Jet Lag – Barcelona

“If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?”― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

After my Bangkok trip I decided to get more serious about preparations.

Not that I had nausea, but I did have this weird feeling like my legs were heavy and my eyes couldn't keep open. Like you were sleeping while you were awake. So now I'm on the defensive.

This trip is Barcelona, which is only 9 hours off my time zone to Bangkok's 14, but some say 7-9 is harder than 12+ and It's probably something to do with your eating/sleeping schedule.

I'm sort of obsessive about all things related to health and sleep. But on the plane you don’t control the variables, except of course the overhead light and the tiny bit of deoxenigized air that blows right  at your face.

On my Apple Notes I had a list of a few things that I thought would help me out:

- Fasting during the flight.
- Full cover sleep mask / travel pillow.
- Pro version of the SleepStream 2 App.
- Order only seltzer water / use bathroom breaks for stretching.

Then, I'm at Whole Food's before the trip picking up protein bars for the trip and I come across No-Jet-Lag Homeopathic from Miser Labs. At $14.99 so I was right on the fence but I decided the cost was worth it if it worked.

Which it didn't.

The tablets taste sort of like mints and you take them every 2 hours and upon take off and landing.

Tech is making travel easier, too. My Bose Quiet Comfort headphones block out much of the plane sound, and quiet helps your body in the jarring experience that is long distance travel.

And the booking itself was through Scott’s Cheap Flights. Trust me when I say you should sign up. I'm in Spain for less than the cost of flying home for Christmas.

And there’s no Uber in Barcelona but Google Maps offline mode lets you set your destinations in advance. Recommendations were compiled there and stored for later...

Which brings me back to my travel. Eating, I've come to understand is a form of entertainment. And with the lack of sleep and long travel it's a respite of sorts. So I didn’t make it through the trip without eating the salted pretzels and the dinner tray that was passed out a few hours into the trip, which was right after I finished watching “The Favourite” on the back of the head rest.

I noted a few of the other shows for the way back, like “Chernobyl” and thought about how streaming has yet to hit airplane television. The dinner was a microwaved tray of noodles in marinara and vacuum sealed bread. This was a mistake but as I said, it was entertaining. Speaking of, why is it that I can’t watch Netflix mid flight?

And why is it that we can’t use our cellphones, because the plane wants to charge for wifi or is their truly some reason related to safety…?

So now I’m looking that up…looks like it was banned all the way back in 1991, hasn’t technology improved since then?

They cite “ground interference” but another article says there has never been evidence of this, so this is just a law because...well someone decided it was so. Just like the shoe ban - which they don’t have in Europe. Not to mention there are no body scanners.

Like most things, in the U.S. we comply and don’t ask questions. It’s actually amazing when you think about the order that is our traffic and travel systems. People follow signs. Even if these laws are outdated we still follow them as there is not enough pressure or care to change. Like anything it just takes a small minority to really care and be vocal to make a difference. And I'm not about to lose hours of my life fighting taking off my shoes. So we go along.

Now I don’t know if it was the breaking of the fast or if the pills were useless, either way I’m slightly off-kilter still and up at 2am.

And last night I slept for 12 hours.

But this morning I'll get up and go for a long walk in the sun.

And if there's time, I'll write more with some espresso in my system.

xx David