Jet Lag 101: The Flight Attendant Survival Guide

Jet lag—it’s that relentless travel companion we never asked for but always seem to bring along. In this episode, we’re unpacking the reality of jet lag from the flight attendant perspective: what works, what totally doesn’t, and the hilarious and horrifying travel stories we’ve collected along the way. Whether you’re someone who swears by strategic napping or you’re just trying to make it to the Airbnb without puking into a canal (hi, Amsterdam), this one’s for you.

We’re also diving into TikTok travel trends, influencer airport fails, and the magic of “cart chemistry” on long-haul flights. Plus, we’re dishing out the best jet lag tips we’ve got—from hydration hacks to buffer day brilliance—and, of course, sharing one outrageous galley gossip tale involving a mystery mouse. Grab your melatonin (or maybe don’t), and buckle up for a brutally honest, laugh-out-loud episode that proves no one is immune to the jet lag struggle.

Episode Highlights:

[0:21] – That burning passenger question: “How do you deal with jet lag?”
 [1:25] – Drew gets randomly selected at TSA and has thoughts on viral TikTok trends (spoiler: they’re not cute)
 [4:24] – Airport train TikTok chaos: SEPTA isn’t here for your influencer moment
 [5:48] – Meet "cart chemistry": when your inflight service partner is your soul twin
 [7:28] – Amsterdam anniversary trip: jet lag + weak stomach = canal drama
 [11:55] – Portugal panic: no sleep + no public bathrooms = street meltdown
 [15:12] – Rich’s Mrs. Doubtfire nap: the Christmas show he totally slept through
 [16:29] – The food trick that saved us: bringing your own sandwich
 [18:56] – Shoutout to StaffTraveler: how we survive the non-rev chaos
 [22:07] – Why grace and buffer days save our relationship (and our sanity)
 [25:50] – Sleep aids? Not for us. We’ll take strategic naps and caffeine instead
 [28:46] – Move your body? Sure—but not in the aisle, please
 [30:34] – Bali belly defeated: probiotics, prep time, and a 24-hour nap win
 [31:15] – Best advice ever? Always plan a buffer day
 [31:55] – Galley Gossip: a passenger tries to smuggle a mouse onto a plane. Yes, really.
 [34:49] – Big thanks to our Patreon senior mamas—your support means the world
 [36:13] – Sponsor shoutout: StaffTraveler—because non-rev needs a little he

Transcript

Rich: 0:02

Ever wondered what your flight attendants are really talking about behind the galley curtain?

Andrew: 0:06

Welcome to Two guys on a plane. Your go to podcast for an insider look at flight attendant life.

Rich: 0:11

We're your hosts, rich and Drew, and we're here to tell you what really goes on at 35,000 feet.

Unknown: 0:16

So sit back, relax. We're ready for takeoff.

Rich: 0:21

So passengers always ask us about jet lag. They think, as flight attendants, that we're some sort of experts on the matter, and so they're always saying, how do you deal with it? How do you overcome it? To be honest, not to spoil the whole episode, we're not that great at it. Wouldn't you agree? Andrew, oh, I'm awful at it. Yeah, I think it really depends too, if we're on like, a work trip or a personal trip, but jet lag is not it's not an easy thing to overcome, and while there are tips and tricks, and we're gonna get into that a little bit later in the episode, it's not always the easiest thing, and it definitely varies person to person on whether or not you're you're able to do it and you're able to be good at it, but it's definitely hard, because I feel like there are days where we completely crash, for lack of a better

Andrew: 1:05

word, yeah, and then other days you nail it, and you're like, oh, I can do I can repeat these exact same steps,

Rich: 1:10

and it doesn't, it doesn't work, before we get into our tips and tricks on jet lag and how we overcome it or don't overcome it. Andrew, what's been going on lately with flying. Anything you want to rant about, always.

Andrew: 1:25

I always have a rant in me. No, flying has been decent. I have. We've had a lot of vacations recently, so I would stack a lot of my days. So I can't say that I've been my best

Rich: 1:38

at so much harder. Like, it's so worth it in the end to have all that time. Oh, for sure, but it's so much harder to stack your days. Oh, you're like,

