Long-haul flight...

[Marknz]

Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, and when you're not eating, reading, watching movies or sleeping, walk up and down the aisle and do lots of stretching at the back of the plane.

Works for me.

[cooneyr]

Pish, what you lot all complaining about with 24/32 hour travel times. We foolishly tried to get flights so that we could travel with Swedish inlaws back to Sweden together at the beginning of 2006. Seems that different legs get sold to different countries. 56 hours after leaving Welly we finally landed in Arlanda airport outside Stockholm. We were bloody zombies by then. Wont ever try and do that again!

Over the ear earphones to cut the noise are a really good idea, noise canceling or other wise, as they cut out noise better than the airline provided ones. They are much bulker to carry around though. Water is a very good idea. We didn't have to worry about sleeping pills, after about 10 hours traveling I was sleeping through take offs and landings (terminal to terminal) . Try and stay awake before leaving so your tired (but not that tired that got thermo nuclear when unnecessary) then eat, watch one movie and try to sleep on the plane as much as possible.

Cheers R

[vifferman]

Acclimation/getting acclimatised isn't hard: you need to try and match your sleeping/waking habits to the new time zone, take lotsa caffeine when you get up, and get some sunshine. These things help your body clock to reset.

I suspect the herbal remedies simply contain something that breaks down to serotonin. I took a "Peaceful Sleep" tablet when I arrived in the UK, and again in LA, and back in NooZilund. These contain tryptophan, which is supposed to help you sleep; doesn't work too well for me, but it does boost my serotonin levels and stops my brain from feeling like it's running on 1.3 cylinders...

As for noise-canceling headphones, I bought some noise-canceling Sony earbuds in HK, because I couldn't hear the movies clearly on our first leg. They worked OK for that, but they're useless otherwise. If you're going to shell out for some, the most effective type are either those that incorporate proper noise-attentuating plugs, or that cover your ears rather than sitting on them, and/or that have proper digital signal technology. Mine cost around $130, and are worth about $20, I reckon. The really good ones cost at least $600.

[Yossarian]

A lot of good advice there folks, thanks very much.

I think the main one is as most of you have said, is to keep hydrated and not to drink booze. I've done long hauls before but I usually resign my self to 'hitting the wall' whenever I land on the other side, which isn't nice for friends and family that I haven't seen for a long time, so I thought I'd minimise the effects as best as I can.
I'll look into getting a decent set of noise cancelling earphones, I didn't think of that one at all. I'll try and chance my arm and ask for an up-grade as well, if you don't ask you don't get.

I'm heading back as I've been hear about a year and a half and the main reason is I'm missing family and friends, also I've been working as a labourer for the past eight months and I'm poorer than a church mouse with a crack habit and having no bike to play with has been pretty painful, espcially now the weather is coming good. I'll be back for my holidays though, New Zealand is a beautiful place.

Thanks for the tips folks, much appreciated.

Yoss.

[Usarka]

If u go via the USA, their customs officials have absolutely NO sense of humour. Don't even entertain the idea.

[Yossarian]

I forgot to say....

I stop over in L.A. for about six hours....I have read and heard that it is a bit of a hole by all accounts.
And don't worry, I won't be wearing my explosive vest print T shirt.

Cheers.

[ManDownUnder]

I forgot to say....

I stop over in L.A. for about six hours....I have read and heard that it is a bit of a hole by all accounts.
And don't worry, I won't be wearing my explosive vest print T shirt.

Cheers.

Na mate - LAs ok - just expect to find yourself in a big city... with a lot of smog then find your way to the Pier, the beach or Hollywood in a quicksmart fashion.

[Big Dave]

Best travel thing I have is an iPod touch. I load it up with a few movies and a heap of old favourite TV shows and rock. Makes it almost tolerable.

[portokiwi]

I am not much help. As soon as I get on board a plane I full asleep.
anoys my lady as she gets costaphobic so she walks up and down the plane while I snore the plane down
Water is your best friend. Drink plenty I allways suck up to the crew to leave me a large bottle. tell them it saves them comming back to me lol.
Try to sleap to the desternation you are going to so when you land you are allmost in the right time patten.
Drink water.

[Yossarian]

Na mate - LAs ok - just expect to find yourself in a big city... with a lot of smog then find your way to the Pier, the beach or Hollywood in a quicksmart fashion.

Sorry, I meant staying in the Terminal at L.A. not the city proper,

Cheers.

[ManDownUnder]

Sorry, I meant staying in the Terminal at L.A. not the city proper,

Cheers.

LOL... ok - find Wolfgang Pucks (a restaurant in the terminal)... sit, eat drink and stay there. Other restaurants are ok too but WP's my favourite. I think it's past security on your way to the plane (frmo memory) so you might not be able to go that way till they open the flight or boarding - not sure.