, but at least I had slept well.
Sleeping on airplanes? I don’t. Period. Never been able to.
You’d think the continuous drone from the engines during a red-eye flight would act as white noise and help me sleep, but it never has.
I’ve never been able to pinpoint why I can’t sleep on planes.
So, my flying to Chile from Los Angeles and back last year to visit family was a highly mixed experience. The Lan Chile flight crews were great and the food was actually quite good, but there was no sleeping during the entire 12-hour overnight flights there and back. As soon as I was at my sister and brother-in-law’s place in Chile and as soon as I got home I collapsed into bed and slept for about 5 hours then had a regular full night’s sleep later in the day and was fully functional the next day.
Maybe, but I found it doesn’t work for me. If you try too hard to get to sleep, it just stresses out more and I can’t sleep. Why not just get more sleep than usual the night before? Then if you don’t get any sleep on the plane it won’t be too bad.
Stabilizing your head with some kind of pillow does help. Alcohol helps too.
I feel for all you people. Airplanes, Busses, Boats. Sleep comes easy to me. Genes must play a big part. Dad slept through an auto accident. NO he was not driving.
Any and all things you can do to woo Morpheus is good.
When I take a red-eye (which is regularly, since I prefer to fly overnight) I usually down about four Tylenol PM’s about a hour before boarding and then stuff earplugs in after we’re all done with the briefings and the “ready to take off” and “flight attendents please be seated” announcements.
That and staying curled up in a window seat (first class preferably, but if coach, I try to ge the very BACK of the plane) with a couple of blankets usually does the trick for me. The blankets and curling up also are a cue to the flight attendents not to bug you at 3:30 AM for peanuts and a coke…
I, like Booker57, am gifted with the talent to sleep just about anywhere. That being said those trans Atlantic fights are a pain. My best trick, exercise the day you fly. If I have a chance I go for a good run about 5 hours before the flight. Stretch and cold down really well. Then have a light meal. Bring your own pillow or else you’ll need two or three of the airline pillows. If you can bring your own blanket.
Wish I had some tips for you, but the only time I’ve ever been able to sleep on an airplane is when there’s an empty seat next to me and I can curl up on both seats. I can’t sleep sitting up, ever.
I’ve resigned myself to drinking lots of coffee and doing low-energy stuff (e.g. a bus tour of the city) on the first day. Maybe that will help?
My sister figured out the best way to sleep on an airplane was to travel with someone she knew so she could use them as a pillow. She is also blessed with the ability to sleep anywhere. When we would fly together from Boston to Hawaii in college she would sit in the window seat, take off her skirt (she wasn’t really a pants person), wrap herself in several blankets, jam a pillow into my elbow and sleep the sleep of ages. I was always up reading because I can’t fall asleep on airplanes.
I’ve tried the strategy of getting up early and doing a lot of things, but I found I got pretty wired about going on the trip and my adrenaline took over. It’s worth a shot, though. Isn’t it also important to get up, stretch and walk around a bit during the flight, to avoid those cattle car blood clots? When you get to your final destination, no matter how wiped out you are, stay up and do things until it’s an appropriate time to go to bed. It makes all the difference the next morning, and you’ll adjust a lot quicker. Have a great vacation! I’m jealous.
For me it used to be because I felt if I fell asleep, the plane would fall out of the sky. :eek: Lately I’ve been fine though, and found that Dramamine will put you right out. I had to get it in place of my favorite, Bonine, and it knocked me out for a good long nap.
Like a few others, all I do is close my eyes, and I can be asleep before the plane leaves the gate. I can even wake up to get a bite to eat and fall back asleep. But I can fall asleep nearly anytime, anywhere. The only times I have a problem sleeping are short hops (<3 hours) on late morning (after 9AM) and late afternoon flights (after 4PM)
I am thoroughly trained to take airplane trips. As soon as I settle down in my seat, I can fall asleep. Then, almost without error, I will wake up just before meals. So when I get to my destination, I will have some good sleep and a full stomach.