Andrew: 1:45

Yeah, die six day block. One day off, six day block. It's brutal. I haven't been my best, but I've survived, no, but I got random day TSA the other day after I, like, scanned him for KCM, and I got the dreaded random so I, like, March my way around. And there's this girl there. There's this new Tiktok trend where you like, take the pan and you like, set all your items out. Really cute. So she like, emptied her bags. She had, like, her laptop and her iPad and her camera and her lipstick and her blush and like, everything arranged just so it took her, like, 45 minutes, and I was like, please get out of my way. Please just move, I kind of do the stick trend out of the area. Yeah, right. Like, do or, like, set your pan up out of the way so that you can then get in line with it and, like, push it down the rollers. But she was like, there was no way to get around her. Finally, TSA opened up a second lane so that, like, the line of people behind her could go around because she like and, you know, it's bad because TSA don't want to help nobody, they don't. And as an influencer, like, I understand getting the, yeah, influencer, I understand getting the perfect right? I understand, like, setting up and getting the perfect shot. But like, that's not the time or place for it. Please stop this trend. Whoever started it? I I beg of you, please stop it. Just cut it out. It's not cute. It's not a good look, actually. Now that we're hungry, are you saying you did it? Are you telling me,

Rich: 3:11

but now that we're on the topics influencer trends, I'm like, What idiot would want to do this? So that's why we'll never be, like, real influencers, because I can't be bothered to do half the shit

Andrew: 3:24

that people so I love my life too much to, like, stop it and take pictures. Oh, absolutely.

Rich: 3:29

But the No, it made me think of this other Tiktok trend that people are doing, and I overheard these girls talking about it on the train to the airport the other day. It's that trend where, like, people are, like, trying to see if they can, like, make it to a flight in like, a certain amount of time, like, they're trying to do, like, an hour or whatever. Oh, yeah, do you know I'm talking about? I haven't, but I can. I can do it. Well, I know we can. We have a lot of, like, security things that we can get. But like, the whole thing is, like, they're trying to see how fast they can get to the airport or whatever. And these girls are taking this video on the train, and they were like, it's 1045 and our flight said 1130 and we're gonna see if we can make it. And I was just laughing, because, first of all, we're on SEPTA, and if you live in Philly, you're probably not gonna make it if you're riding up doing it. And second of all, if it was 1145 you were still a solid 20 minutes from there, right? And we were like, just at Penn Medicine, which is still like, a 20 minute ride to the airport, and

Andrew: 4:25

please fund SEPTA continue, right? And

Rich: 4:29

so, like I was thinking, like doing the math. I was like, Okay, so 20 minutes to get to the airport, if SEPTA doesn't randomly decide to stop working, and then that gives them like, I'm not good at math, but like, 25 minutes to get to get to their flight, when they usually close the door. 1015, minutes early, these girls are in trouble. But it was funny, nonetheless. But yeah, these Tiktok trends, they have to go because some of these people stop believing. Everything you see on Tiktok, it makes me feel such a boomer. I mean, I know

Andrew: 4:57

we've talked about this, but this is like the next. Pillow full of underwear for me, this is on the same line of like, the neck pillow full of underwear for me. Like, stop doing this. It's not funny. You look stupid, and then you're gonna yell at a gate agent because you made this decision. You're gonna be like, I missed my flight. It's not literally your fault. You did it. I'm really mad at them for it,

Rich: 5:22

understandable. But honestly, other other than laughing at Tiktok people flying has been going really well lately. Actually, I wanted to talk about this because I had just had a trip. We were working, I think, some turn somewhere. And you know when you're working one of those days and you're on the cart with somebody and you just like, click, like, you're, oh yeah, in sync, you operate the same way, like, down to, like, where things go, like, how

Andrew: 5:48

you you don't have to say anything, like, the way your eyeballs move, and they're like, here's the Diet Coke you asked. Or

Rich: 5:54

literally just, there's, there's just magic. And so we were finishing the service, and this kid, he's only been flying a couple years. He was so nice and easy to work with, and we're laughing in the galley. And I was like, I just have to say, like, not to be weird, but really, like working the car with you. And he's like, I was thinking the same, I'm so glad you said it. And he's like, you and I, we have really good cart chemistry. And I was like, cart chemistry, I love this. I'm coining this. This is a real thing. I'm absolutely stealing. I can't remember his name right now, and that makes me mad, but I'm totally blanking. But I was like, cart chemistry, it's so true, because there's some people you work with and you're like, What are you even doing over there on the car?

Andrew: 6:37

Click the green button and they click the red one at the same time. Never in sync. You're

Rich: 6:41

like, right? They're moving the car. Like, where are you going and not done yet? Like, there's no communication. It's a mess. But he and I was like, we're just colliding through the cabin on this carton. It was

Andrew: 6:51

perfect. Gosh, that makes work so much easier. Oh, my God. I love when you have good chemistry like that, because it makes work so much easier.

