Tag Archives: United States

When Will I Recover

9 Jul

It’s been nine days since we returned from the US and both of us have not fully recovered from the jet lag! My goodness… it’s taking rather long.

Every night the whole of last week, we were waking up twice in the middle of the night at two hour intervals. The only one night I slept throughout until morning was last Friday when I went out for dinner with my golf buddies and I drank whiskey. I think it helped. The other nights were normal routines without any aids or meds to expedite the recovery.

So how long does one take to recover from jet lag?

From what I read online, it would take about a day to recover for each time zone crossed. Hmm… the time difference for us is 15 hours, so about two weeks to recover? Gosh…

Generally, jet lag is worse when traveling from West to East. We started out from Portland, and headed East to Salt Lake City, Amsterdam and finally Kuala Lumpur, that’s going East all the way. With the extra one stop (at SLC), long transit time and flying, maybe that’s why we are taking longer than a week to recover. Our 2012 trip to the US, we flew from East to West, San Francisco to Kuala Lumpur and that time, I took a week to recover from the jet lag.

Well, I woke up once at five this morning instead of twice before sunrise. Maybe a sign that I am recovering. Hopefully by the end of this week, the body would finally catch up with the time zone I am in and totally recover from the jet lag.

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A Delightful Discovery

8 Jul

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When I was young, I used to build hobby model aircrafts because my only sibling was into Tamiya models. I guess his interest rubbed off on me. There was one series that I particularly like which was the Hasegawa EggPlane series because they were very cute unlike those macho Tamiya aircrafts.

So it was with utter delight that I discovered an EggPlane at a hobby & craft shop in Corvallis during our recent trip to the US. I am definitely looking forward to assembling my egg-shaped plane soonest possible.

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All Good on the Home Front

5 Jul

Now that the bag delay issue is settled, there are other matters to tend to.

Official pet number one, Rooney, was confused then happy to see us when we got home. Generally all was good on the home front except for two things – the Marimo Moss balls and the cocoon still hanging on the tree in front of the house.

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He loved his new chew toy

The moss balls would need some serious TLC to recover as they have turned brown but this wouldn’t be an issue to revive them. The cocoon is quite a challenge though. It’s been too long at this stage. Did we miss the emerging moment and deceived by the cocoon shell, still hanging up there? Maybe I should brave climbing up the tall ladder to have a closer look. Hmm…

I’m glad I didn’t gain too much weight, only a pound. I thought it would be more considering the 16/8 diet was thrown out the window the minute we arrived at KLIA and had a beer and indulged in snacks at the Premier Lounge before we boarded.

It wasn’t just the things we ate in the US but when we ate which was always late dinners past seven and sometimes even nine or ten at night, hardly at five or six like we normally do back home. And I ate breakfast constantly eating because it was cold and I needed food to fuel the body to keep warm.

Being back means being back to routine and I am pretty sure that extra pound will be shed in no time especially once I get over my jet lag. So it’s great that all’s good on the home front.

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Oops, The Bags are Not Here

1 Jul

It’s mind boggling when I look back now at the total time of the whole journey inclusive of the car rides. So from the time we left Corvallis for the airport, the flights, transits and our taxi ride home, it was 43.5 hours! Goodness gracious me.

The delay of the bags added to this and it could have been worse if the delayed flight departures were longer. But being under half an hour each time, the flying itself made up for it.

Yesterday when we touchdown at KLIA, all I was thinking of was a nice cold shower and a good sleep to start my recovery from the jet lag. But our checked-in bags never arrived. With this clouding our minds, how to sleep snugly?

We stood at the baggage conveyor belt for more than half an hour and our two checked-in bags never came. They are still in Amsterdam, along with the bags of several other travelers who transited at Schiphol Airport.

Some of them were connecting from Paris and Japan, and us from the US. Like them, we lodged a report and this took time too as the office was packed. Initially I thought we had to go to the airport this evening to get them but hubby said they will be delivered to us instead. I await anxiously for them.

This morning I woke up at 6.20am. I had a good eight hours sleep with four and a half of it being deep sleep. That’s good, maybe a faster recovery but the nagging headache is still there, I don’t know why. Hubby on the other hand, woke up every two hours. He said he was still in airplane sleep mode and each time, he was expecting to be served a meal or ice cream! Hahaha…

We jumped right into work this morning, not wasting any time to rest.

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Oh My Body, Part 2

30 Jun

There’s always something about the return journey compared to the initial arrival one. The traveling hours are about the same or sightly longer but the woes seem to be different.

When we first arrived in the US three weeks ago, the next day upon arrival I had recovered from the jet lag. The same can’t be said for returning to Malaysia for sure.

I recall our 2012 US trip, I took a week to recover from the jet lag. Now, seven years later, a week too or longer? Hmm…

Maybe the fact that we are returning from a holiday – back to reality, makes it hard for the body to accept, thus longer to readjust.

