Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden is the perfect one-day cure for jet lag

Other than dealing with the “adjustment,” jet lag could be considered one of the most annoying things to deal with after a trip, especially when you were on the other side of the world. Some people could get over it fast, while others might take weeks to fully adapt to his/her normal schedule… (yikes, I know.)

Here’s my pro tip on how to get over jet lag in exactly one day.

I learned it after my trip to Asia for couple of weeks due to family circumstances. Perhaps it’ll also work for you, perhaps not, but hey, does not hurt to know an awesome place to spend the weekend, right?

I’d heard about Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden before and have been meaning to visit. After my international flight, I took a red eye from LAX to CLT and arrived around 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. We stopped for breakfast at Crispy Crepe, and then headed to the gardens.

Upon arriving, there is a lovely hallway leading to the main hall with lots of herbs and edible vegetables planted. It was beautiful to see all shades of green basked in sunshine. I already felt better.

After buying tickets, (remember to show your AAA card for a discount), I looked up, and was amazed by the beautiful colored glass roof. So lovely! After getting our maps and walked around the hall for a bit, we decided to start our adventure at the botanical garden.

First we started at the orchid house. I’d say this was probably my favorite spot of the day. It’s in a big green house style building, and you could feel the gentle mist spreading around the room to create the best environment for orchids. There were some interesting plants, and I did not miss the opportunity to feel that pointy tree using my hand.

Different colors and species of orchids – they were refreshing and beautiful. I almost thought I was in Singapore standing here looking at the flowers.

After the orchid house, we walked around the botanical garden a bit more – there were fountains, more green edible veggies and blooming flowers, a corner for the kids to play and explore, and towards the end of the garden there was an easy path/trail to walk around into the forest.

Trying to stay active as I started to feel a little sleepy (although I slept my way through the flight), we did the trail and it was awesome. We walked into the woods covered by big green trees. It was nice and quiet with occasional breeze. Additionally, we also found super interesting hidden art display while walking.

The walk was awesome to be back in “nature” again after weeks spent in busy Asia city life. I loved it, and I felt more energetic after the walk because I was out there doing something to stay active.

After all that sunshine, walking, and seeing things, we stopped by the gift shop for the AC and to rest a little bit towards the end of our tour. What’s more perfect than to have a bottle of ice cold beer or cool water while discovering the garden shop?

The trip to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden did me good. It was definitely helpful to walk around, see things, and stay very active (with good food!) the first day back from the other side of the world. I did take a short nap in the late afternoon, but could proudly say I was pretty much over jet lag by Sunday!