Rich: 6:58

Seattle turn too. So it's like an 11 hour day. You were doing a long day that. And I was like, if I had a bad crew for this, I would have murdered somebody. So, cart

Andrew: 7:07

chemistry, cart chemistry. You heard her here first, important to everyone, yeah.

Rich: 7:12

But back to jet lag. Oh, my God. How do you do it? How do we do it? Not personally, not Well, no, no. And can you think of any times for sure had Yeah, jet lag gone wrong or right?

Andrew: 7:28

It usually goes wrong for me. I think you know this well. I don't think I absolutely know you know this. But for the rest of everyone that doesn't know me personally, I I don't have a strong stomach, because that's correct, very, it's very weak. She's sensitive, very, we fight a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. So I Oh, you I know my stomach and

Rich: 7:53

I, two of us, no, I was like, We don't fight over that. I'm not that mean. But no,

Andrew: 7:57

my stomach and I, we fight a lot. So I think that's my biggest struggle, because I have, like, some sort of illness. I feel like trying to figure out, like, food and sleep with my stomach, to keep that like, as weak as possible, right, without being too weak that. But do you remember that time we went to I'm telling way too much information about my personal Amsterdam. We went to Amsterdam. Yes, we were going for our anniversary. I thought I had mastered it. I was like, Okay, I'll eat dinner at this time. I'll get this much sleep. By the time we get on the plane, we'll go have a cup of coffee. Our Airbnb will be ready by this time. Sorry, we're not be like, ready to go and like, be able to enjoy the day. So we get to the airport, the flights delayed, which means my meal is delayed, so like my plan is already shot to shit. We get on the flight. We are seated next to this man. Was a window seat that got up every 25 minutes. So like we were middle and aisle. He was the window seat. He got up every 20 minutes, so there was no sleep to be had on this it was a full flight. We were lucky to be on it, so we're not complaining, but like, Craig was up every 20 minutes, so like zero sleep was had on the flight. And then we get to Amsterdam. It took us, like, absorbent amount of time to get through customs, because everybody wanted to be in Amsterdam that day. Yeah, we finally get to be going nothing like, literally nothing went right? We finally get to our Airbnb at like, four in the afternoon, after having been up all night and like wandering the city. Want, yes, with bags in tow, like we're sitting in cafes, like, just bags in the corner, whatever. And I thought I was doing really good. So we finally get to the Airbnb, we like, throw our bags down. I was we rented a

Rich: 9:47

boat house, yes, and I was fumbling because I couldn't find the Airbnb, like, key code access stuff. So we're standing on, like, the back of this houseboat on the little patio, and I'm fine. Fumbling, and you're, you're like, I think I need to go to the bathroom, and I'm, like, searching for this key code, like I'm going as fast as I can.

Andrew: 10:07

Yeah, Rich was doing everything. And I get on my hands and knees on the back deck and just start hurling into the canal, because we can't even get into the Airbnb. I'm just so sorry. I'm hurling into a canal, and then we spend from like, the whole rest of the day. For me is done, because my stomach is so weak I cannot recover from this. I'm like, in and out of the bathroom, laying on a couch Rich is finally like, do you want to go to dinner? And I

Rich: 10:35

was like, for dinner for why he looks like he knows, like old Victorian and ladies and those paintings, or she's, yeah, exactly like laying out on the couch, pale as hell. That was the that was night one in Amsterdam firm.

Andrew: 10:50

But you know what's great about Amsterdam is they're known for their French fries. And, like, everyone brings you french fries. So we did go to dinner, and like my weak ass stomach, just had French fries for dinner, which was sat nicely, perfect. It was, it was a wonderful meal. But I just remember finally getting this houseboat. It's beautiful, by the way, that's in a stunning canal in this little neighborhood. And I'm like, Whoa. It was awful. It was the worst. So good at it.

Rich: 11:16

So funny though. I mean, those canals have seen it. I mean, Amsterdam is a Party City, but they probably just aren't used to seeing it at three o'clock. To seeing it at three o'clock in the afternoon, but they've seen it. They've seen it.

Andrew: 11:26

I'm sure they had. I still just feel bad, but this happens to me everywhere, like we went to that one time, and I thought I had done all the right things. Rich was working a trip to Portugal, and I, like, came out of security and was like, how many seats? And I jumped on the flight with him, and we ended up in Portugal. And he's like, okay, you've never been on an overnight with me. So we have, like, 24 hours. We've got to, like, hit the ground running, go, go, go, go. And I was like, but I could really use a nap first. And he was like, No, we don't have time for that, right? I was like, and

Rich: 11:55

this is earlier on, maybe in our relationship, so we weren't, I didn't know about the stomach issues quite as much.

