I haven’t been to Europe for several years. When the opportunity came up to bring three generations of my family here, I jumped at the chance. The last time I had such a special trip was when we all went to Japan with my immediate family and my mother-in-law.
Yesterday, we arrived in Frankfurt, Germany after an 11+ hour/9 time zone flight. It’s now about noon local time or 3 a.m. according to my body. Going West to East is always more difficult for the body to adapt. In the 80’s I traveled to Europe for bodybuilding events several times a year. I learned that the best way to adapt to the time zone change was to “live” in the local zone on the first day. DO NOT fall asleep during the day, push through to your regular bedtime on local time.
Right after checking in, we hit the hotel gym. I use the word “gym” loosely here. There was a bench, two sets of adjustable dumbbells and some cardio machines. Successful travel is all about adaption — to time, local culture, etc. And, that included this minimalist gym. The adaption process included a very hot unventilated room. I did chest, back, shoulders and arms, and felt 100% better than when I started. A workout can fix almost anything.
Then we were off to lunch and about three hours of walking around to visit a few tourist sites.
Returning to the hotel in the afternoon, I hooked up to the excellent free WiFi connection and caught up on the day’s emails, followed by a Skype call to the office via iPad (a wonderful technology obsession). We rarely see white asparagus in Los Angeles, so I was quite pleased to see it as an appetizer with Hollandaise sauce during dinner. Out of this world!
The sunset was spectacular. Then off to bed at my regular time (locally).
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