Top 5 Easy Ways to Arrive Abroad Feeling Great

In the course of my career I’ve spent more than 20,000 hours in airplanes. For a long time I was flying to Europe every week—sometimes twice (and even three times) a week! So I had to learn how to bounce back and stay fresh both mentally and physically. Here are the top 5 ways I’ve found to ensure that you’ll arrive at your destination feeling your best.

1. Eat light (that’s not too hard on a plane these days) and don’t drink anything carbonated (its called “jet-belly”).
2. Keep your brain and body hydrated by drinking at least one 8-ounce glass of water for every hour of flying time. I know its not always easy to do, so sometimes I use powdered vitamins to make the water taste better. Note, the pilots are always mindful to keep hydrated when they are flying to prevent brain fatigue. I have found that when you mentally feel better you are able deal with the stresses of travel much easier. Finally, making sure your body is properly hydrated will also keep you more flexible and will prevent your muscles from potentially cramping (think of how the athletes prevent dehydration and drink lots of water for the very same reason).
3. In general its best not to drink any alcohol when flying, but if you do drink, try to keep the alcohol to a minimum—it’s also very dehydrating and your body metabolizes it differently in the air than on the ground– remember the old saying that 1 drink in-flight= 2 drinks on the ground.
4. One of the things that has helped me immeasurably over the years is that I never think about jet lag or how many time zones I have traveled.  I change my watch after take off to the time zone of my destination and I set my mind to the local time. I try to get in sync with where I am right away. Unless you have to make a call home or there are business hours/meetings that you need to be mindful of, forget about what time it is back home. Thinking about the time you’ve lost in flight is a good way to ensure that you will be exhausted and jet lagged.
5. Get some sleep on the airplane if you can. If you take “something” (any prescription or herbal remedy), make sure you take the proper amount and don’t mix medicine/s with alcohol (for obvious reasons) otherwise you will surely feel groggy. With some sleep you will feel more rested and if you are flying overnight to Europe, it will help you to reset your internal clock to the time of the place you’ll be visiting.