Andrew: 12:03

I knew we were going to be regretful of this decision. Rich did not know we were going to be regretful of this decision. And if you don't travel a lot, I'm still pretty new to a lot of it. Some countries, they don't have public restrooms, unless you pay for them, and you have to have money, and then you're like, standing in the street being like, help someone. Help me. I need a euro.

Rich: 12:26

There's nothing worse than having to pee and being like, I need to find money first. And those like, little, oh, sure, but I was throwing up like I was gonna throw all that too. But, I mean, you know, for those that might not be needing to vomit, but the people that work those bathrooms too, they're not forgiving about that. They're like, Nope, you don't have the money. You're not coming in,

Andrew: 12:47

correct? It was awful. It was the but we finally got some food, and like, settled down and like, I was fine, but like, I don't. Man, I some we landed in Paris, and I thought I had food poisoning from the flight before, and it was because my weak stomach didn't get enough sleep on the flight over. I'm telling you, this happens to me all the time. It's awful.

Rich: 13:07

Well, you're getting better. We're finding ways to cope. We're working through it. Don't

Unknown: 13:11

feel too Hannah Safety Day,

Rich: 13:15

but honestly, it's good for both of us, because I think I'm nailing jet lag most of the time. I said, think, I think I am often and I'm used to like hitting around, running and doing whatever like I found ways to cope on layovers and things like that. But you do find going forward exactly, it's always coming home for me. And I remember we were, I think I was working a trip back from who knows where, somewhere in Europe, and we made plans that night. I think, I think we made plans, and then I picked something up, thinking, no big deal. We land early tickets to a show for Christmas. Yeah, yeah. So I picked up the trip, and I was like, it'll be fine. We'll be back early, and then we're gonna go see a show. It was, like, a Christmas present or whatever, and we were gonna go see Mrs. Doubtfire when it came to Philly. And I'm thinking, okay, it's fine. I can, like, land nap and then go and it's gonna be fine. But flight ended up being late, as flights do, and we had to go straight out to the date as soon as I got home. So I get dressed and, like, make myself a drink. I'm, like, having coffee and drinking, like, thinking I'm just pepping myself up. I'm ready to rally. I'm ready to rally. We go to, you know, dinner. We have whatever. We're all good. Everything's good. I'm sitting down for the show. We're so excited about seeing Mrs. Doubtfire, because Andrew is, like, one of his favorite movies. He loves Robin Williams. And we're sitting there, and I don't know few numbers. Do you know how rich is Doubtfire? A few, few songs in, I was out. I was out like a light, and I remember intermission and being like, Oh, I'm i. Am loving this show. And Andrew's like, really, and are you? This isn't like me not loving musicals. I love musicals. But I just was so tired, and really thought I could rally and power through. And it turns out I'm not so good at that.

Andrew: 15:13

Yeah, it was funny, but you can't call somebody out for sleeping like that, though, because then they just get mad at you. They're like, No, I'm fine.

Rich: 15:21

Oh, I mean, I admitted it. You did I was, I definitely admitted it. It was also pretty obvious. I think everyone around us was like a CR, right? But yeah, so what are some ways that you have learned to cope with jet lag after all these wild stories of ours? What? What are some things that actually work for you so

Andrew: 15:40

we now bring our own food, like we'll go get Yes, you can't, not that airplanes won't feed you, but you can't trust that, like one it's enough for you, or that it'll be timed appropriately for Rick my body. So instead of just having, like chips and things, we'll go to, like a deli and grab a sandwich and have a sandwich in our bag so that if I start feeling like I need food, or start getting nauseous, I'll be able to eat. You know, they say sleep. I personally believe that you just have to power through and, like, figure out how to, like, adjust for the most part. When I'm flying, I personally don't leave my own time zone. Like, yeah, if I'm out working, I don't adjust. Like, if I'm tired and we're done working, I go to sleep. It could be two in the afternoon, it could be 10pm like,

Rich: 16:29

right? Because when you're working, it's like, you're never there long enough for it to matter correct. So it's critical that you stay right, keep your body on local time, like, home time, because it messes

