There's nothing like forcing your body to do stuff it doesn't want to do, in order to be able to do the things it needs to do the following day.
I left Newark Airport yesterday morning at 08:22. Which means I woke up around 5:00 yesterday EDT. In Pacific time, that's 2AM.
But, I needed to get onto Pacific Time right quick, or every night around 7 or 8, I'd be dying, getting ready to fall into bed, etc.
So, after spending 8 hours in the air, working 5 hours at the Registration booth downstairs, and a number of hours on either side of that waking or waiting in airports, I pushed myself to stay up late, really late, in the hopes of kicking my internal clock onto Pacific Time in one fell swoop.
I'm amazed. It worked flawlessly.
In NY, I wake up at 6AM every time without an alarm clock, sometimes even earlier. Today, no alarm clock in sight and three hours "off-kilter", I woke up at 6AM exactly, feeling rested and ready to go.
I figure I'll probably have to force myself tonight again to stay up, but then it should be over, and I should be perfectly fine.
In all the years I've been traveling back and forth the UK, I've always failed miserably when trying to force myself to stay awake, my usual crankiness is multiplied ten fold.
Takes me a good 3 days to get used to UK time when I fly home, and even longer when I get back to NY. It's definitely the one thing I hate the most when traveling such long distances.