Feeling discouraged in the time difference

[SL6827]

Feeling a bit discouraged today about the time difference from the East coast to Hawaii. Not sure why. Was thinking of adding two days to the beginning of the trip in Waikiki to a five night stay at Aulani, but will that be enough? Should I just do a couple days in California first? And I am not even thinking about coming home.

 

[Pooh2]

We flew from Boston when we went to Aulani and had a long unexpected layover mess in Phoenix so it took us 24 hours to get to Aulani.
We were tired but excited to be there so took brief nap in the afternoon.
Our sleep got back quickly but we were always looking for food on east coast time!

On the way back, we flew to Anaheim and did three days at Disneyland, then back to Boston.
It definitely was much better on the way back breaking up the time change.

 

[Pixie Dusted Dee]

I guess I'm confused as to why its discouraging?
You get more time and honestly I find jet leg to be much easier to control when traveling back in time.
I traveled from Buffalo to DC and then non stop and was at the beach around 5pm.

As for if its "enough time" that depends on what you want to do.
Hang at the beach? Sure its enough time.

 

[SL6827]

I guess I'm confused as to why its discouraging?
You get more time and honestly I find jet leg to be much easier to control when traveling back in time.
I traveled from Buffalo to DC and then non stop and was at the beach around 5pm.

As for if its "enough time" that depends on what you want to do.
Hang at the beach? Sure its enough time.

No, not just hanging at the beach. I can do that six hours away in Florida. That is why I am wondering if 7 nights is enough time. If not, then I might look elsewhere. But maybe I am worrying a bit more than I should. I don't know.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

The jet lag completely fried my kids and they were a mess for the first week we went to Hawaii from the East Coast. So much so I'm not doing it again until they're much older. By the second week they were better, but at that point we had moved on to Kauai.

 

[SL6827]

The jet lag completely fried my kids and they were a mess for the first week we went to Hawaii from the East Coast. So much so I'm not doing it again until they're much older. By the second week they were better, but at that point we had moved on to Kauai.

I can imagine. Thanks for the honest report there. I just don't know how long it would take for two adults to adjust well.

 

[jodybird511]

We travel from the Midwest, so one hour less difference. I will say, the jet lag is rough. We typically stay about 10 days for so, and I don't know that we ever fully adjust. Although we usually stop waking up at 4 am after the first couple of days, we usually remain early to bed for the entire trip. The return trip isn't nearly as bad for us. For our upcoming trip, we've actually planned to stop off in California for three days on the way there, in hopes of curtailing some of the super early morning waking. The jet lag is one of the main reasons why we don't even consider a trip shorter than 10 days. We are two adults in our mid-40s, a 10 yo, and a 17 yo, fwiw.

 

[Pixie Dusted Dee]

No, not just hanging at the beach. I can do that six hours away in Florida. That is why I am wondering if 7 nights is enough time. If not, then I might look elsewhere. But maybe I am worrying a bit more than I should. I don't know.

I thought you meant you didn't know if 2 days was good enough for Waikiki.
So basically what you're staying is you have 7 days? What are you looking to do?
I did a ton in that amount of time including the beach, Pearl Harbor, Luau, Snorkeling, Surf lesson, Diamond Head, etc.

I can imagine. Thanks for the honest report there. I just don't know how long it would take for two adults to adjust well.

I went with a large group with all ages from toddler to seniors and none of us had too hard of a time adjusting.

 

[SL6827]

We travel from the Midwest, so one hour less difference. I will say, the jet lag is rough. We typically stay about 10 days for so, and I don't know that we ever fully adjust. Although we usually stop waking up at 4 am after the first couple of days, we usually remain early to bed for the entire trip. The return trip isn't nearly as bad for us. For our upcoming trip, we've actually planned to stop off in California for three days on the way there, in hopes of curtailing some of the super early morning waking. The jet lag is one of the main reasons why we don't even consider a trip shorter than 10 days. We are two adults in our mid-40s, a 10 yo, and a 17 yo, fwiw.

I am beginning to believe I am right on this. Part of me thinks it really would be worth it, but then again, I might just look at Xcaret in Cancun. But going to bed early at Aulani would be fine since their isn't much to do in the evenings, right? Maybe I should consider at least two days in California then six nights at Aulani. Disneyland would be fun.

 

[JM23457]

Feeling a bit discouraged today about the time difference from the East coast to Hawaii. Not sure why. Was thinking of adding two days to the beginning of the trip in Waikiki to a five night stay at Aulani, but will that be enough? Should I just do a couple days in California first? And I am not even thinking about coming home.