Andrew: 16:40

you up, correct, and then you're gonna be home, like, two days later. I've got to get back into your own routine. So if I'm working, I don't adjust. I just stay on my own time zone. If I am on vacation, I try to, like, just power through, just stay awake until, like, it's sleep time there, and that way you, like, crash out for like, the appropriate eight hours. So you can, like, wake up in the morning and keep going. What about you? I, for

Rich: 17:10

me, it kind of depends what direction I'm going. Like, I do a lot of Europe, and I feel like, when I'm in Europe, I if I power nap, like, it depends too when you land Airbnb or hotel situation, am I able to go take a nap somewhere? So usually I just end up forcing myself to stay awake, because the odds are you're gonna have to anyway, but that it can be hard because, like, that first day ends up being kind of a wash, because you're you find yourself like, out and about somewhere, and you're forcing yourself to stay awake, and you're like, Okay, we have to go somewhere else and do something else, but it can't be like too, you know, inactive, because we'll fall asleep somewhere in a bench. So that first day ends up being a struggle. So usually I just try to immediately acclimate to local time, because I feel like that is what works best in like for the remainder of the trip, and then drinking water. I know it's so cliche, but like, Staying hydrated is really helpful. And then obviously I'm chugging coffee all day long, trying to, like, keep myself caffeinated and wired. But I struggle so much with the water, because I do not like the taste of water. So hard for me, you guys, I try so hard. You can do it. I have faith in you,

Andrew: 18:20

I know, but I think I'm allergic to it. You know how some people like are allergic to cilantro and it tastes like soap. I think I'm allergic to water. I think it tastes like soap. I don't

Rich: 18:29

really love it. I don't think that's a thing. I'm pretty sure it's a thing. I don't think you could be allergic to water, can you I mean, actually, have no idea. So this is not a scientific podcast. Maybe you just took

Unknown: 18:41

my joke and made it something serious, and it really wasn't.

Rich: 18:44

Sorry, my bad. I don't know if that's the thing.

Andrew: 18:47

It's not I was making a good joke. But yes, water is important, even if you don't like it, if it tastes like soap, you still have to, you still have to use it.

Rich: 18:56

Yeah, but I mean, the biggest thing about jet lag for me personally, like, it really depends on, like, how we're getting home or how we're getting to and from places. Like, the good thing about flying and being a flight attendant is the flight benefits. But the sucky thing about that is it's the so when it comes to, like, planning to overcome jet lag, like, sometimes things just don't go according to plan. Like, sometimes when we're non revving, it's like, you think you're going to take this fight here, and you don't, and then you're immediately scrambling. And thank God for staff traveler for that reason, because I like, there's nothing worse than being jet lagged. You land in a city, you think your connection is going to be somewhere, and now you're tired. You need a nap, you need to eat, and you also need to figure out

Andrew: 19:42

how you're getting when we missed our connection, and we literally, we didn't have another plan. It was totally staff traveler who saved us, who because there was another flight 15 hours later, but we still made it.

Rich: 19:56

Yeah, because we thought, we thought, like, oh, we have three hours to connect in this city. Me, we'll be fine. We were not fine. We were not and we did. We were like wandering the Doha airport, scatter brained, tired, trying to figure out how to how to go, where we were going. And staff traveler came in handy, and we figured out, but yeah, our next connection was, like, 16 hours later, but staff traveler, thank God.

Andrew: 20:21

Yes, I love them. Not only do they give you loads but they also really help with roots. Because, like, you just, you get in a position like that, and you don't know what airlines fly where all the time, and you can, like, put in your route, and you can figure out who to ask loads of, yeah, because you don't even know who to ask loads of with, I mean, without them, I wouldn't know half the time. And

Rich: 20:43

you're, you're right, like, I use their app, even just for the search feature, half the time, to figure out, map, mapping out where we're going, like, we're going to Egypt, and, you know, we're mapping that out, and we're trying to figure out where we're going to and from and going to Croatia, like, we did the same thing.

Andrew: 20:59

The the mapping out feature absolutely saved us because, you know, you're trying to look through your company's Ed fares or whatever to try to figure out how route but you don't know who to look for. Yeah, exactly. I mean, Croatian should Croatian air should have been the first look

Rich: 21:13

it should have. Yeah, Croatian air and Croatia came in handy.

Unknown: 21:16

Should have been our first look, but it wasn't. But for

Rich: 21:20

those of you don't have it and you can download staff traveler for free at staff traveler.com/two guys, and go ahead and download it. It's free to use to the way you earn credits to look at flight loads is by filling requests from other people at other airlines for your airlines. So the more people that work on the app or on the app and engaged, the better it works. So yeah, get on there. If you're not on it. It's a great app and a great tool to use when you're non revving on flying standby staff travel, whatever you want to call it. It is literally a lifesaver for us and so many reasons. But doing that while jet lagged still a struggle, it is still a struggle. How do you feel like you how do we manage, how do we manage our life with jet lag?