In the meantime, I was hoping to sleep 18 hours throughout when we arrive home but I cannot do so because our checked-in bags never arrived at KLIA! Haish…

Looks like recovery sleep has to be shortened to return to the airport tomorrow as our report has been done and bags should arrive by then to be collected.

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Oh My Body

30 Jun

All that sitting and inability to find a snug position on the second leg had caused my backache to flare up. Throughout the journey, I had my painkiller on standby but I tried not to resort to them.

The last three hours of more sitting and waiting in Schiphol was just so arduous. And we didn’t want to walk too much too as we had the backpacks to carry and the cabin bags to pull along. We both knew it will just tire us and most likely we can’t sleep well on the third leg of the journey.

By 8.00pm, the announcement came on for boarding and in an orderly fashion, passengers boarded when their zones were called out. We sat in the aircraft for a good 40 minutes or so because of one late inconsiderate dude to come onboard. Eventually we were cleared for take off, 24 minutes passed the scheduled 8.50pm.

Within an hour, dinner was served! And after the meal, I tried to sleep again and it wasn’t easy. I just couldn’t get any comfortable positions. So I watched a movie and a couple of documentaries but not long enough to kill time. We still had over five hours to go. Felt like forever. Oh my body!

Eventually I forced myself to sleep. After all, I was wedged between two people this time, I couldn’t get up and the aisle passenger was asleep. Then I had to pee. Oh dear…

Do I wake her? It wouldn’t be polite because she was in deep slumber snoring away. Hubby too was sound asleep against the window. Hmm…I shouldn’t go pee and tried to sleep instead as my eyes were tired. I think I managed two hours at most and not more. And it made matters worse.

The legs were sore, the back hurt, the butt numb and the shoulders stiff and I still had to pee. As if these problems were not enough, a tiny nagging headache started developing. Oh my body…

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So Tired

29 Jun

I was feeling tired and we were not even halfway when we were in transit at SLC International Airport. I suspect waking up at 6.30am could be the factor.

We boarded our Amsterdam-bound aircraft at 8.15pm mountain time and there was a 20-minute delay before the aircraft departed at 9.20pm. Finally, on the way home.

The cabin lights before take off

Two hours into the flight, dinner was served. I watched a movie and then tried to sleep. It was so difficult. The space was not comfortable – I twisted and turned but could not find a snug position. My Mi Band2 showed four hours of light sleep and zero deep sleep. Yawn…

Before I could try again, the cabin lights were turned on and our next meal was served. Breakfast? Lunch? It’s hard to tell because it’s almost five in the morning Oregon time and almost one in the afternoon Amsterdam time.

The cabin lights before the second meal

By now the body is all confused, the perils of long distance travels. And we have one more 12-hour leg to go!

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Now We Wait

29 Jun

The goodbye was quick and thankfully tear-free. We went through security check with a small glitch – a bottle of water in the bag, so that had to be surrendered but luckily my spanking new Dutch Bros flask cleared because I remembered to empty it out.

The flight to Salt Lake City International Airport was smooth and on time. Upon descending only there was some slight turbulence. SLC Airport is kinda small. We walked the whole terminal where we are transiting and that’s it. Nothing caught our eye.

Mountain range in the background still has snow

Luckily we found a quiet corner with a table and it’s a good spot to rest, have a meal without hurry. Another four hours to go before our flight to Amsterdam as I write this…

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Heavy Heart Again

29 Jun

The inevitable has come. We are leaving today…

Yesterday, it rained on and off the whole day, adding unnecessary gloom. And I was told it hardly rains in Summer! But has it really been Summer? Save for the first couple of days, it has been cold for us throughout our stay.

Our flight departs at one but we left for the airport by eight in anticipation of heavy traffic. And for the first time, the sky was mostly grey. Dull, sad and not a single cloud or blue, a reflection of our feelings?

It stayed grey for the first 45 minutes of the journey to the airport before the sun managed to peek out.

Despite the heavy heart, we leave knowing M1 will be okay. She has started working and undertaking her graduate program studies at the same time. All grown up and doing good, we are really proud and totally in support of her next path in life.

Maybe knowing this fact, I can sleep well on the flight home.

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It’s a Wrap, Folks!

28 Jun

Today is our last day with our first born and the weather this morning reflected the sentiment – dreary and sad. The skies are crying, raining in other words. It is darn cold! Brr…

We wrap up our wonderful two and a half weeks with her (and M2 for the first week) as we prepare ourselves for the separation. There is now less activities, last minute purchases and packing to do.

Tomorrow begins our long, long journey back: 34 and a half hours from PDX to KLIA and not counting the drive to and from the airports. I feel numb just thinking about it.

The additional hours are due to an extra stop and longer transit time unlike when we came, there was only one stop at Amsterdam at a relatively short transit time. Oh well… I hope there’s more movie choices to watch on board as I have done four movies already when we were coming out. As for the transit stops, an opportunity to explore the airports I guess.

We will return with treasured memories and looking forward to our next family gathering.

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