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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. To close out several of our shows this week, we're talking travel tips with a travel expert. It's Brian Kelly, who founded the travel website, The Points Guy, in 2010. His work focuses on finding the best travel deals and specifically how to leverage credit card points for travel while not overspending. In his new book, How to Win at Travel, he provides a broad range of advice, everything from budgeting for travel to handling flight anxiety and what to do if your flight is delayed or canceled. We're taking advantage of his knowledge on a few different things this week.

So far, we've talked about how to book the best deal, how to handle some things that can go wrong. That was yesterday. We continue now with how to stay healthy when traveling and how to manage fear of flying. Brian, welcome back to WNYC.

Brian Kelly: Thanks for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Jet lag. What is jet lag? It's not just fatigue and sleeplessness, right?

Brian Kelly: Jet lag is caused by your circadian rhythm, which regulates everything when you wake up, when all of your major bodily functions function. Jet lag can have a lot of different effects. Mostly, we notice waking up at weird hours of the night. This can really be a drag on a trip. I know the worst jet lag by studies is New York to Tokyo. It's generally one hour per day for each hour of time change. If you're going somewhere like Asia that's 12 hours difference, you're going to not naturally adjust for 12 days.

Now most people will be getting ready to leave or have come home before they were fully adjusted. The biggest factor of jet lag is controlling light. Our eyes have two functions. Number one, to see. Number two, they register light, which signals our circadian rhythms to either go to sleep or to wake up. It's all about protecting or getting light at the right times to help your circadian rhythm get into the new time zone.

Brian Lehrer: Wear eye masks on the flight if you're going to take a nap?

Brian Kelly: Absolutely. The biggest thing that I've used, and in my research, there's an app called Timeshifter. Timeshifter makes personalized recommendations. There's no one-size-fits-all with jet lag because everyone has a different circadian clock. This is the reason why some people are early birds, some people are night owls. Everyone's circadian rhythm is different. Therefore, based on your sleeping patterns and where you're going, your age, and a bunch of other factors, in general, what you need to do before a trip is start adjusting to your new time zone that you're traveling to a little bit. Each night, going to bed earlier, cutting caffeine earlier in the day.

One mistake most people make is melatonin can be a game changer. Help you go to sleep, but you need to take low dose but fast-acting melatonin. So many people take gummies that start working after they're asleep and then can actually disrupt their sleep. Starting to adjust for a trip before you leave is critical. This can cut your jet lag time down dramatically.

Brian Lehrer: You're pro melatonin to take you down. I hear you. Fast-acting melatonin. You're not against caffeine to wake you back up?

Brian Kelly: Absolutely not. It can be a great tool to help you stay awake when you need to. To answer your question, so even if you can't sleep on planes, wearing sunglasses and sitting far away from the TV can still help your body get the darkness it needs. Bright screens can really throw off your circadian rhythm. While you may think it's helpful in the middle of the night to watch TV to help go to sleep, it can really be you're doing yourself a disservice, basically. You can actually watch TV, though, with sunglasses on, and it's much less harmful to your jet lag process.

Brian Lehrer: Huh. Let's talk fear of flying. You're right that there is no other mode of transportation as safe as flying. We know that's statistically true. Yet, fear of flying is really common. One big way to deal with it, you're right, is to understand how planes work. You mean the wings and the engines? What?

Brian Kelly: Well, a lot of people just have discomfort around not understanding how aviation works, how is this possible? They're stressed thinking about the plane lifting off from the ground. There are a bunch of different techniques to overcome this. There's actually a service called Dial a Pilot, where you can speak with a certified pilot before your flight. A lot of people who have that sort of fear have mentioned that this helps you. Also, if it's really bad, airlines like Virgin Atlantic have actual universities for fear of flying, where you learn the ins and outs, talk to pilots, and really understand it. That can definitely help people overcome their fear of flying.

Brian Lehrer: Do you want to say briefly how safe planes really are? Is it worth doing some numbers?

Brian Kelly: Yes. Before I wrote this book last year, so before the most recent incident in DC, which is quite tragic and concerning for a lot of reasons, but in general, you'd need to travel every single day for 103,000 years to have a statistically relevant chance of dying in a plane crash. It is remarkably safe. Air travel is extraordinarily safe, especially here in the US. For those who do still have issues with fear of flying, hypnosis can actually be very helpful. I've talked to a lot of people in writing the book who have this. Also, there's a technique called emotional freedom therapy, where they help explore why you're anxious around travel and then target the reasons.

Brian Lehrer: Oh.

Brian Kelly: The biggest tips is just keep flying. The more you fly, the more you will generally become accustomed to it. Keeping your mind busy, listening to your favorite podcast, playing cards, anything to keep your mind busy and not focused on your anxiety is helpful.

Brian Lehrer: Is fear of turbulence the most common trigger?

Brian Kelly: That is a huge trigger for people. If you have your seatbelt on, there's nothing for you to worry about turbulence. There's even websites like Turbli, T-U-R-B-L-I, dot com, which will actually give you a forecast. If you're having anxiety around potential turbulence, there are very scientific models to help predict if there is or isn't on your route. This can be helpful. Instead of just thinking it's going to potentially be horrible, you may get a forecast that shows you that it's supposed to be a smooth ride. If you keep your seatbelt on, you have nothing to fear with turbulence.

Brian Lehrer: Can you do one more common trigger and a way to address it in like 15 seconds?

Brian Kelly: Yes. Claustrophobia. This is why I recommend you use your points, fly in business class. It is doctor's orders to fly up front. It'll help with your fear of flying.

Brian Lehrer: Oh. Brian Kelly, who founded the travel website, The Points Guy, and is now the author of How to Win at Travel. He's been with us the last three days with all of these awesome travel tips. Brian, thank you so much.

Brian Kelly: Thanks for having me. Safe travels.

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