The longest I've ever stayed awake
was when I came home from Kenya in 1993. It wasn't a bad trip, but sleep deprivation does something to a person. Here's the tale:

I was in Kenya on a safari with the college I was attending. I cannot sleep sitting up. Never have. On the way there, we spent the night in Frankfurt, so that made a nice two-day trip with a full night sleep. However, we didn't have that luxury on the way back.

7:30 am: wake up. Spend all day shopping, getting ready to go to the airport to go back to the good ole US of A.

10:30 pm: plane leaves Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi. I spend the 8-hour flight to Frankfurt reading, smoking (ah, the good old days!) and imagining the flight attendant in "crash position." Almost got the nerve to wank in the lavatory, but not quite. We land with 23 hours of no sleep.

6:30 am: Land in Frankfurt. Spent the next 8 hours people watching, looking at the shops and certainly not sleeping. I can't sleep unless things are dark and quiet. Yes, picky I know, but up to hour 31 now.

2:00 pm: Plane leaves for the 8 hour flight to Chicago. Again, not only am I sitting up, it is broad daylight out, and "Honeymoon in Vegas" is showing on the movie screen. No sleep, we touch down with 39 hours awake.

4:00 pm: Modern travel! 8 Hours of afternoon! We have to quickly catch a flight to Minneapolis, so no rest there.

5:30 pm: With about 41 hours of no sleep, the plane leaves Chicago for the one-hour flight to Minneapolis.

7:00 pm: After getting our bags, a van from the college picks us up for the 4-hour ride back to our college in Wisconsin.

8:30 pm: Finally pass out with exhaustion somewhere in the wild north woods between Minneapolis and Duluth.

Total count: 44 hours without sleep!
( setimret likes his metaphors mixed, not stirred, Fri 8 Sep 2006, 15:40, Reply)