I've done quite a bit of globe-trotting for someone my age, and I have NEVER had jetlag as severe as I do this week. My body is acting like some kind of insomniac two-year-old that refuses to get with the program.
Granted, this was one of the more challenging trips I've taken. When I visited Tropical Research Country (TRC) last year, I had just one layover and was ending my journey on the east coast of the US. Now "home" (ie where my parents and dog are) is farther west, and I had two layovers, including one that was hundreds of miles west of home, meaning I had to backtrack against a significant portion of the country. If all of that sounds confusing, this is how the trip went:
At what was 23:30h in Eastern time on Monday, I left my house in TRC for the 6 hour drive to TRC's capital city. I was hitching with an undergrad field course that was heading out the same day. We had lunch in the city, killed some time in the afternoon shopping, and had way too much time stuck in the stuffy, dark airport.
At the equivalent of 14:45 on Tuesday in Eastern time, I took off for an 8.5 hour overnight (left at 23:45 TRC time) flight to European Hub City.
Landed in European Hub City at 6:30 local time on Wednesday, 23:30 Tuesday night in eastern time.
Had a 3 hour layover there, then boarded a 10 hour flight to American Hub City (which is farther west than my final destination). Landed at 13:30 local time on Wednesday, which was 20:30 for the time my body was used to.
Scheduled for a 5 hour layover. Did customs and all that jazz, stressed over what to eat and made a few false starts at procuring a meal. Ended up doing well with food, but only because I got scared at how weak/fuzzyheaded I felt.
Huge thunderstorms hit, delaying the flight another 3 hours.
At 22:00 Eastern timeWednesday night, board final flight. Land at 23:45 local time at Regional Hub City. Greet family, gather bags, embark on one hour drive home and finally walk in the door at 1:00 Thursday morning (eastern), about 49 hours after I left my house in TRC.
Discover my dad has moved all of my clothes into storage while I was gone, have exhausted emotional meltdown about lack of immediately accessible clean underwear.
Call Match at 2 AM having said emotional meltdown about underwear.
Am calmed from hysterics to hiccuping sobs by Match, hang up and cry myself to sleep around 3:00 Thursday morning.
Wretched body is wide awake at 5:30 Thursday morning.
Am more numb that sleepy for all of Thursday. Notice on my drive home from lunch with Mom that I REALLY was too bleary to be on the road.
Put myself to bed at 21:15 Thursday night.
Proceed to sleep, but with wake-ups at midnight, 2:00, and finally wide awake at 2:45.
Kill time on the internet (y'all, do you realize how FAST the internet is in this country???). Try to log into HBOGo only to realize the online account I'd been "borrowing" was canceled at some point while I was gone. Switch to catching up on magazines until 5:00 Friday morning.
Log in to write rambling and only arguably coherent blog post at 5:05.
And here we meet.
Oh, and I DO have clean underwear now. Just in case you were worried.
1 comment:
Ugh, lack of sleep is the WORST. Hang in there and go easy on yourself—please tell me you aren't hitting the gym! It took my dad several days to get back on track after a trip to Mumbai, and he was a cranky wreck in the interim. The farthest I've been from home was 6 hours behind, and even that messed with my head for a bit (but I'm a total baby about needing my sleep). So glad to have you safely back in the country and hope you are able to get some real rest soon!
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