[Jennifer]

I'll be going to Paris in less than two weeks, so I'll be going from EST to Parisian time. What are your tricks for facing down jet lag? How do you keep from being completely punch-drunk for the first few days of your trip?
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Is it October yet?

[melinda]

there's a good book called "Overcoming Jet Lag" by Ehret & Scanlon.....It worked well for me.....you start going to bed earlier & earlier in the days before the trip to get ur body more on Paris time & eat & drink certain things....and then when u travel, no alcohol (yea right!).....and right before u board u drink a big cup of strong coffee or tea (as u've supposedly given up caffeine for several days leading up to this...it makes u sleep instead of keeping u up...strangely enuf.) I usually feel like i've been to a slumber party after flying but felt pretty good following this routine.

[Erin]

Special ear plugs that help with the altitude changes. You wear them during take-off and landing. Bloody Mary with extra hot sauce.
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"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

[David]

I presume this is one of those gawd-awful overnight red eye flights? That is all we've ever taken. all I can suggest is get out and about your first day no matter how foggy you feel after a nice shower at the hotel and go to bed a bit earlier than you normally would. I find that by day 2 all is well with the world.
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Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

[suki]

The usual stuff: Lots of water. Get as much sleep as you can on the flight. As well as melinda's reply about sleeping patterns, it's good to stick to the local time zone when you land (ie, if you land in the morning, DON'T go to sleep until the evening, even though you are tired, etc.)

The food on the plane is usually NOT worth staying up for (unless you're flying first class!!), Likewise the films - forget them and watch 'em on DVD or something.