Flying across time zones: planning around jet lag

Crossing several time zones affects more than how tired you feel. It changes which day your flight lands, when check-in opens and whether a "morning" tour is at 3am by your body clock. A little planning makes the first days of a long-haul trip much easier.

Read times the way airlines write them

Flight times are always local to the airport: departure in the departure city's time, arrival in the arrival city's time. That's why a flight can appear to land before it took off, or arrive "the next day" (+1) after only a few hours in the air.

When planning, write every time with its place: "lands 06:40 Tokyo time". If you use a calendar app, check whether it's showing times in your home zone or the destination's. Many missed connections and early-morning surprises come from a calendar silently converting a time.

Watch for daylight saving changes. Clocks change on different dates in different countries, and some places don't change at all, so the difference between two cities can shift by an hour during the year.

Choose flights with your body in mind

• Going east (for example North America to Europe) is usually harder: you need to fall asleep earlier than your body wants.
• Going west is generally easier: you stay up later.
• Overnight flights east let you sleep on board and arrive in the morning, but only if you actually sleep. If you rarely sleep on planes, a daytime flight that lands in the evening, followed by a normal night in bed, can be gentler.
• Arrival time matters. Landing early morning means a long first day, often with a hotel room that isn't ready until mid-afternoon. Ask about early check-in or keep the first day very light.

Plan the first two days

A common rule of thumb is that the body adjusts by about an hour or so a day. So for a trip that crosses many time zones:

• Don't book anything important or expensive for the first morning.
• Plan an outdoor walk for your first day. Daylight at the right time is one of the strongest signals for resetting your body clock.
• Eat meals at local times, even if you're not very hungry.
• Avoid a long nap on arrival. If you must, keep it short and early in the afternoon.
• Go to bed at a reasonable local time on the first night.

On the plane

• Set your watch or phone to the destination time when you board, and start thinking in it.
• Drink water regularly. Go easy on alcohol and caffeine, which both disturb sleep.
• Bring what helps you sleep: an eye mask, ear plugs or noise-cancelling headphones, a light layer.
• If you're considering sleep aids or melatonin, talk to a doctor or pharmacist before the trip.

Coming home

Jet lag works in reverse on the way back. If you can, avoid an important meeting the day after a long flight home, and give yourself a quiet first evening.

Short trips

For a trip of two or three days, it's often better not to adjust at all: keep roughly to home hours and plan around them. Book meetings or activities at times that suit your body clock, not the local one.

Elio Travels stores every itinerary time in the right time zone, shows it in local time with the zone, and warns you when a time falls in a daylight-saving gap or overlap.