On my first trip around South East Asia, I decided not to take a cellphone which I generally used while at home to set alarms. It was a liberating trip; it was so nice to not always be contactable and to spend my time engaging with the people around me, rather than using a smartphone to constantly check Facebook and what others were up to. There were downsides to not having a phone, though and the main thing was not having an alarm feature. Not long into my trip I decided it wasn’t possible to travel without the time, especially with a large number of early morning flights, and eventually settled on buying a watch.
Get a Watch:
Many of us no longer use watches because we constantly have our smartphone with us. However, there are lots of times when watches are simply invaluable, both on the road and back at home. For starters, watches tend to last indefinitely longer than cellphones, especially smartphones. I currently have an iPhone 5s and the battery barely lasts a day if I am using a lot of apps on it. Because of this battery inefficiency, for the purpose of timekeeping watches are simply a lot more efficient.
Set a Few Alarms:
There have been a number of times when I’ve had an early morning flight, train or bus to catch and accidentally slept through my alarm. Thankfully, I’ve not missed anything yet but there’s nothing worse than waking up when you were planning to leave, having to pack, get dressed and sort out how you’re getting to your place of departure. I have a wonderful talent of being able to turn off alarms without even realising I’m doing so and remaining asleep. Setting a few alarms helps alleviate this problem.
Switch to Your New Time Zone:
If you’re traveling across time zones, especially by way of plane, it can be very disorientating. Before I’m even on the plane, I like to set the time on my watch to my destination’s timezone. This allows me to start adjusting much quicker than usual and ensures it is less stress on my body. The day before I leave I will start thinking about what time it is in my destination, whether I should be sleeping, awake, eating or having dinner. Once you’re on your flight, and your watch is set to your destination’s time, spend some time glancing at it. If your watch says 2pm, start thinking about the sunshine at that hour, how long until you’ll have to go to sleep and even try to organise your sleep and wake times on the plane in accordance with your destination’s timezone. Using a watch to switch to your new time zone is one of the biggest things you can do to minimise jet lag.
Watches can be a very simple tool that makes traveling easier, more comfortable and just a lot less stress! Do you travel with a watch? Let me know in the comments below.