Andrew: 23:08

You know, I think we do the best that we can. I think it really helps that we both travel and we understand each other and each other's schedules a lot. I feel like we give each other a lot of grace in that we're tired or our brains aren't working right, because we've just finished like, a international trip or a long set of days, and obviously we were jet lagged. So I think, like, relationship wise, I think it's just grace and understanding is really what is most important between us. But like, I don't I do. I was gonna say I don't know about you, but I absolutely know about you. I need, like, a full day of like nothing Ness after like anything more than two, two days of work, two

Rich: 23:51

days I need. I need a day off after one. But

Andrew: 23:55

no, I know you mean if you give me, like, 346, days like that, first day off that I have. Do not put anything on my calendar. Do not schedule anything for me. I am I just need to, like, veg out and like, my social batteries drained. My physical battery is drained. Like, I just need to sit there and do nothing. We

Rich: 24:16

do this a lot too. Like, where we'll make plans like, oh, one of us lands it this time, and then we'll go out later and do this. And it's like, we always think that sounds like a good idea, and we almost always regret it, because one of us is just like, dead to the world always.

Andrew: 24:30

I'll tell you what my Achilles heel is, though, it's not so much coming in from work, yeah, it's before work, because I feel like I make plans, like, the day before I'm about to start a trip, and I'm like, oh my god, I can go. Have so sorry, friends. I have so much I can have so much fun. But then my reports are always so early in the morning that I feel like I need to be in bed by like, 6pm so like, anything after 5pm the day before I go to work, I'm like, okay, but I need to go to bed. I need to go to bed. Like, 20 minutes ago. I'm like, counting the hours that I still have remaining to sleep, I never achieve it. I don't know why this is a stressor for me, but it is such a stressor for me. And I feel like the first day of my trip, the first night before I go to work, leads to most of my jet lag, yeah, because I don't sleep well ever. But we had fun. Oh, we're going to

Rich: 25:24

Sarah and Vinny that we tomorrow. Yeah, we always have fun with we always have fun. Work does not come in the way of our friendship. Ever. It does not Yeah, I think, I think you're right, though. I think our perspective with each other, and both understanding it and the job that we have really makes a difference. Because it's like, okay, I understand when you come home from work, you're going to be in this mood, with this level of energy, with this much brain space and capacity to do whatever. And I feel like we are getting good at giving each other grace in those moments where it's like, okay, you're coming in from a trip. I gotta give you, like, an hour. Or to, like, decompress or unwind or whatever, before I start asking questions and whatever. That sounds bad, like I'm interrogating him when he comes home. No,

Andrew: 26:09

but I feel like we both know that. Like, sometimes you come home and you, like, don't want to talk about work, and so, like, we don't. And then there are other times when, like, you need to get your day out of you, like you'd need to vent about it. So, like, I mean, that's where it's a fine line. Because, I mean, I'm the say, I feel like I'm 100% the same way. Sometimes I need to, like, just diarrhea at all out. And sometimes I'm like, I don't want, I don't need to tell you what happened today. Yeah, so true. I worked. I was on an airplane. That was my day. How do you feel about sleep aids? I know, like a lot of people, when they're talking about jet lag, recommend sleep aids and things. How do you feel about those?

Rich: 26:51

I've never been a fan like melatonin and things like that. I know a lot of flight attendants use, although I recently found out a lot of international carriers can't use any of that whatsoever. Yeah, but I've never, they've always made me feel groggy and weird, like I still have trouble falling asleep, and then when I wake up, I'm a mess. So I'm like, Was that really worth it in the beginning? So I've never been a big fan of it. What about you?

Andrew: 27:14

Yeah, I'm not really either. I mean, NyQuil, if I'm feeling under the weather, that's about all that I'll take, or single or something like that,

Rich: 27:22

but because NyQuil when you're sick, like, knocks you out gloriously, but in terms of being absolutely

Andrew: 27:28

needed healthy. But, yeah, no, for like, I'm not a big sleep aid person. I really just power through until I finally knock out and then figure out how to adjust myself. But I'm not, I'm not a fan. Yeah,

Rich: 27:43

I'm the same way. I was Googling earlier, like, what are tips to for jet lag that people do? And that was one of them that's on there. Other ones, stick to local time. We talked about that one, strategic napping we've talked about that one, but that is airline dependent, it seems. Yeah.