Our way of dealing with time differences is to wake up at a normal time at home, take a daytime flight to get there, stay awake on the flight (no naps!), and upon arrival, stay awake (no naps, & no mid-afternoon bedtimes!) until it is really bedtime at the destination. By then you'll be really tired & sleep well. Don't schedule an early morning activity for the first full day, but also do wake up & get up some time in the morning. That will acclimate you pretty well to the destination time zone.

Napping out of boredom during travel or out of tiredness upon arrival is what tends to do people in. Napping makes it harder to sleep well at night, and so the jet lag perpetuates itself. Have some low key yet out-of-the-resort-room activity planned for your artival day, to help you stay awake until it's really bedtime.

Spending multiple days just getting there is a waste of vacation time.

 

[SL6827]

Our way of dealing with time differences is to wake up at a normal time at home, take a daytime flight to get there, stay awake on the flight (no naps!), and upon arrival, stay awake (no naps!) until it is bedtime at the destination. By then you'll be really tired & sleep well. Don't schedule an early morning activity for the first full day, but also do wake up & get up some time in the morning. That will acclimate you really well to the destination time zone.

Napping out of tiredness upon arrival or out of boredom during travel is what tends to do people in. Napping makes it harder to sleep well at night, and so the jet lag perpetuates itself.

Have some low key yet out-of-the-resort-room activity planned for your artival day, to help you stay awake until it's really bedtime. Spending multiple days just getting there is a waste of vacation time.

I can't handle 10 hours on a plane. Doing Disneyland would not be a waste of time to me as we have never been there. But I wonder just how much that might help?

 

[jodybird511]

Spending multiple days just getting there is a waste of vacation time.

Not if you're doing it at Disneyland! And fwiw, @SL6827, we fly to HI during the day and don't nap along the way. It is still ROUGH trying to stay up past 8 or 9 at the latest those first couple days. I mean, 8:00 pm HI time is 1 am at home for us! But yes, you are right, there is really no night life at Aulani, so going to bed early is not a problem for us.

 

[SL6827]

Not if you're doing it at Disneyland! And fwiw, @SL6827, we fly to HI during the day and don't nap along the way. It is still ROUGH trying to stay up past 8 or 9 at the latest those first couple days. I mean, 8:00 pm HI time is 1 am at home for us! But yes, you are right, there is really no night life at Aulani, so going to bed early is not a problem for us.

That is what I am thinking.

 

[OKW Lover]

We've flown to Hawaii from the east coast 5 times now. Yes, you are right to be concerned about the jet lag. We find ourselves taking a couple of days to acclimate to the time change. A couple of pre-days in Waikiki would be a good idea.

 

[tgropp]

I can't handle 10 hours on a plane. Doing Disneyland would not be a waste of time to me as we have never been there. But I wonder just how much that might help?

I have a problem with longer flights and was afraid of Jet lag with our Hawaii trip last year. We flew non stop from Atlanta. My plan was to try and arrive in Honolulu as early as possible which turned out to be 4:10 p.m. My wife, on the recommendation of a friend purchased Jet lag pills from a health food store. About six hours into the flight I managed to have a one hour nap. After arriving at our hotel at 5:15, we walked the beach, had dinner and settled in at 9.00. We woke up at 5 next morning, had an hour afternoon nap the next day and after that, no jet lag. I think the latest we slept in was 7:30 and that was after the first week.

 

[dreamit]

We traveled from the Midwest with the daylight savings time ending during our trip. We had no issues adjusting to Hawaiian time because it works best to get an early start on the day with earlier bedtimes. We took advantage of not being adjusted to the time change and did the really-early-morning activities toward the beginning of our trip. For example, the first full day we drove across the island to view the sunrise on Kailua Beach and then did a guided kayaking excursion. In the evening we just didn’t let ourselves think about how early we were actually heading to bed. But, honestly, there’s not much to do in the evening so it worked well. I will say that it was rough adjusting to the time when returning home. We blew it by napping as soon as we arrived home (near 7:00 a.m.).

 

[Disney_Fan_01]

I wouldn’t be discouraged. We had a 5hr time difference. We spent first few days at Waikiki and did our activities early in the morning as we were all up by 4:30-5. We left our hotel around 6 AM and did makpuu lighthouse one morning followed by drive to Kailua. Hanauma bay the other day and Pearl Harbor on our final day at Waikiki.
We were usually in bed by 7:30 PM. Still did everything during the day that we wanted to do. I won’t be too concerned. Make the most of your time, you are in paradise. Also, once you go to Hawaii, you will be spoiled and Mexico may not be as appealing to you. At least that’s my opinion.

