Fight jet lag by not eating, think that will work?

I read a news article this week that said a good cure for jet lag is to fast 16 hours before the flight and then eat a normal meal schedule once you land. This apparently works by throwing off your internal clock and when you start eating again it starts back up. I am tempted to try it next week since we leave the US at 5pm and arrive in Rome around 8am. I think with some fasting and an Ambien on the flight I could be ready to go 100% on that first day. I haven't seen anyone say that they have tried it and it works yet though. I have found a ton of jet lag diets online though.

The last few trips, jet lag has really killed the first day. Last year on our first day in Berlin my wife and I were both pretty exhausted from the flight. With it also raining, our first day was terrible. Berlin still managed to be one our favorite cities so far. This year we have also planned on our first day not being as filled but I hate to waste time traveling with naps.

I also wonder, is this a ploy by the airlines to cut costs just a little more? "Hey, maybe we can convince all those already profitable international travelers to not eat on the flights and save a little more. We should fund a study!" You never know...

One week to go and I feel really unprepared

My wife and I leave for our trip to Italy and the Normandy region of France one week from today. I feel very unprepared. She has done most of the planning so that plays a big part of it but I really don't know our itinerary much beyond what cities we are going to. (They are Rome -> Siena -> Florence -> Venice -> and Bayeux (via Paris and then Caen)) in France.)

We do have reservations for all our lodging though which is a relief. Our last 2 trips have caused a little stress due to not having reservations and arriving in cities on a bank holiday or when there is a very large festival going on. I also have all but one of those places in a file that I just need to load into my GPS so we can be sure to find them when we are there.

I think this weekend I will spend some serious time figuring out our schedule and the things that are high priority on my list. I also have some travel suggestions from my co-worker whose sister just came back from a Rick Steves tour of Italy that I need to review.

Also, I hope to blog while we are traveling but it takes me so long to write posts and getting to a computer every day is not a guarantee. If I don't blog, I at least hope to use Twitter so you can follow me there if you feel so inclined.

Where we are staying in Rome, an apartment!

My wife decided that instead of staying in a hotel, bed and breakfast or hostel as we normally would, we should try staying in an apartment in Rome. She found the site Rental in Rome that rents out a ton of different apartments and even whole villas or castles! The apartments range from about €85 - €200+ per night.

We went with the Costantino Loft for €90 ($139 currently) per night. It is right around the corner from the Colosseum too. It did take us forever to get the place booked because with our trip about 2 months away (from when we started requesting), most everything was already taken. My wife finally requested under her name and my name and instead of just sending a first and second choice she sent a whole list of preferences. Whoever was handling her emails was super slow but my request was handled quickly.

All we had to do was fill out a form, email it back, and pay a 20% deposit. I payed with PayPal. It was simple and efficient. I'll blog more about the place when we actually stay there. Now I have to figure out everything we are going to do in Rome. Ciao for now.