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West is Best; East is a Beast – Beat Jetlag
If you’re like anyone else on this planet you’re gonna get hit with jet lag when crossing time zones, and IT IS AWFUL. It’s something that both my mom and I get hit with pretty hard, and was a HUGE consideration when planning her surprise trip around the world. The two BIG places that we wanted to visit where literally on opposite sides of the world: Bali and Grasse, France. I’ve had a lot of people ask me how my mom, 75, was able to cope with jetlag and avoid exhaustion on such a trip? The biggest principle we adhered to was….West is Best; East is a Beast
No joke. Jetlag can ruin the trip.
You’re out of it. Exhausted. Feeling sick. Your mind plays tricks on you. Believe me…it has allllll has happened to me. It’s one thing when you’re back home and out of it. It’s a whole different thing when you’re in a far off place, spending money, time and supposed to be LOVING every minute. WE COULD NOT LET THIS HAPPEN.
So we headed west…cause west is best.
We all met in Boston to catch a very late Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. It left around 2am. We could just as easily flown out of LA, but we opted for the LATEST possible flight we could get, and make it as long as possible. This way my parents could enjoy all of the luxuries of Cathay First and, by forcing themselves to stay up late for the flight, start to adjust to our destination time. It also meant we could trick my mom into thinking we were going EAST, only to switch it up and fly WEST.
- We chose our first leg to arrive very early in the morning into Asia as well…to help us adjust.
Flying West means you just have to force yourself to stay up to a reasonable hour after landing.
As I said before…we left at nearly 2am out of Boston. We were all pretty excited for the trip and didn’t fall asleep til probably 5 or 6am Boston time. This wasn’t too bad as that means it was 5 or 6 pm in Hong Kong. So even if we fell asleep right then and there, we weren’t TERRIBLY off kilter for adjusting to time.
You can see we had a few things to do before trying to get some shut. Like toasting Krug and eating incredible birthday cake.
Whereas when flying east…you battle the beast.
I get messed up every time. For instance…if I hop on the 9:35pm flight out of LA to London and don’t fall asleep for a couple hours it’s already 7:35am in the morning. If I sleep for 5 or 6 hours I’m waking up in the early afternoon London time. That means getting to sleep that next night is going to be very difficult…for me at least.
We planned the trip to avoid this situation.
We also chose a couple add on locations within the same time zone. The rule of thumb that we used was a day for every hour the time was different.
Beijing, Bali, and Singapore are all in the same time zone. In total we were in that region for roughly 12 days. This meant, before moving on west to Dubai, we would fully adjust to that area of the world. This meant a 4 hour time zone adjustment wouldn’t be as severe. We spent enough time in each location to try and adjust to the zone fully before moving on.
My folks flew every long haul in First Class. It made a HUGE difference not only in experience, but getting rest.
We didn’t want the trip to be a grind, so the biggest goal was getting mom and dad into First Class for every long haul cabin. That made the journey much easier as well.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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