 

[Lilsia]

I'm central time and it really wasn't an issue. You get used to it pretty quick. I have even traveled to Europe and did not have any issues while there. For me, the jet lag hits coming home. The second day home hits me like a brick and I sleep 15 hours. It has been like this for every major time zone jump trip.

 

[neurosx1983]

I hear what you’re saying but keep in mind jet lag is always ‘easier’ when you travel west compared to traveling East. Compare the 6 hour time difference between NYC and Hawaii to the 6 hour time difference between NYC and Paris...Hawaii will be much easier. Granted, it’s still a big difference. Most non stops from east coast (jfk,ewr,iAd) will put you into Hawaii in the afternoon so by the time you’re checked into Aulani and get a bite to eat, you just have to stay up a few hours and you’ll be ready to sleep.

Personally I have a much harder time going to Europe and landing in the morning and trying to stay up the whole day…

 

[nkereina]

Feeling a bit discouraged today about the time difference from the East coast to Hawaii. Not sure why. Was thinking of adding two days to the beginning of the trip in Waikiki to a five night stay at Aulani, but will that be enough? Should I just do a couple days in California first? And I am not even thinking about coming home.

We flew nonstop from Atlanta in September, so Hawaii was 6 hours behind. They do not observe daylight savings time so if you travel during the winter months, they will be 5 hours behind east coast time. IMO, with California being only 3 hours behind us, it wouldn't have made that much of a difference adjusting. And frankly, we just wanted to get to Hawaii and maximize our time there since we only had a certain number of vacation days to use. After arriving in Hawaii, DH and I were ready for bed by 8pm and wide awake by 4-4:30am for about the first 2-3 days. After that, we acclimated fine. One thing that helped is that Hawaii doesn't have much night life and most of the activities we did started early. Because of this, we were up around 6am local time most days and ready for bed by 10-10:30, so the adjustment wasn't that bad.

We spent 3 nights in Waikiki at the start of our trip. One benefit of being in that area as you are adjusting to the time change is that many things in that vicinity are open quite early or even 24 hours. I remember going to a breakfast buffet at the restaurant in our hotel around 6:30am, and the streets outside were busier than I expected - I would have thought it was mid-morning if I didn't know the time. We also opted to do Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor tours while adjusting to the time because we knew those activities were best done early and we'd have no problem being wide awake. I believe our Diamond Head pick up was 8am and our Pearl Harbor pick up was 6:30am.

On the way home, our flight out was at 4:30pm local time so it was a red eye. We slept a little on the plane and arrived in Atlanta around 6am eastern time the next morning. We connected to Buffalo and were walking into our house by 11am. We made sure we stayed up, without napping, and went to bed at a normal time that night. We slept fine that night and woke up at a normal time the next morning. We had no jet lag or trouble adjusting to the time on the way home. Even though a red eye can be uncomfortable and over-tiring, I think it was worth it to not have issues with the time change back home.

That is why I am wondering if 7 nights is enough time.

It depends. Its a big commitment for only 7 nights - a lot of travel time and a lot of money. While I think you can certainly maximize your time over 7 nights, it just depends on whether you think you'd be able to return in the future for a longer time. If yes, then I would hold out for that. If not and Hawaii is a bucket list item, then I would go for it. FWIW, DH and I spent 16 nights between 3 islands on our first trip. If/when we return, we would do a minimum of 10 nights between 1-2 islands.

I might just look at Xcaret in Cancun.

One thing I always tell people is that you should travel to Aulani if you want a *Hawaiian* vacation. If you're looking for a beach or resort vacation, there are many resorts and beaches that are much closer to home, a fraction of the price, and honestly nicer than many of the beaches in Hawaii. Cancun is on the gulf so it has powder white sand, with clear, warm, and calm water. Aulani beaches are on a manmade lagoon and they are a coarse, dark sand that gets very hot on the feet. Many other public beaches in Hawaii can have rough ocean waters that require a person to be a strong swimmer. If someone is going to spend the time and money to travel to Hawaii, they should be interested in the culture, history, customs, nature, and beauty of the islands and want to explore that. If none of those things are of interest, then I think it should raise the question of whether Hawaii is the right place to meet your vacation desires.