Andrew: 28:00

I mean, I am a big strategic Napper. I fully believe in it, like, I think that's really how you make it work, right? But also your flight has to be on time and your hotel has to be ready for you to check in. Like, strategic napping is not so strategic. Yeah, you're on the struggle boat, right? And that's how I end up searching Portugal for a euro.

Rich: 28:26

Another one was move your body. And this one's funny, because I think they're saying it in the way of, like, you should exercise to, like, wake your body up. I'm only doing the exercise to stay awake. Like, if I stop moving when I'm this tired and jet lagged, I will be asleep. I'll be asleep standing up. I'll be asleep on a bus. I'll be asleep on a bus bench. I'll be asleep on a sidewalk, I'll be asleep in a bar. Like it does not matter. I will be asleep.

Andrew: 28:50

This one is good. I mean, I understand it, but what irritates me is that I can picture the passengers who read this note and think that move your body means to, like, stand in the aisle when look my eyes already twitching. I'm trying to keep my eye from twitching. Friends are the people who like, stand up when you're doing the meal service and like, are doing yoga in the aisle because, like, my body needs to move. Or they're like, the ones in the galley doing galley yoga. Like they read this and thought, Oh, I know. I'll do galley yoga every 22 minutes. I didn't say do it on the plane. I didn't either. But you know that? You know the people who read this and take it that way, please, please sit down. Don't move your body on the plane.

Rich: 29:32

I mean, I get it on long flights, but people really do. And this is a whole tangent on its own, but people really do get up on like, a one hour flight and they're like, Oh, I just have to stretch. And I'm like, are you okay that you can't sit down for 30 minutes without getting up? Like,

Andrew: 29:47

and obviously we know it's not true. Sit down,

Rich: 29:51

get sunlight. I mean, that one I agree with, stay hydrated, adjust early. I'm never gonna do that, like, days before. Start adjusting to local time.

Andrew: 30:00

I know the only thing that I try to not jet lag, but I try to adjust my stomach like days before. Anytime we travel now, I start taking probiotics and things like days before. That's been a game change. The weakest stomach ever we go to Bali. Everyone around us is getting like, Bali belly, and I'm like, Oh, I started probiotic in three days. I'm like, brushing my teeth with their water. And everyone's like, aren't you scared? And I'm like, No, I'm fine. Everyone

Rich: 30:27

said they're going to Bali too. They're like, you're gonna get really sick. You're gonna get everybody gets it. It's Bali belly like, and both of us were fine. You were taking the probiotic. And I think I have a stomach of steel. I don't actually know what's wrong with me, but I don't get ill from things like that.

Andrew: 30:41

Speaking of Bali, this is the one time where I think we both mastered and failed jet lag all at the same time. We went in a day before our trip was supposed to start. No two days. We went in two full days before our trip was supposed to start. We rented this beautiful Airbnb with like this outdoor living space, and. This pool, and then it had this outdoor shower we were going to enjoy the shit out of this Airbnb. We get there, we jump into the pool because we're like, hot from, like, waiting, and it looks refreshing. We jump into the pool. We lay in the sun for like, two hours. And I say lay in the sun because we both fell asleep on this, like, sleeper bench that we had, and we were like, Okay, let's move inside and go to take a nap. We woke up a solid 24 hours later. We lost a full day, yeah? And we woke up at like, 10am and we're like, yeah, I guess it's good. We had two days.

Rich: 31:35

Yeah, we slept so much so, honestly, so worth it if you're going to Asia from the States. Plan a buffer Safety Day, because it's a buffer day to your buffer day for just pure sleep. It's, it's genius, highly recommend. But, yeah, that was pretty much it for the Google tips. I mean, it was all pretty standard, straightforward stuff that we do. I feel like

Andrew: 31:56

you have to know your body and how you adjust to things and so, like all of these tips and tricks are great, yeah, but they're not going to work for you individually, like not all of them are going to work. So, you know, I obviously need sleep and food to be able to master jet lag. But I

Rich: 32:15

think the biggest, best tip takeaway from all of this is buffer time, oh, like planning, like padding your travels so that you don't screw yourself. Like, don't plan on, you know, landing and hitting the ground running. Don't plan on doing whatever, like, have extra time built in so that you don't completely ruin your vacation by being completely jet lagged and messed up,

Andrew: 32:38

yeah, particularly, if you're taking a cruise stop planning to land 20 minutes before your cruise. I know, oh my

Rich: 32:45

god, the people that are like and the cruise leaves it too, and now I didn't make it because of you.

