I would not advise that as a good combination.
1. It's dangerous in terms of overdose
2. It can promote Ambien's sleep walking and hallucinogenic effects. My imagination shows some interesting things happening on an airplane, haha.
3. Alcohol especially interferes with your sleep cycle
4. It easily induces memory loss, confusion, and impaired judgement, something you probably don't want while traveling
5. It will increase dizziness and uncoordinated make you more prone to falling, which many people don't realize can be extremely dangerous if your reflexes are impaired
6. A worse hangover
Everyone reacts differently to alcohol and hypnotics, and even more so with combinations.
Melatonin is over-the-counter, cheap, is well tolerated, and has been controversially shown to help with jet lag and reacclimatizing your circadian rhythm. The extended-release formulation has been shown not to be effective, but the regular melatonin in meta-analysis has been show to be very effective, especially the greater number of timezone changes.
Take up to 5mg the night you arrive 30 minutes prior to sleep, continuing for the next few days, and the same when you return- it usually comes in 5mg tablets. Doses >5mg show no increased benefit. Don't take it if you're epileptic, having clotting issues, or are on blood thinners and of course talk to your doctor/pharm if you're on other meds. Some people recommend taking it in the morning (which makes no sense intuitively considering it makes you slightly tired). Studies show taking it in the morning (local time) lengthen the time for adaptation to the new time zone.
@Huntn, in terms of talking melatonin on the plane, I would generally reccomend against it. The research shows the best practice is to start taking the night you arrive and that if you're working against it, it will prolong the confusion of your sleep-cycle. The only time on the plane I would take it is in the rare event your flight allows for your normal # hours of sleep (i.e. 7) and when you arrive its around your normal wakeup time (7AM). The half life of the drug (also an endogenous molecule) is only about an hour. Melatonin is more about telling your body when to fall asleep rather than to stay asleep or when to wakeup. Taking melatonin in the new time zone (at the same time every night btw) programs your brain to fall asleep at X time. To take the drug simply to sleep on the plane will just screw things up.
For example, this is when I'd consider melatonin- NYC to Barcelona is a 7hr 45min flight. If you depart NY@ 5:25PM, you arrive at 7AM local time. Therefore, if you fell asleep shortly after getting on the plane, you would get your 7-8hrs of sleep and wakeup at your normal time in Spain. It's as if you're already going to bed at 11:00 PM on +1 time. Your body won't exactly get the environmental cues of time though.
Practicing good sleep hygiene is good too when you arrive- wind down for sleep, turn down the lights and turn off the tv, phone, etc an hour prior to sleep. Another thing is avoid caffeine. For some I know this is very hard. While it will wake you up in the morning, it will also cause you to crash later. I like @zhenya 's @Scepticalscribe 's ideas about exercise too.
If you go the prescription route, there are two major options. Non-Benzodiazpines (Ambien/Zolpidem, Lunesta, Sonata) hypnotics and Benzodizapines (BZD) (Xanax/alprazolam, Ativan/lorazepam, Valium/diazapem, etc). I'd recommend n-BZD as they tend to allow for better quality sleep. BZD's, like alcohol, interfere with the sleep cycle more than other meds. While they may knock you unconscious, you won't necessarily wake rested. Ambien/zolidem is generic and is the least expensive of the major, modern, n-bzd class hynotics. Triazolam is a BZD and good for jet lag because of it's very short duration (1-2hrs) of action that helps you fall sleep (rather than stay asleep), but it's not good to use more than absolutely necessary.
I suspect jet lag isn't simply about psychologically switching to a new timezone, it's also the entire body physiologically switching to a new timezone. Many, many of our natural chemicals are regulated differently though out the day, taking cues from environment (i.e. sunlight). We cannot consciously control most of these functions, let alone take a pill for them. Only time and the new environment can adapt our sensitive biological processes. Jet lag is really just inevitable.
Anyways, enjoy your trip @Huntn ! I was on vacation in Spain back in 2008 and spent 3-4 days in Barcelona. It's a beautiful place and very fun. Spanish cuisine is great too. Can you bring me back some Paella?
Informative post. Because I knew at best I might get 5 hrs sleep on the plane I opted not to take melatonin until the night after I arrived. It works well in that it gets you drowsy.
I don't know how long it takes for new sleep patterns to be solidly established with a change, but from past experience, I bounce back quickly to my original pattern because even on a 14 day trip which I used to do frequently on international trips, it's not enough to solidly switch me to the new pattern which could take a month or longer?
Regarding the food, sure thing, lol. Where should I send it?