During long airport waits, sleep mask for quiet cat naps

Headlines blare: airport computer glitch causes nationwide flight delays for hours. Add the usual winter and holiday schedule screw-ups, and passengers should prepare to spend hours sitting, fuming and griping on butt-hard seats in the airport. Is there anything you can do to make the long hours of waiting, if not pleasant, at least almost bearable? Here are some suggestions:

1. Electronics and more electronics: Bring along a laptop with DVD player and stash of discs. You can work, listen and/or watch to pass the dragging time away.

2. Privacy, sort of: Bring noise-reducing earphones and eye mask to blot out some of the noise and harsh lights of the airport waiting room.

You suddenly find you’ll be getting a week off, and you want to find a place to relax. You don’t have much time for plans, because you don’t want to waste any of those days. You need to find last-minute travel pronto.

To choose the best locations for last-minute vacation travel, there are many variables. If you're willing to pay for the convenience, vacations to favorite cities, including Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rome and others can offer anything you need for a fulfilling, if very expensive, vacation experience.

1. Before you travel, visit your doctor to get a check up, advice for keeping healthy while in the air or on the road and review and renew any prescription medications you should take with you.

2. No matter where you are in your travels, frequently wash your hands, especially after touching surfaces, such as railings and bathroom doors.

3. If you’re booked to fly red eye (late night) and are given a pillow and/or blanket, make sure they’ve been laundered after previous use.

4. When you sit down on public toilets, use paper seat covers.

We’ve all experienced it. Tired and cranky, we just can’t close our wide-open bloodshot eyes and get some rest. Jet lag is not just a lack of sleep while traveling. It involves your body’s objection when not allowed to have its normal routine. It demands eight hours of uninterrupted sleep at the same time every 24 hours, or it will give you lots of trouble.

Jet lag often shows up as one or more symptoms: headaches, eye strain, upset stomach and/or confusion, and when there are schedule problems, anxiety and frustration-fueled anger. There are ways to help your head and body to stop punishing you and help you fight jet lag.

1. Before you travel, practice changing your sleep schedules several times to anticipate a night in the sky or on the road. For example, if you plan to fly or drive red-eye, for several days before you go, try to have your regular sleep from 4 pm to midnight. This may help ease the adjustment.