The many faces of jetlag, or, The real enemy is sleep deprivation

I think it's Wednesday. I could be wrong. In some time zone, and to pick a random one, say BST, I am. I'm not sure what time zone it feels like, but I know the feeling of sleep deprivation any day of the week.
I'm learning that jetlag isn't predictable. Like altitude sickness, it doesn't matter how many times you travel or climb mountains, you can still be struck down. Last year, after returning to England after a week in Washington DC, I got the works. Tiredness, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, nausea. I didn't even know nausea was part of the package, but it is, and I got it.
This time round, I fell into the typical first day trap – jetlag doesn't really kick in for 24 hours, so for the first day you think you've got away with it. You haven't. On the second day, oh that's when the thumbscrews come out.
I got to Boston on Sunday, feeling tired but ok. I stayed awake until 10pm, and slept pretty well, spending just an hour and a half awake during the night. Monday passed without any real problem, and I happily fell asleep at 10.30pm, feeling quite smug that I'd missed out on the jetlag this time round. I fell asleep immediately, but at 2am, my eyes opened, and that was it for the night. I was awake. I knew that if I got up and did something, I'd end up more awake, not more tired – and it's very difficult to mooch about someone else's house – so I stayed in bed. I dropped off again about 10 minutes before I had to get up.
At one point, I got a bit peckish. I learnt a long time ago to always travel with food, so I had a nibble on a 'Brunch Bar', but a nibble was all I could manage. As soon as I took a bite I felt nauseous.
So yesterday I was running on nothing but the smell of an oily rag. I will admit that my talk was really not my best. I really struggled to string a sentence together, to hold my thoughts in order and present them in a meaningful way. I don't know how much it showed, but I felt crap.
Last night, I was asleep, again, by 10.30pm, but I slept the whole way through until 7am, which is not bad going. I lounged about in bed, answered email, and then packed ready to catch my 12.35 flight from Logan airport. As it turned out, the hotel that the conference was in, and where I stayed for one night – the Westin Waterfront – is right by the airport. Well, across the water from the airport at least. Convenient.
Less convenient was finding out that my flight was cancelled. Earliest flight that they could put me on was the 8.20pm flight to Vegas, connecting through to San Francisco, and arriving at 1.30am. Great. After an hour in the queue, I got rebooked and went back to the Westin to hang out with Thomas and Leisa, whom I bumped into when I got there.
I'm now back at Logan airport, ready for my flight to Vegas. Apparently it's overbooked. I really, really hope that I get a seat, because if I have to fly tomorrow, that would be really, really bad. If all goes well, I'll be in bed by, I dunno, 2am, maybe 2.30am. Supernova starts at stupid o'clock. I think I'll be missing a few sessions.
I just hope I can nap on the plane.
Btw, there's no wifi here. I'll post this tomorrow which, for you, will be today, but just know that this post was written in the past, sitting at Gate 20, Logan Airport, praying that it all goes ok.
UPDATE: The journey went relatively well. I dozed on the first leg, although real sleep was prohibited by the uncomfortableness of the seats and the snoring woman beside me. Had a bit of a moment at Vegas, when it took them 20 minutes to get the jetway up to the plane so we could disembark, but I did manage to find my onward gate ok. I'd been booked into first class for the second leg – shame it wasn't the other way round. Slept like a log for an hour and a bit. Lovely!
Maciej picked me up at SF, at 2am local time… which was 5am Eastern and 10am BST. Gah. My body has no idea where it is. I was in bed by 3am, but awake again by 7.30am. Well, I guess we'll see how today goes.
Right now, I'm off to Supernova and hoping I can hold it all together for another day.