how long would you allow you for jet lag with a 38 hour journey?

[vivariumvivariumsvivaria]

I am planning a work trip to Australia.

There's a cheap deal to Perth with Emirates, but it's 38 hours...long transfer in Dubai. Or twice-the-price flight which is 20 hours.

I have the time to spend 2 days travelling, and if I can keep costs down, that's a good thing. I'll be going alone, so I can sleep on the plane.

Anyone done it? How long would you allow to sort jet lag after that flight?

[BarbaraofSevillle]

isn't the jetlag more to do with the time difference rather than the journey time? Also, if you have a long layover in Dubai, you could have a good refresh there if you use the right facilities (lounge/shower/sleep/spa etc)

You say it's a work trip - if you are self employed, obviously time is money so could the extra time away be a false economy if you lose potential earning time?

Or if you are employed, what does your employer want you to do re time vs cost?

[zafferana]

Can you check into a hotel in Dubai and rest, shower, swim, etc? If so, that would actually be quite a pleasant way of doing a long flight IMO. I've done straight through to Sydney twice with an hour's break and it's horrible! If I was ever to do it again I would break the trip somewhere and have at least one night in hotel to rest and stretch my legs. If the answer is 'no' and you'd just be stuck in the airport, how long would it be for and what amenities could you access there? Gym, pool, spa, showers, etc. would all make it less awful, but I'd want a hotel room!

[MrsTerryPratchett]

If you sleep on the plane then the jet lag is just time difference. And how bad you are depends of a few things. I get shocking jet lag and it takes a week each time, even with 8 hours time difference. But you don't have to be 100% for most things, so how 'sorted' does the jet lag have to be?

[Mylittlepony374]

It's the time zones you cross that lead to jet lag and it usually (I fly long haul a few times a year) takes one day per time zone crossed to get over the jet lag in my experience. So presuming you're in UK that's about 7 time zones to Perth. Or 7 days in my experience. You'll feel OK after a couple but not normal for a week or so.

Stopovers help in my experience.

Best remedy though for me is always daylight when your get there. Get outside, get sun, let your body know it's daytime.

There's a hotel in Dubai Airport, if you wanted to nap there, have shower etc you don't have to clear security. And it's nice.

[sonjadog]

It takes me about a day per hour of time difference to get over the jet lag, so Perth is 5 hours or so ahead of where you are? Then five days. A long stopover would just make me very, very tired but it wouldn’t effect the jetlag.

[Soola]

We find it helps if we switch to the time of our destination as soon as we board the plane.

[mindutopia]

How long you fly won't matter. It's the time difference - though obviously, if it's a longer more stressful journey, you'll be more tired regardless. If you did the longer connection, would you have time in Dubai to stay in the airport hotel and get some rest/do some work/etc? I did London-Hong Kong-Melbourne for work and only had about 3 hours layover in HK. I can't say I felt more refreshed than if I'd taken a longer layover and had a nap or a walk around or something.

If you are able to take some sleeping tablets when you arrive for the first couple nights, I'd say you'll adjust in about 3 days, depending on how you cope with jet lag generally. But I was up and working from the first day, just needed to go to bed earlier. It was fine.

[alphasox]

we went to Indonesia earlier this year and on the way out didn’t really seem to suffer with jet lag at all. We arrived late at the hotel, went to bed and woke up for breakfast (slightly later than usual at home but not much). On the way home it was pretty horrific, and took a week to recover. No idea why. We didn’t sleep as well coming back perhaps.

[Satsuma1234]

I don’t get jet lag flying to Perth. Just a bit tired.

Can you get a day rate in dubai rather than waiting in the airport.

[MumdayMania]

So will you have around 20 hours in Dubai?
I think you would just need a couple of days to adjust to the time difference and poor quality sleep.

[PatriciaHolm]

Depends what have to do the other end..

On Au trips, I normally land on sat night, spend Sunday outside, present on Monday/Tuesday and then fly home....

[vivariumvivariumsvivaria]

This is incredibly helpful, thank you.

Yes, I'm self employed. It's a business trip, and I'm really quite excited. Hadn't thought about getting out in the sun to remind my body that is's different time zone.

Yes, think I might go the longer, cheaper way and take a break in Dubai.

[sonjadog]

I find how awful jetlag is is often overexaggerated. Yes, you are tired and feel a bit rubbish, but you can still function as normal from day 1 of your trip. Try to plan meetings for the middle of the day as mornings and evenings can be the times when you feel the jetlag most.

[vivariumvivariumsvivaria]

I was thinking about that yesterday, Sonjadog.

Four day trip, four beds, five days working and presenting. five hours sleep every night - was fine. Not great, not ideal, but, I can work well at that pace. Went to bed at 6 last night, slept 12 hours, fine today.

I don't think that is really THAT different to travel. It's not like I'm DH who needs his allowed 8.5 hours every night or he can't function guess which one of us spent years and years getting up in the night for the babies?

I am going to gift myself 2 days off in Perth. A bit of beach and coffee and exploring would be lovely.

Quite excited, really.

[rookiemere]

There's a premier inn with a pool at Dubai airport