What is the earliest we can go to bed on our first day in London?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could you pay for/have access to a club at the airport and take a shower and a nap? I've done that before.

Not if London is final destination. They will get spit out into the arrivals area and not have access to the main lounges in the departures area

There are arrivals lounges at Heathrow, but they are only accessible to business class arriving passengers, and don't have sleeping areas. They do have nice food and showers though

[Anonymous]

OP back. I've done a lot of research and it seems that our only real option is to get a "day room" at an airport hotel. I can find them for $75-100 to have access to a room near the airport from like 8am-2pm. So if we got one of these and then napped/slept from 8am-12pm and then got up and went on with our day, would that screw up our adjustment to the new time? Or would it be better to just gut it out? The only other option I found which I don't think we want is switching to a Virgin flight with a connection in JFK, making our transatlantic departure much later again. But it seems really foolish to introduce a connection when we don't have to. We got really burned by a connection last summer and lost an entire day of vacation.

WWYD in my situation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Our mid range hotel is costing almost $600/night (to sleep all four of us) so there is no way I will convince my husband to pay for another night just to nap. We may live to regret it, but he will never go for that I'm sure.

Then you will be completely miserable and you need to make it until at least 8pm. If you fall asleep anywhere between when you check in (4pm or so) and 8pm, you are screwed. So stay out of your room.

We were not planning to go to the room, just drop our bags at the hotel. It would be too early anyway. One blog I read recommended the hop on/hop off bus on arrival day so I think that is our plan to get an overview of the touristy stuff, be outside in the daylight, but nothing too exhausting.

You are all likely to fall asleep on the bus.

Is the OP the one who posted their London Paris schedule last week?

[Anonymous]

Don’t sleep. It will all be ok. I hit the ground running and walked and walked. Stayed outside. Walk and walk some more. Head to bed around 8pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Our mid range hotel is costing almost $600/night (to sleep all four of us) so there is no way I will convince my husband to pay for another night just to nap. We may live to regret it, but he will never go for that I'm sure.

Then you will be completely miserable and you need to make it until at least 8pm. If you fall asleep anywhere between when you check in (4pm or so) and 8pm, you are screwed. So stay out of your room.

We were not planning to go to the room, just drop our bags at the hotel. It would be too early anyway. One blog I read recommended the hop on/hop off bus on arrival day so I think that is our plan to get an overview of the touristy stuff, be outside in the daylight, but nothing too exhausting.

You are all likely to fall asleep on the bus.

Is the OP the one who posted their London Paris schedule last week?

OP here. Yes that was me too. I've decided to skip the bus.

[Anonymous]

You know your own body and tolerance. I am a night owl and can easily power through a day after minimal sleep. It’s the following day that I know I’ll need an early bedtime! I can’t seem to nap mid-day ever. My husband however could fall asleep for 4 hours on a clothesline at 5pm and still nod off for a full night’s sleep shortly afterwards.

In your case I’d get up crazy-early on the morning of the flight so I’d be good and tired just as the flight was getting going. Then I’d power through the day on the ground and be in bed after dinner. Then take every day thereafter with the bedtime and wake up you need to feel good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP back. I've done a lot of research and it seems that our only real option is to get a "day room" at an airport hotel. I can find them for $75-100 to have access to a room near the airport from like 8am-2pm. So if we got one of these and then napped/slept from 8am-12pm and then got up and went on with our day, would that screw up our adjustment to the new time? Or would it be better to just gut it out? The only other option I found which I don't think we want is switching to a Virgin flight with a connection in JFK, making our transatlantic departure much later again. But it seems really foolish to introduce a connection when we don't have to. We got really burned by a connection last summer and lost an entire day of vacation.

WWYD in my situation?

