It’s exactly 1:13am in London, UK, and I’m wide awake.

“Don’t watch the movies on the plane,” a friend told me recently.

“Just try to sleep,” she said, saying that she never gets jetlagged on her trips to Europe from Hawaii and return. Her trick is to buy a lie-flat seat on the airplane, and sleep the whole way.

My flight left Honolulu on Tuesday night at 10:45 pm, and I was already tired. Because I got upgraded, I was sitting in seat 2B so there was no way I was going to sleep in first class. I wasn’t hungry because I had eaten a relatively big dinner before I left, and turned down the offer of food, but wouldn’t you know it, they put the chicken salad, dinner roll and dessert tray in front of me and I went ahead and ate it.

Shortly before arrival into Los Angeles, we were served breakfast and of course, I ate that. It was 6:45 am Los Angeles time, which meant it was 3:45 am in Honolulu and of course, I hadn’t slept a wink. I had a three hour layover at LAX which I spent reading my emails and catching up on the news, a short 50-minute jaunt to San Francisco where I had only 45 minutes between flights to walk all the way to the International Terminal, just barely making it to my 10:00 am flight to London.

I was seated next to two young boys, probably aged 10 and 12, who took the window and middle seats in row 21, and I was on the aisle seat, my preferred location. In times past, I’ve felt that having the aisle seat gives me a little more room, but not true this time. The boy next to me did not know the concept of personal space and more than hogged the armrest, bumping into me at least a dozen times. Wouldn’t you know it, he and his brother got up to use the lavatory numerous times—they just couldn’t sit still.

Oooh, that flight seemed so long! I must confess that I kept hearing my friend’s admonition not to watch the movies, but I succumbed and was looking at the screen the whole way.

I did watch a very interesting documentary on Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the 19-year-old cellist who won the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year and played at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. It was amazing to me to learn that all the kids in his family (he is number 3 of 7) are extraordinary musicians who perform at extremely high levels. In their home, they have numerous pianos, violins, cellos and even a viola, making their large home sound like a music conservatory!

I remember one scene in which his mother, who is a non-musician, was asked if she ever had to remind the children to practice, and she said ‘no,’ they all found such joy in it that they spent nearly every waking moment making music. I was so jealous at hearing this, because with few exceptions, my organ students DON’T practice and my lessons with them turn out to be just practice sessions.

Since my flight arrived a half-hour early into London, I breezed through Immigration and had a little time to wait in the arrivals hall for my friend, Joan Ishibashi, who got caught in the London morning traffic. I took these pictures, the second of which is my jetlagged self, looking horrible!

Joan arrived shortly and she helped take some of my luggage as we walked a long way to get to the train which would take us to her neighborhood of Southall. I am already regretting how heavy and bulky my luggage is! I had packed and repacked my bags several times before I left, deciding to give up using my new suitcase because it was too heavy even while empty.

After a train ride, we then took a bus to her home, and luckily her house is directly across from the bus stop. I did take this picture of us in her living room. I bet you can’t guess that I was feeling like a zombie!

On the bus, I tried to take a picture of a building we passed, which is hard to see because the bus windows were so dirty. The sign says “Suman Marriage Broker.” Apparently we are in a neighborhood of Indian and Pakistani immigrants where arranged marriages are not uncommon. Really, though, it’s not too much different from a dating service like  Match.com or eHarmony, I guess!

After a few hours of visiting and me showing Joan pictures and videos on my phone, we headed back to London Heathrow where my hotel is located a short distance from Terminal 4. For the first time, I am staying in the Premier Inn, a rather new hotel which is very contemporary and modern looking and exceptionally clean, for only 55 GBP pounds per night! What is also great is that it is adjacent to the airport, and there’s no need to take another bus, which is something I’ve always done in the past when staying at London Heathrow.

We dropped my bags in my room, then ate a very nice lunch in the hotel bar since the restaurant had already finished serving lunch.  I went back to the room to shower and finally to nap. I can’t calculate how many hours it has been since I lay in a bed, but truthfully, I did have a little difficulty falling asleep, only to wake up at 5:30 pm, then 8:30 pm, to watch a little TV.

Now it’s 2:18, and I’ve just finished writing. Oh, the joys of travel and jetlag! That’s what you get when you cross 11 time zones.