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| Remember: This advice is worth what you paid for it! |
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| Plan - Passports - Wallets - Safety - Luggage - The.Flight - Heavy.Metal - Getting.Around - Restaurants - Must.See |
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Be sure to see the 'Update' below.
Want to spot the first-time visitor to Britain? Here is what to look for... On the plane, they stay awake and watch the full-length feature movie. They stay awake and make 'new friends'. They stay awake and talk and talk and talk - maybe even sing 'Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall' ...a couple of dozen times. (One could get the idea that they think they are on a bus.)
When the excitement and adrenalin finally wear off and they do get tired, they drop off to sleep just before landing.
Tired and in a daze, they somehow make it through Customs and Immigration. Arriving at their hotel, they 'pass-out' getting the sleep they should have had on the plane. When they do finally wake up, it is past five and they find that their itinerary plans for the first day are now a lost opportunity never to be reclaimed.
Having failed to reset their 'body clocks', the next three to five days will be experienced through the mental fog of jet-lag.
On the day of our flight, we do not have any caffeine (coffee, cola, even tea) after ten in the morning.
On the plane, right after taking off, we try to take a short nap before the meal service.
By the time the in-flight movie starts, we are the ones sound asleep. Yes, we do keep waking up. But, we deliberately keep going back to sleep.
Having made arrangements for a 'before twelve noon' check-in, we drop our luggage in the hotel room and have a high protein, full-English (or full-Scottish) breakfast with caffeine! Then, we are off on a day specifically planned for out-door activities... walks in parks and gardens, on the high street, wherever. The exposure to the sun definitely helps to reset our body-clocks.
DVT is the abbreviation for a medical condition called 'Deep Vein Thrombosis'. Recent newspaper articles have called it 'Economy Class Syndrome'. That is a bit of a misnomer since there have been newspaper accounts of first class passengers developing the condition.
Suggest doing what we are going to do before our next long-haul flight: Check-out the links below. Do our homework. And, then, go to our doctor's surgery ['doctor's office'] and ask our personal physician for advice and a recommendation on whether or not we should continue following the plan as described above on this page or modify it in some way.
The Aviation Health Institute has a DVT Fact File with basic information.
The British Government Department of Health has a web page on Advice On Travel-Related Deep Vein Thrombosis which describes DVT, who is at risk, the risk from air travel, signs of DVT, reducing the possible risk, as well as further web links.
The British United Provident Association has a 'BUPA' Fact Sheet on DVT with additional information.
The Patient UK has an informational page on DVT and also further web links to follow.
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| Copyright © 1999 - 2005 J. C. Nash. All worldwide rights reserved. |
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| Last modified: Thursday, 27 October 2005. | |
Animation courtesy of the Animation Factory.
