How long will the flight take from New York city JFK, to madrid, from what I"m thinking it's 6 hrs....

how do you adjust to jet leg? I've never traveled to a place where there was a time zone difference....

Hey,
I've taken the trip fron JFK to Madrid about seven times already and it's about 8 hours direct.
The best thing to do when travelling abroad is to sleep on the plane so when you arrive in the morning you're waking up to the current time.
Don't trink tooo much alcohol on the plane (I learned the hard way) and drink water. Bring a bottle on the plane, The flight attendants don't serve at one point during the flight (FAA Regs I think)
I get bad jet lag. My sleep patterns are usually off the first few days but that's half the fun. Taking a siesta when I first arrive helps but I'm a night owl.
Trick is to listen to your body and don't overdue it the first few days.
I find returning to the USA is worse for Jet lag especially if you have to function @ work.

this will help:
freeze gatorade. wrap it in foil. put it in your bag before you leave. at the end of your flight, pull it out of your bag and drink it down. it might even still have ice chips in it. this was a tip from a friend who travelled to the middle east all the time and since she told me about it i never forget it. nuthin like electrolytes...

Most flights from the US arrive early in the morning. I can't sleep on planes, but am normally excited to be in a new city and on vacation. I try to make it to lunch around 2 or 2:30, have a few beers or glasses of wine, then you can take a long siesta, wake up around 9 or 10PM then hit the town...

Just arrived home from Madrid yesterday. The flight out was 6.5 hours and 7hrs and 20 minutes home. Emergency row seats make for great leg room.

Debbie

Oh good... granada94, at least your flight wasn't ALL bad. Those Emergency row seats are real luxury. I feel like I'm in FIRST CLASS when I get those. It makes a long flight SO MUCH MORE comfortable.

But back to the topic, as granada94 says, the flight durations vary. The flight from NYC to Madrid can take 7 to 7.5 hours. This trip, while VERY exciting because YOU'RE GOING TO SPAIN(!) it is also very tiring and MOST of the flight it's dark outside, many people are sleeping in all kinds of odd positions and, as is often the case, SO is the person you need to get past in order to use the restroom. On the UP side, MOST flights have night-long movies or video entertainment and this helps A LOT to pass the time. I remember SO well when they'd only show ONE movie and THAT WAS IT. NOTHING else. Ugh. How boring. If you're reader then you'll have that to fill the gaps AND it'll help you fall asleep. But really, those seats, probably cramped leg-room, and eating a meal with your elbows jammed into your own sides can make a long flight like this very uncomfortable.

Saludos, MadridMan

Instead of frozen Gatorade, you could take some packages of the powdered Emergen-C. I think you can find them just about anywhere now. Buy a bottle of water, pour in the powder, shake it up and drink! Taste a few before you go if you've never drank them and are particular about flavors, they have a very wide variety of flavors now. They contain electrolytes too!

i always fly out of chicago and its about 9 hours direct to Madrid. the flight always leaves around 4:30 chicago time, and arrives in madrid around 8am. as far as jet lag, i think everbody is different. for me, i try to sleep on the plane as much as possible. then after landing i force myself to stay awake the entire day, NO napping. go to bed early that first night, like 11ish, get a good nights sleep and im pretty much good to go and on spain time when i wake up. coming back, same thing. i find it much easier to come back then to go, im not sure why. all that said, probably depends a lot on the person, thats just what works for me.

kelly

Most of the cheap flights from Seattle leave late at night, so you fly all night and arrive in Madrid in the evening. Kind of makes it easier, my natural rhythm is to want to sleep on the plane, then when I get there I only have to stay awake a few hours before it is local bedtime. Even though I *want* to sleep on the plane, I rarely sleep very well (if at all), so I am exhausted when I get there.

Also, a friend of mine swears by melatonin for helping your body to adjust to the local time zone. You can find it at travel stores and in a lot of regular grocery stores, if they have a pretty extensive vitamin section.

I like to take Airborne (vitamin c and other vitamins) on trips in general to keep my immune system up. Not sure if it really helps, but psychologically it does, at least

Good point
Always ask for a aisle seat thay way you can get up at will without disturbing other people.
I hate asking permission from someone to get up and I feel trapped in window seats (unless I know the person)