Just recently booked my first overseas flight. I’ll be heading to the UK at Christmas time to have Christmas with my partner’s extended family.
I’m flying out of Cairns, meaning there was only one flight per day that I could choose.
We leave Cairns at 8am in the morning, have a 34 hour journey (including layover) and arrive in the UK at 6am the following morning.
I’m a bit concerned about jet lag. I’ve heard that’s it’s best to arrange your flight so you land in the destination in the evening and can go straight to bed.
I was hoping to do this, but it wasn’t an option.
Any tips?
Stay awake as long as you can and sleep as much as you can on the plane over. Go and do something during the day if you can like an activity so you have no choice but to push through. Then go to bed 7-8pm.
Last time I went to the UK, I arrived at about 11am and was shattered when I got there but had a couple of work things to tick off. Fell asleep at about 7:30pm once I got back to my apartment and then was right as rain the next morning. Later this year I arrive at 6am myself, which I haven’t done before but I think I’ll book something that day that I have to go to rather than asleep.
Yeah exactly. Travel can be exhausting but nothing beats a week or so on the islands. They are pretty cheap, sun, beach, get an amazing tan. It’s exactly what I want in a holiday.
@turdall I’m wondering if you maybe went to the islands more in peak season? I know that Mykonos and Santorini especially can get quite busy with tourists during July/August which can often put people off them. However if you go outside that time of year (like June which I’m going) they are much more quiet and chilled. Plus pretty much any of the other islands have a much more relaxed vibe. I just love it and can’t wait to get back over there.
Going to places I never really have a lot of jet lag, mainly because when you arrive somewhere you are pretty excited and wanting to get out and go see it. Last year I flew from Melbourne to LA at 9.30am here and pretty much arrived the same morning in LA. I got to accommodation and attempted to nap and just couldn’t do it. Ended up soldiering on, having a big night out in Hollywood and didn’t get to bed till 1am. Like others the jet lag generally hits when you come home because you are both exhausted from the holiday and the flight home is always worse because your holiday is over and you just want to get home.
I want to say how flipping frustrated I am with travel agent websites. I need to go to Melbourne in August for a wedding and I want to book it all in one place (flights and hotels). I also want to do it all online and in one booking. Qantas won’t do it in one booking, Hello world and other agents want me to send an email and get a quote (and probably end up on a spam list for all eternity).
The only place i seem to have found anything that meets my requirements is virgin holidays
Helloworld serves as a banner / brand for independently owned travel agents, they want you to send an email so they can get you in touch with a local branch.
While not strictly a travel agent, could you not use a site like Expedia? Bundling flight / hotel / car hire is what they’re known for.
Drink prices are / were absolutely outrageous in Singapore especially when the AUD is at parity.
Food too (unless you limit yourself to hawker centres only).
According to an article published in today’s Daily Telegraph, Regional NSW is now the 4th most popular tourist destination in Australia after the East Coast capitals.
Leading the surge is the NSW North Coast which amazingly, has now surpassed Queensland’s Gold Coast (who I’d imagine have had a somewhat flat 18 months/2 years or so in tourism following the Dreamworld tragedy and people avoiding the region during the 2018 Commonwealth Games) as the most popular tourism destination in regional Australia:
