How I Deal With Jet Lag Flying to Greece
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After almost thirty years of traveling to Greece, one thing hasn’t changed: the journey doesn’t get any shorter.
What has changed is that I’ve gotten a lot better at figuring out how to make it easier.
Flying from the West Coast of the United States to Greece means traveling for more than 24 hours and crossing ten time zones. So when I say I’ve had some experience with jet lag, I mean I’ve had a lot of experience with jet lag.
And I’ve tried a lot of different strategies over the years.
My childhood jet lag strategy was...not exactly a strategy
When I was a kid, I wasn’t the one booking the flights or planning what we’d do once we arrived in Greece. I also couldn’t sleep on airplanes.
My “method” was essentially to stay awake for the entire 24-ish hours of travel and then crash once we finally made it to Europe.
There was unlimited soda. There was a tiny TV built into the headrest. Clearly, I had more important things to do than sleep.
Eventually we’d reach whatever European airport we were connecting through—usually Germany—and I’d stumble through border control and security as a completely sleep-deprived zombie. Then I’d finally get on our last flight to Greece and, almost magically, pass out as soon as the plane took off.
Landing in Greece would wake me back up, but by then I’d usually only slept for about an hour and a half in the previous 24+ hours.
And we weren’t even done traveling.
We’d often have a few more hours of buses and other transportation to get to our family home, where I would inevitably fall asleep again.
I also felt terrible when I arrived. Between being exhausted and eating poorly throughout the travel day, I was definitely not starting my Greek vacation feeling my best.
Thankfully, I’ve gotten a little better at this.
You can't really "beat" jet lag
I don’t think you can completely beat jet lag.
You’re traveling for a very long time and changing double-digit time zones. Your body is going to notice.
Instead of trying to magically eliminate jet lag, I’ve found it much more helpful to plan my trip in a way that gives my body time to catch up.
For me, that means thinking about when I travel, how I travel, and what I do during my first few days in Greece.
And the biggest change I’ve made is breaking up the journey.
My biggest jet lag strategy: a stopover on the East Coast
One of the most helpful things I’ve tried is adding an East Coast stopover to my journey.
I usually take an overnight flight from the West Coast to the New York/New Jersey area. I’ll arrive in the morning, collect my bags, and check into a hotel where I can get a room during the day.
Then I do something that sounds incredibly luxurious after a long flight:
I sleep in an actual bed.
My typical schedule looks something like this:
- Leave Portland around 10 PM.
- Arrive on the East Coast around 7 AM.
- Collect my bags and head to the hotel.
- Sleep for about five or six hours.
- Wake up, shower, and get ready to go back to the airport.
- Board my overnight flight across the Atlantic, usually around 9 PM.
- Arrive in Athens the following afternoon.
Instead of one giant, exhausting journey, I’ve essentially turned it into two more manageable trips.
And being able to shower and sleep in a real bed between the two flights makes a huge difference.
It also gives me a chance to start adjusting to the time difference. Both overnight flights line up naturally with daytime in Greece. So I don’t have to worry about sleeping on either flight at all.
It’s certainly not the only way to get to Greece, and adding a stopover isn’t going to make sense for everyone. But after trying different ways of doing this trip, I’ve found that this is one of the strategies that works particularly well for me.
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I take it easy when I first arrive
No matter how I get to Greece, I try to make the first few days about relaxing and adjusting.
My body has just spent more than 24 hours traveling across the world. It doesn’t particularly care how excited I am about the Acropolis.
So I try to get outside during the day instead of immediately going to sleep. Getting some daylight and simply being out and about helps me stay awake until a reasonable bedtime.
I also tend to have a little more caffeine than usual during those first few days.
If I’m absolutely exhausted in the middle of the day, I’ll take a nap—but I try not to let it turn into an accidental four-hour sleep.
For me, a shorter afternoon nap is much better than completely crashing at 4 or 5 PM and then waking up at the crack of dawn.
And when I’m ready to actually go to sleep for the night, I take some melatonin to keep me asleep the whole night.
Remember: your body clock affects more than sleep
One thing I think people sometimes forget about jet lag is that the time difference doesn’t only affect when you’re supposed to sleep.
It can also affect when you’re supposed to eat.
You might arrive in Greece and suddenly realize that you’re exhausted at 2 PM but aren’t hungry for lunch. Or you might wake up in the middle of the night absolutely starving because your body thinks it’s still dinner time back home.
I try to help my body adjust by eating actual food at normal local meal times.
And during those first few days, I’ll sometimes have a slightly bigger dinner than usual so I’m less likely to wake up in the middle of the night hungry.
After years of traveling, I’ve also learned that what I eat during the travel day makes a difference in how I feel when I arrive.
Please bring something besides airplane food
One of my biggest travel mistakes has been not eating or hydrating properly during the journey.
Airplane food isn’t exactly known for being the highlight of the trip.
And while you don’t have to turn your travel day into a nutrition retreat, I have found that bringing some healthier additions makes me feel much better.
Especially fruits and vegetables.
Those are often the things I find lacking in airplane meals, so I’ll bring my own snacks or pick something up at the airport.
Yes, sometimes that means buying the $28 sandwich and the $15 fruit cup.
But the vegetables in the sandwich and the fruit make me feel like an actual human being after a day of traveling, so I’ll take it.
Hydration is important too.
Between the long travel day and the dry environment of an airplane, I can feel absolutely bone-dry if I don’t drink enough water.
If you struggle with drinking plain water, bringing water flavor enhancers can make it easier. Just check whether they contain caffeine before using them throughout the day.
Caffeine can be useful when you’re trying to stay awake, but I try to use it strategically. Too much—or having it too late—can make it harder to sleep when you finally need to.
