Frequent traveler here. I don't like the flights to UK, Ireland, Portugal because they are so short like 7-ish hours, so if you leave at 6pm, you arrive at 1am your body clock time. As a night owl, I usually am about ready for bed just as we arrive then.

If you want to sleep, book a hotel by the airport on a day rate. Sometimes you have to contact them to get the day rate (not bookable on their site), but airport hotels all tend to have it. I arrive, get a few hours of sleep, work a bit, then head to my "real" hotel that afternoon like 3pm or so.

For napping strategy, I never nap later than 1pm. But this is definitely the way to go. It's VERY hard to get there at London time 7am and really be awake and moving around for the next 12-13 hours when you likely haven't slept on the plane at all. I hav done it alone as an adult and as other people describe, you almost feel delirious and what ends up happening is you can't even control yourself and just nod off if you even sit down. With kids, it's going to suck.

Time for your husband to get a grip and not be so cheap. Or you investigate other flight options.

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.

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.

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.

You are better off napping than going to bed early.

i agree with the napping suggestion. the no-nap thing is if you get in at like, noon. Unless you are a really good sleeper on airplanes, you will be delirious with sleepiness by late afternoon if you don't nap.

I like to drop my bags at the hotel, get in breakfast and a nice stroll, then get to my room around 10 am, shower, nap until 2 or 4 pm, then I eat a late lunch and stay out until at least 9 pm.

Another tip: Buy a snack for your hotel on one of your strolls, because for me, I always wake up around 3 am starving after transatlantic flights, and that snack gets me back to sleep so I can get up around 8 am and enjoy the next day.

Also remember it's a European vacation, not a sleep deprivation endurance contest. There is nothing wrong with sleeping when you need to sleep.

Anonymous wrote:I always nap. Ideally I book the room for the night before so I can check in, take a shower and nap for about 3 hrs. Good to go from there and not jetlag.

If you do this, make sure you let the hotel know ahead of time that you’ll be arriving in the morning. Otherwise they may cancel the room on you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always nap. Ideally I book the room for the night before so I can check in, take a shower and nap for about 3 hrs. Good to go from there and not jetlag.

+1 this is what we do for an early red eye. Check into the hotel around 8 am and sleep a few hours.

+2

But my last two trips I didn't nap until after noon. Then on my first full day I was in good shape both times.

Anonymous wrote:I always nap. Ideally I book the room for the night before so I can check in, take a shower and nap for about 3 hrs. Good to go from there and not jetlag.

+1 this is what we do for an early red eye. Check into the hotel around 8 am and sleep a few hours.

I always nap. Ideally I book the room for the night before so I can check in, take a shower and nap for about 3 hrs. Good to go from there and not jetlag.

I use 8pm as my goal for the first night

London has no curfew. You can go to bed whenever you want.

I took a 6:30 pm flight a couple of weeks ago, went to bed at around 9:30 pm. No naps, and even had a work event that evening. That worked well for me.

Virgin moved our 10pm flight to 6pm. Ugh. Now we arrive at 6:45am. I know we are not supposed to nap that day (OMG) so what is the earliest we can go to bed without making the jet lag worse?