Andrew: 32:52

Yeah, a whole buffer day. Please. Plan a buffer day

Rich: 32:56

before we go. Let's do a quick round of galley gossip. We have another story from one of our listeners. Galley gossip is when we check in and we share stories from our listeners about crazy things that have happened on a flight, because people are always asking, What is the craziest thing that's ever happened to you on a flight? So whether you're a passenger, pilot, flight attendant, gate agent, whoever, we want to hear your stories. So go to two guys on a plane, comm slash podcast, submit your stories to us, and we'll read them right here on the show. You can remain anonymous if you want, but you don't have to use a fake name. That's fine, too, as long as the story is real. So this one is from Amanda. She was going from Boston to San Francisco. The gate agent came to the back of the airplane and says, We can't leave yet. TSA just called and said they just realized the guy went through security with a mouse in his pocket. Oh, Lord, we all so

Andrew: 33:47

many jokes to make right now. Sorry.

Rich: 33:51

Anyways, back to the story. We all looked at each other like, what? So she finds out which passenger and goes up to him, asks him if it's true. He says, No, it's not in my pocket. It's in a box in my backpack. Again. We're all like, what the fuck she takes him off? He's like, Well, if I give you the mouse, can I still go to San Francisco? No man, you hit a mouse in your pocket when you went through security. You can't be on this flight. I just really need to know if he found it in the airport in the first place, or if he brought it from home and was like, Yeah, bringing it across the country with me today seems like a great idea.

Andrew: 34:25

I it was in a box. It had to have come from home. Like, it doesn't make right? The story doesn't make sense, yeah, why were you carrying a box hoping to catch a mouse in an airport?

Rich: 34:35

I don't even really know what to think about this story. Why were you bringing the mouse with you? Where? Like, what was the purpose of bringing the mouse like? What? Also, a mouse can ground an airplane, if it's loose on an airplane, like, they can shoot through wiring. They can screw up the communication electronic systems. Like my some planes Not, not an idea, not a good idea.

Andrew: 34:57

I like your story, but I need you to be nosier in real life, I have follow up questions, and I feel like they should have been your follow up questions,

Rich: 35:07

more details. If we can get a part two, Amanda,

Andrew: 35:12

that would be great. Yeah. Did it come from home? What was he going to do with it once he got to San Francisco? Was this a pet? Was this just a random animal, right? Does he have a snake? Was he gonna feed it like what is happening? Amanda did not ask enough follow

Rich: 35:25

up, so many questions. So for those of you that are going to submit your story to us, we want details. We want all the details, so many details,

Unknown: 35:34

so many

Rich: 35:35

because we're gonna have questions. I always have questions. We'll keep sending us those stories. We love reading them, and we hope you like listening to them as much as we like reading them.

Andrew: 35:44

But a mouse, I still don't understand. Why do you have a mouse? Questions?

Rich: 35:50

Okay, closes out. We're ready to go. Before we go, we just want to say that we could not do this podcast without you, because your support truly means the world to us, and for those of. You on Patreon, we cannot thank you enough for your support. We want to give a quick shout out to the senior mamas of the group. In case you haven't checked it out yet, we have divided our tiers on Patreon into senior mama, new hire and domestic diva, because, of course, and our top tier is, of course, the senior mamas and we want to give a shout out to Carrie, Michelle, Kate, pup and Michaela for your amazing support of our podcast. Truly, we couldn't do this without you. We're not backed by a big studio, and we don't have huge sponsors or anything like that yet, so it truly takes your support to make all this happen. So thank you guys, and for those of you that haven't joined, feel free to go to patreon.com/two guys on a plane to support our show. And as a thank you, you'll get all sorts of great behind the scenes content. You'll get bloopers. You'll get extra episodes and stories about things that happen behind the scenes, as well as exclusive merch and more. So thank you all for your support, and we'll see you next

Andrew: 37:04

time. Join us for more humor, heart and stories from our beverage cart. Gotten so good at saying that I'm so excited.

Rich: 37:14

This episode was brought to you by staff traveler, the number one non rev app if you travel on standby tickets and are looking to make your journey easy and stress free. Check out the staff traveler app in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Visit staff traveler.com/two guys to learn more and sign up

Buzz Burbank: 37:32

an ironic media production. Visit us at I R O N, I C, K, media.com you.