And alcohol is another thing to be mindful of. It might make you feel relaxed or sleepy, but it can interfere with quality sleep, which isn’t particularly helpful.
Get outside when it's daylight
Light is one of the strongest signals your body uses to regulate its internal clock.
So when I’m supposed to be awake in Greece, I try to be outside in the daylight.
This is another reason I don’t want to spend my entire first day sleeping in a dark room.
Going outside gives my body a cue that, yes, this is daytime now—and it also gives me something to do other than stare at the ceiling trying not to fall asleep.
You don’t need to make this complicated.
Go for a walk. Sit outside. Have coffee somewhere. Wander around your neighborhood.
You’re adjusting to Greece time and getting to be in Greece. That’s a pretty good combination.
Don't immediately leave Athens
If you’re flying into Athens and continuing on to another Greek destination, I would be cautious about scheduling a ferry or another flight immediately after you land.
After a long-haul journey, the last thing I want to do is navigate my way to the port while barely knowing what day it is.
Finding your ferry, getting to the right gate, hauling your luggage around, and making another connection can be a lot when you’re already exhausted.
If your itinerary allows it, I recommend spending at least 24 hours in Athens before moving on to your next destination.
You don’t have to spend the entire day sightseeing.
You can see a few things, eat a good meal, sleep in an actual bed, and give yourself a chance to recover from the journey.
Then continue on.
That little bit of breathing room can make the rest of your trip feel much more enjoyable.
You don't have to rest for your entire vacation
Now, I realize I have an advantage here.
When I go to Greece, I’m usually there for at least a month or more. I can afford to make the first few days slower.
If you’re only going for a week, you might understandably want to hit the ground running.
And that’s okay.
You don’t have to spend your precious vacation days doing nothing.
But I would still try to give yourself some downtime on your second or third day.
It doesn’t have to mean sitting in your hotel room.
You could spend the afternoon on a beach, sit somewhere beautiful with a coffee, or have a leisurely lunch and rest afterward.
You can even do what the locals do.
Get up in the morning and do some activities while you’re awake and energetic. Have lunch. Take some time to rest in the afternoon. Then head back out in the evening.
You get to experience Greece without expecting your jet-lagged body to operate at 100 percent from sunrise to sunset.
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And yes, sometimes I don’t follow my own advice and do something low-key unhinged
My usual strategy is to let myself sleep naturally when I first arrive, within reason.
I’ll often wake up around 10 AM at the latest, although I don’t usually sleep that late anyway. Technically, according to my body clock back home, it’s already the middle of the day.
Then I’ll take a nap in the afternoon if I need one and gradually adjust.
But last summer, I did something slightly unhinged.
I arrived at my family’s place around midnight, went to bed, and then set my alarm for 5 AM.
Why?
Because I wanted to watch the Timbers game.
This is not how I recommend starting your first day in Greece.
The game was incredibly close, though, so I was wide awake by the time it ended. I stayed up until the afternoon, took a nap, and slowly worked my way onto Greece time.
No regrets. Sometimes there are things that you feel like you just can’t miss even if you are on the other side of the world.
Know your own travel tendencies
I think this is one of the most important parts of dealing with jet lag:
Know yourself.
Can you sleep on airplanes?
I can’t, or at least not particularly well.
Do you love vacations where you’re walking 20,000 steps a day and squeezing five activities into every afternoon?
Or do you prefer sitting by the water for three hours and calling that a successful day?
Do you naturally wake up early?
Do you sleep until noon if nobody stops you?
Do you function well when you’re tired, or does being exhausted turn you into a completely different person?
Take those things into account when you’re planning your flights and your itinerary.
The “perfect” jet lag strategy for someone who can sleep for eight hours on an airplane might be completely different from the strategy that works for someone like me, who considers a 90-minute airplane nap a personal victory.
My worst jet lag experience
And if you think this all sounds pretty manageable, I have also had the opposite experience.
The worst jet lag I’ve ever experienced happened during the worst travel day I’ve ever had.
Our typical roughly 30-hour travel day somehow turned into more than 48 hours of travel.
Let’s just say that was not the trip where I discovered the magical secret to beating jet lag.
You can read the full story here: [worst travel day ever]
Sometimes there is only so much planning you can do.
Flights get delayed. Connections get missed. Travel days go completely off the rails.
That’s part of traveling.
My simple strategy for flying to Greece
After all these years, this is what I’ve learned:
Before you leave:
- Think carefully about your flight times and connections.
- Consider whether breaking up the journey could make it easier.
- Think about what time you’ll arrive and what you’ll realistically want to do that day.
During the journey:
- Sleep if you can.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Bring some food you actually want to eat.
- Use caffeine strategically.
- Don’t depend on alcohol to help you sleep.
Once you arrive:
- Get outside if it’s daylight.
- Eat according to local time, even if your appetite hasn’t caught up yet.
- Try to stay awake until a reasonable local bedtime.
- Take a short afternoon nap if you absolutely need one.
- Give yourself some downtime.
- Don’t schedule the most exhausting day of your vacation immediately after a 24+ hour travel day.
And most importantly, be kind to yourself.
If you’re flying to Greece for the first time, you’re probably going to feel a little foggy.
You might be tired when you’re supposed to be awake.
You might not be hungry when you’re supposed to eat.
You might wake up in the middle of the night wondering why you’re suddenly wide awake.
That’s normal.
Your body is catching up to the fact that you just traveled across ten time zones.
You don’t have to perfectly optimize every hour of your trip. You just have to give yourself a little time to adjust.
Before you know it, you’ll be waking up in Greece, eating Greek food at completely normal Greek-food hours, and wondering why you ever thought your body clock was a problem in the first place.
How many time zones have you traveled across?
Do you have any tips for jet lag?
Let me know↓🥰
