This is insane. I’ve been back from Bali for a week – and last night was the first night I slept thru. Really. Body – what gives!

I didn’t have jet lag issues on the way to Bali – despite the 35 hours of travel time. I think that the saving grace there was actually the 8 hours on the ground in Paris. When you get your feet on the ground – and can organize a bed – you get a decent rest. And it sets your body’s alarm clock.

On the return journey – I left Bali at around 5:30 a night – and arrived at about 6:30 PM the next day in Montreal. So in Theory – I should have been fine. But in practice – not so good.

I went to bed at 5:30 PM several times – woke at 3:30 AM like a shot – wide awake – absolutely raring to go – and then of course – died out again at 5:30 PM. So doesn’t work when you have to go to the office and people expect you to function.

And I did all the standard tricks – drank lots of water, tried to sleep when they turned out the lights on the plane – even walked around a bit when the seat belt light was off. And I did those crazy exercises the ‘relax’ option on the Audio suggest – rotate your feet – up down with your toes, self massage your neck. If I could have found enough space to do a bit of Tai-Chi – that would have been nice – but I think they are making planes larger with less space. Mine had a bar – but no space to stretch!

I don’t care for drugs – so I ignore all suggestions that start with ‘Take’ – as in ‘Take Gavol’, ‘Take Melatonin’, ‘Rub yourself with Lavender Oil’, and ‘Take Pycnogenol’. And I’m certainly not going the Prescription Sleep Meds route. It’s natural or deal with it in my book.

But I do think time on the ground to break up the trip is the best route – and next time – I’m adding travel time on the route back to grab some proper shut eye. It’s so worth the money – losing a week of focus is such a terrible way to end a great holiday trip!

Signing off now that she can sleep when the rest of the world around me is asleep – The Soup Lady