I would not do a connecting flight. Get the day room if you want so you can change and take showers at a minimum. If you feel like you need a nap then take a nap. Travel is unpredictable, it's better to be a little flexible and not try to plan every second when you don't know how you are going to to feel on that day. No amount of research will tell you that. Usually I'm fine to stay up all day after arrival, sometimes I feel like I need a nap for a couple of hours. Don't drive yourself nuts.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know why people get so hung up on what time to go to bed / staying up all the first day. Most people are not going to sleep much on an overnight flight to London. We do this trip every year and always arrive at our hotel in the early afternoon and all go straight down for a nap for 90 minutes or so. We get back up feeling somewhat refreshed and can go explore London and get an early dinner. I can’t imagine forcing myself to stay awake in order to adjust my body clock. It makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why people get so hung up on what time to go to bed / staying up all the first day. Most people are not going to sleep much on an overnight flight to London. We do this trip every year and always arrive at our hotel in the early afternoon and all go straight down for a nap for 90 minutes or so. We get back up feeling somewhat refreshed and can go explore London and get an early dinner. I can’t imagine forcing myself to stay awake in order to adjust my body clock. It makes no sense.

Meh, I’m never tired. Couldn’t imagine taking a nap. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP back. I've done a lot of research and it seems that our only real option is to get a "day room" at an airport hotel. I can find them for $75-100 to have access to a room near the airport from like 8am-2pm. So if we got one of these and then napped/slept from 8am-12pm and then got up and went on with our day, would that screw up our adjustment to the new time? Or would it be better to just gut it out? The only other option I found which I don't think we want is switching to a Virgin flight with a connection in JFK, making our transatlantic departure much later again. But it seems really foolish to introduce a connection when we don't have to. We got really burned by a connection last summer and lost an entire day of vacation.

WWYD in my situation?

OP, get the cheap day room. It's okay if you crash/nap. As long as you're not planning to have a jam-packed AM on Day 2.

Also it sort of counts as sleep if you close your eyes for a long time and just relax instead of sleeping. Sleep scientists believe that long unbroken hours of sleep are a post-industrial-revolution cultural artifact. Resting counts a little bit. Just stay off bright screens. Have the kids read paper books and stuff like that (travel guidebook?) if they can't sleep.

I responded to your other post. If you are getting Oyster cards, you actually can ride around on red doubledecker city buses without an expensive guided tour. They also go past the sights. It just seemed like not a great value to pay for a tourist tour when your kids are sleepiest on Day 1. (I love hop on hop off buses and they were my go to for US city tours when I had two young kids with less walking stamina.)

Here's the London transit agency's page.

https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/experience-london/bus-leisure-routes

[Anonymous]

Every time I’ve gone to Europe (5 times, so not a ton) I’ve napped briefly (like 30 mins) and it’s put me on the new time quite quickly. But I’m someone who gets a lot out of a 10-15 min power nap so there’s that. Two of those times it just so happened I had to go somewhere in a car and got picked up and fell asleep in the car ride.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t sleep. It will all be ok. I hit the ground running and walked and walked. Stayed outside. Walk and walk some more. Head to bed around 8pm.

Also OK if you nap. If you don’t sleep well on planes, I would do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know why people get so hung up on what time to go to bed / staying up all the first day. Most people are not going to sleep much on an overnight flight to London. We do this trip every year and always arrive at our hotel in the early afternoon and all go straight down for a nap for 90 minutes or so. We get back up feeling somewhat refreshed and can go explore London and get an early dinner. I can’t imagine forcing myself to stay awake in order to adjust my body clock. It makes no sense.

Different people have differing experiences and bodies and reactions to things, and it can be helpful to get input from people who may be similar to you who have experienced something and have guidance/ideas that would be helpful. Some people happen to sleep well on planes (I do not), and maybe a mid-day nap for them after 4 hours sleep on the plane would mean they aren't able to fall asleep until 2 or 3 AM the first night on the ground. Others can't sleep at all, but a 2 hour nap on the ground would mess up their ability to sleep later, so a 30 minute nap would be good for them.

Sometimes you just can't know what will work for you until you experience it yourself. But it makes sense to try and get info from others who may be similar to you. And also makes sense that others will have different experiences that aren't relevant to you.