We drop our bags off at the hotel and then spend the whole day out in the city and only come back to collapse to a deep sleep around 8pm. This is by far the best way to avoid jet lag.

Used to do the drop bags and go for a walk thing.

We're older now, and we book the night before. Can't sleep on the flight and the sleep deprivation is brutal. We take a nap when we arrive but keep it to a couple of hours. Then use zolpidem at bedtime to ensure a decent night's sleep.

I guess you can't drug the kids, though.

Adding on, you need to call the hotel to let them know you will be arriving in the am or they might release your room.

We book the night before

We don't sleep on red eyes. Usually we go to my parents' apartment first, and take a nap, but occasionally we're rented a car and gone to a house rental outside the city. It's exhausting to do after not sleeping the night before, though.

I can sleep fine on an overnight flight but London from the east coast is too short a flight. I pay up for a hotel room the night before, check in, take a 2-3 hour nap then force myself up and take a walk/explore outside.

It may seem kind pf indulgent - a whole night's expense for a nap and a shower but otherwise I lose a whole day or two's vacation to jet lag.

We took a red-eye to Paris so we landed during breakfast .
We left the suitcases at the hotel front desk and leisurely walked around, coffee, explored, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Nobody in my family can sleep on a flight. So we know atleast the kids will crash as soon as we land. When we went to London 5 years ago, we managed to find an excellent Airbnb that was willing to let us check in around 9 AM. Heathrow is a nightmare and it took us a while to get out. I don't know if we Airbnbs are accomodative like that anymore. We had to reach out to a lot of them to find someone that agreed.

Hard to get that now. Good places will be booked up most nights and need time to turn over the space. I wouldn't assume this is something you could get now. We arrived at our rental at 11 AM and the cleaning crew was there. They allowed us to drop off our bags and then texted us 2 hours later when they were done. A 8 or 9 AM arrival may see the previous guest still there.

Drop bags and go walk in the sun. Best thing for jet lag. Push through till an early dinner then crash and burn -- 12 hours sleep.

Hotel will definitely allow you to check-in at 8 AM if you booked the night before- but you absolutely have to call/email them to tell them that's your plan. Pretty much all hotels will cancel your reservation by 11 PM or midnight if you haven't checked in. I had this happen once with a very delayed flight and it was very frustrating. I always call now in this situation.

Nobody in my family can sleep on a flight. So we know atleast the kids will crash as soon as we land. When we went to London 5 years ago, we managed to find an excellent Airbnb that was willing to let us check in around 9 AM. Heathrow is a nightmare and it took us a while to get out. I don't know if we Airbnbs are accomodative like that anymore. We had to reach out to a lot of them to find someone that agreed.

I have only done this for work but each time I have been able to check into my room early around 11am on my day of arrival. If there is a group of us we will often pay for one room the night before and inform the hotel of the morning arrival just to be on the safe side so we know we have one room to shower and change in before same day meetings. Most hotels will keep your luggage for you even if they do not have your room ready yet.

To adjust to the time difference, it's best to try to stay awake. We planned to just drop our bags at the hotel in London and go out, but they happened to have the room available when we arrived, so we napped from about 8 to 10 am and then went out for the day. It probably worked out better in the afternoon/evening, but it was a huge struggle to get the kids to wake up and go at 10 am.

1) Drop bags off at hotel (room probably isn't available in am, but most hotels will store bags for you). 2) Go explore.

I would never book for the night before to have access to the room right away the morning of arrival, because I'd crawl into bed and fall asleep, lol, and that is the last thing you want to do with jet lag.

Do you go ahead and book your accommodation to begin the night before, so you can go straight there? Or do you wander the city until afternoon check in time?

This is our first family trip to London and I’m trying to determine the best plan for arrival. I know we’ll likely be tired but wondering if it’s worth the cost of am additional hotel night to be able to rest when we get there.

Also do the European hotels allow you to check in during the morning, if you reserved for the night before? Or do they give your room away if you don’t show up?