Not sleeping - Flying

Sleep and I don't always get along; we cross paths daily however it's not always a meeting of two long lost friends, a warm embrace and a comfortable catch-up. Sure, sometimes it feels like that, long hours of getting closely acquainted, but often it's a tumultuous, titanic struggle that I mostly lose. I manage somehow though, to function after broken or lack of sleep I mean, and there's moments when I'm able to catch up now and then as well; not necessarily on the lost hours, but on the quality of the sleep. It's not an ideal relationship but it's what I have so I work with it.

My inability to find the beautiful solace and respite that is sleep is due to many reasons I'll not go into here, although there's one reason I'm most happy to accept and share here.

I finished work today and went home to finalise packing for a flight I'm taking tomorrow - the first since the pandemic shenanigans - to spend a couple weeks on vacation in the tropical north of Australia. I'm pretty excited. It's an early flight so I decided to stay at the airport hotel overnight which would mean I'd not have to wake up so early for the flight although, as it is, I'll be up at 04:30. But here's the thing, I'll probably not sleep much anyway!

I always have trouble sleeping the night before an adventure. Fear of sleeping through my alarm? Excitement about the trip? Hmm, maybe a little of both. Maybe tonight I'll be able to add, shitty hotel bed to the list, although this one feels pretty good so I doubt I will be able to lay the blame there. I'll do my best though...to sleep, not lay blame.

I've got a full day of flights tomorrow, two in total with a five hour stopover in Melbourne between them. It's not going to be pleasant but maybe I'll get a little sleep on the stopover and some more in the three hour flight north...We'll see. I'll probably arrive at my destination feeling worse for wear through lack of sleep but hey, I'd rather feel like that for a day whilst on holiday than feel like that at work after a sleep night. I'm trying to see the positives here folks.

How about you? What are you like before a trip. Do you sleep and if so do you do anything in particular to make it happen? Or are you like me, one who finds sleep before an adventure difficult to come by. Drop me a line in the comments if you'd like.