After a month of straight traveling with blog material naturally flowing from the external stimulus outside my hostel, hotel, and airplane window, I am finally stationary. I wake up at 4AM restless from having nothing to do. Bored, I go back to sleep hoping to slip back into a dream that has me on an adventure not on a routine.
Many have described this phenomenon as a case of jet lag which may lead to depression if left untreated or if left idle. It’s not the time difference that has me awake at all hours or scanning AwardWallet plotting my getaway. It’s the feeling that I am missing out on what’s happening in the rest of the world. Trying to convince myself that life isn’t all about travel, I try to break back into a normal routine: gym, PTI, blog posts. But even deflate-gate doesn’t captivate my attention like a captain’s announcement that we are landing in a new land that I have yet to frequent.
Observing everyone in my parents’ suburb, I wonder if perhaps they have it better than I: work, family, sleep, repeat. The paradox is how the minimalist traveler with his carry-ons ends up with more ‘baggage’ than the stationary worker who has more ‘real-world’ problems. On the one hand it seems simpler to live out of a suitcase and be on the road. On the other it seems simpler to do the same thing every day.
For those who have contracted the terminal travel bug, it is too late to revert back to a normal routine. Our blessing and our curse is that we remain forever jet-lagged.
[…] – A musing on jet lag. (I wonder if JetLag Rooster can help […]
There is a drug to treat jet-lag: amazingly effective and quick, without addiction. (No, I’m not in the pharmaceutical industry; this is simple experience talking). You’ll need a prescription for Modafinil (Brand name: Provigil, but the brand is even more expensive than the generic). And it ain’t cheap. It’s primarily prescribed for narcolepsy, but it’s indicated for sleep-disorders as well, and frequent jet-lag is a recognized sleep disorder. Ask your doctor; he might be sympathetic. Just 100 mg (most tablets are 200 mg, so you can cut one in half) will adjust you to normal time within hours. The next morning, you’re cured. It’s marvelous.