h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The amount of jet lag you'll get depends very much on what sort of person you are. If you are a late riser, you get off a lot easier, in general, than an early riser. In my experience, anyway...

I think it has to do with whether you are going East or West. I am an early riser
and I had very little problem with Jet Lag going from New York to London
but a lot going from London back to the US.

That should be it! I'm a late riser, and going from Europe to the US is easy, the way back is awful.

I have found that going east is definitely the hard part - I have no problems with going west but take a couple of days to recover after east-going flights.

IMHO it's not a matter of early/late rising. If you travel from east to west you have to pay with some hours of sleep you won't get. But you will get tham back when travelling from west to east. It's just some hours of borrowed time.

Well it depends when you fly, doesn't it - and how you work it...
If you go East to West you could pay with some hours of staying awake you won't get...