By: Riley Burridge
With international travel often comes an all-too-common challenge: jet lag. It’s frustrating when you have a packed itinerary and wake up each morning feeling like you’ve been hit by a bus—groggy, disoriented, and barely able to pull yourself out of bed.
Luckily, the travel industry is catching up to this problem. A new wave of science-backed apps is helping travelers sidestep jet lag altogether, giving you more energy to enjoy every moment of your trip from day one. These tools offer personalized, pre-travel adjustment plans based on your destination and itinerary—no more guessing when to sleep, caffeinate, or step into the light.
To see if these “travel hacks” actually work, we put them to the test. In late June, two of our team members took very different approaches to their international trips. Melissa flew to Japan and used the app Timeshifter, which her friend had recommended. Meanwhile, I jetted off to Switzerland, relying on a more traditional approach: winging it.
Melissa’s experience with Timeshifter was eye-opening—literally. The app created a custom schedule that guided her light exposure, caffeine intake, and even melatonin usage. Sure, it meant closing the blinds in the office in the middle of the afternoon and skipping that tempting espresso shot at the airport. But the payoff? She hit the ground running in Tokyo and didn’t miss a beat during her entire trip.
I, by contrast, took a more familiar route: I grabbed a few extra hours of sleep before flying and downloaded some movies for the flight. Once in Switzerland, I managed to check off each day’s activities, but the first three days were clouded by drowsiness and dinner-table dozing. It didn’t ruin the trip—but it did put a damper on those early, exciting moments that should have been spent exploring, not fighting sleep.
The lesson here is simple: when vacation time is limited and precious, sacrificing two or three days at the start to fight jet lag is too steep a price. A bit of upfront effort—just a few changes to your schedule before departure—can transform your entire trip.
Apps like Timeshifter and others in this emerging category are designed with your biology in mind. Created by sleep scientists and medical experts, these tools empower travelers to take control of their body clocks and make the most of every single day abroad. So, whether you’re heading to a bustling city halfway across the world or a quiet mountainside escape, consider syncing your schedule before you go. You might just find that the best travel hack isn’t what you pack, but how you prepare to arrive.