Japan - travel, flight and jetlag tips

My boyfriend and I spent two gorgeous weeks in Japan. I would like to share with you every important detail regarding this trip. Which airline did we flight with? How could you survive the time differences without any jetlag? What are the key essential good-to-knows? What should you pack in case of spring destinations?

First time travelling by non-budget airline

We have travelled from Budapest to Tokyo via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines. We arrived at the airport on time to see this amazing sunset wondering about how many hours will pass before landing in Tokyo. Besides the 2-hour flight to Istanbul, we had a 11.5-hour classic red-eye flight to Tokyo, which usually means that the flight scheduled to depart at night and arrive the next morning but in this case the flight arrived the next evening due to the time differences.

Sunset at the Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest

This was the first time when we were not travelled by low-cost airlines and also was the first occasion to travel out of Europe. Of course, the differences were very striking between budget and non-budget airlines. We weren't counting on good meals during the flights, but they were better than expected. There was no need to open our 'survival snack package'. Nonetheless, it was quite good. For instance, you can see below our main meal (chicken with steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes, salad, hummus, baguette with butter, spring water and vanilla mousse) in the IST-NRT flight.

We had a 'sleep package' laid out on our seat before we board. It contained a pillow, a headset for the entertainment system and a blanket. Later on, we got our 'convenience pack' as well which contained ear plugs, an eye cover, socks and slippers and a toothbrush. These were quite essential during the long flight. The entertainment system was up-to-date and easy to use. It contained a relatively new films and hits. The stewards and stewardesses were kind and helpful. All in all, the onboard experience was great.

As a sidenote, I have to mention however that the booking procedure was way more difficult than it should have been. Due to the recent moving of Turkish Airlines to Istanbul Airport our flights were rescheduled 3 times, but that's okay. Which is not okay that the confirmation of the new flights can be done only via phone customer service. There is a webpage and also an app, but they are not really working. Instead of clicking two on the webpage/app, we were hanging on the phone for at least 5 times for 40 minutes on each time. So please Turkish Airlines sort this out until next time. Despite of this minor complication, we were satisfied with the Turkish Airlines on the board.

Here comes the tips and trick section:

Tip 1: Surviving the time differences without jetlag

The time differences are 7 hours between Budapest and Tokyo. So, are you interested in how could we manage our trip without any jetlag?

The essential thing to do is reducing the difference. One day before our flight, we got up early morning around 5 am and we slept in the afternoon for at least 3 hours, so we could manage the red-eye night flight with couple of hours sleeping on the board. This also meant that when we have arrived at Tokyo at the night, we were tired enough to be able to sleep during our first night there.

My advice is to calculate the sleeping hours beforehand while you are still at home. How many hours should you sleep at home? How many hours would be good to sleep on the board if you arrive in the evening to your destination and vice versa?

If you travel during the night, as we did it back to home and arrive in the middle of the day, the best way to manage the time differences is to sleep as much as you can on the plane to survive the day until the evening.

So that's how we could manage our trip without jetlag. I hope it may help some of you during your future trips.

Tip 2: Essential items what are useful if you travel to spring destinations

Warm clothes and raincoats as spring is always very unpredictable. We checked the weather forecast right before departure which showed around 19-20 degrees during our visit (basically same as in Hungary). But trust the weather forecast, you must not. Just put that additional sweater and warmer jacket in your luggage alongside with some cold medicine and Vitamin C. It will do no harm trust me. We were wondering about these things a lot, while walking in the rain, while the temperature was 8-9 Celsius degrees. At least we had raincoats and medicines, both came handy during the trip unfortunately, so just be prepared.

I hope these tips would be useful for you as well!