Avoiding Jet Lag: Mission Impossible

Despite my best efforts, which include consulting everyone I know who has ever traveled to Europe and soliciting advice from the athletes of the ESPN the Magazine advice squad, I have fallen victim to jet lag. I have determined that although one may have the best intentions and try all techniques known to man to combat it, it is quite impossible to do so when your legs do not fit in any remotely comfortable way behind an airplane seat in coach. I kept myself hydrated (okay...that might be a bit of a stretch), I made sure to get up and walk around a couple of times during the flight, but the bottom line in my eyes is this: if you can't sleep on the plane, you are GOING to have jet lag.

I don't do well sleeping places that are not naturally conducive to sleeping, i.e. planes, trains, and automobiles. I have disproportionally long gangly legs, and they do not appreciate being cramped up in various forms of transportation, particularly when trying to sleep. No matter what position was tried, no comfort was to be found on Iberia Airlines Flight 4367. (I just made that number up; I like the specificity of using the flight number but I'm too lazy to get up and look on my boarding pass. It might be kind of close to the real one, but no one knows for sure.) If you can't get comfortable, you can't sleep, period. At least I can't. I dozed for about 2 hours, and by dozed, I mean started to feel like maybe I would fall asleep but of course never actually would. And if you can't sleep, you can't adjust to the time difference properly. It's like pulling an extended all-nighter, and I can't do all-nighters. I tried to sleep during what were normal sleeping hours by Spanish time, but the fact that my surroundings prevented me from falling asleep meant my attempts to fight jet lag were futile.

I suppose this is pretty much just a warning for anyone who thinks they can actually beat jet lag. If you can sleep on a plane, great news for you. You'll feel a lot better for it. I, on the other hand, am exhausted, and jet lag is just about all I can handle as subject matter right now. I will say that Sevilla is a beautiful city with beautiful weather (57 degrees and sunny--Michigan residents, your jealousy is fully warranted) and my first few hours here have been sublime. The flight was long and cramped and my shoulders are awfully sore from carrying my backpack from terminal to as-far-away-as-physically-possible terminal, but I could not be more tickled to be here.

It is now time for a siesta. Any country that specifically builds nap time into its day is my kind of place. And if you count up all the multisyllabic words that were correctly used in this post despite having been awake for the past 26 straight hours, I think it's safe to say I deserve a nap. ¡Saludos!