[quote:a91ad3c6ae="Nick & Jacky"]Dont clock watch, just sleep when you feel like it....that worker for us.[/quote:a91ad3c6ae]
This is what we did. I couldn't be bothered to fret about timings, my only concern was that we landed in Auckland roughly on time as we were being met. We didn't have any lengthy bouts of sleep, just naps when we felt like it, but we still emerged at the other end feeling pretty chirpy. We flew with Thai Air and went via Karachi and Bangkok. Breaking the flight up this way added some interest, especially Bangkok, as we had a 7-hour stay there with hotel provided (usually only get one if you stay over 8 hours). Getting out of the airport did away with the feeling that we were tied to the plane by an umbilical cord and we felt somewhat refreshed getting back onto the plane for the final leg to Auckland. However, the taxi driver who took us to our hotel took us to the wrong one. Seems there was another hotel with the same name actually inside the airport and that's where we should have stayed. Because we'd ventured outside the airport perimeter, we were slammed with airport taxes when we went to get back on the plane. We'll have this again when we go back in a few days' time, but this will be a much longer stopover (arriving evening and leaving late afternoon the next day) and the hotel will be outside the airport.

A couple of days before setting off from Oman and during the flight we took an aspirin a day to help combat the threat of DVT. On the plane I also donned a support bandage on one leg and stretchy crepe bandage on the other one (already obtained for use with my broken ankle :icon_biggrin:) . Luckily I was wearing trousers so no one could see this. I was given these by the clinic to suppress the swelling, so that's possibly why wearing flight socks helps. Previously I'd always suffered with uncomfortable, resless legs on long flights, but this time all was well. Don't know if that was due to the supports or the aspirin, but I was very glad about it.

We tried to drink as much as possible (only one alcoholic drink to keep down dehydration) and ate whenever food was offered. We were disappointed that we didn't get a 'goody' bag from Thai Air, as we'd previously heard from other travellers that they'd had all sorts of things, including a nice fan (was looking forward to using this during the steamy Omani summer, as my current one is falling apart).

I would say I was dreading the flight and ensuing jetlag, but was pleasantly surprised that we emerged completely unscathed at the other end. Wouldn't be surprised though if we experience jetlag when we get back to Oman, as it's been said that travelling west to east is easier than east to west. If that is the case it could be that travellers going via LA would have jetlag on arriving in Auckland but not when returning the other way. Tablets to help with jetlag are supposed to be available at Auckland airport, so I'll probably invest in some as nothing is on offer for jetlag in Oman.