sit outside and drink coffee, then check into hotel (we book night before) and shower and then go walk around and explore. Try to stay up until at least 9pm.

Anonymous wrote:I fly A lot and rarely sleep on planes. I cannot go w/o a shower, so I do one of the following:

1. Pay for an extra night
2. Buy a pass at airport lounge to take a shower
3. Get a " day room" on day use App
4. Pay to check in early
5.Act nicely and check in early gratis

For people who roam around w/o showering, aren't you zombies and don't you stink?

Oooh, never thought of this. Would be worth it for the shower alone. (Yes, I am definitely a disgusting zombie when wandering around bleary eyed after a transatlantic flight).

I fly A lot and rarely sleep on planes. I cannot go w/o a shower, so I do one of the following:

1. Pay for an extra night
2. Buy a pass at airport lounge to take a shower
3. Get a " day room" on day use App
4. Pay to check in early
5.Act nicely and check in early gratis

For people who roam around w/o showering, aren't you zombies and don't you stink?

Anonymous wrote: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.

This, it sucks but it’s the only way.

You just power through, eat at 5 and be in bed by 7. Really really good sleep!

If you book the night before you need to alert the front desk not to give away your room. Tell them you are still coming but will be there the next day. I saw this recently happen in London.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thank you for all the feedback. Our hotel is a Hilton property with check in at 3pm. Do they tend to allow early check-in in London at Hilton properties?

Also our flight gets in at 11am, about how long does immigration take at Heathrow?

I like that idea to drop the bags and do a HOHO bus, we might grab lunch and do that

11am! You’re going to have barely enough time to go through immigration and customs, get lunch, and get to where you’re going. By the time you’re at the hotel it’ll be an hour before you check in. They’ll accommodate you. I would never book a room an extra day with this time gap.

+1 this. You’re not going to teleport from your flight through immigration and baggage claim and transit to the hotel . It takes time. Although I wouldn’t be so sure the Hilton would have early checkin. But I definitely wouldn’t pay for a day to check in an hour or two early.

I'm older, so I book a room the night before. The last time I went to London, I stayed with a friend. I arrived around 10 (took the Tube), crashed for a few hours, went out later for dinner, then went to bed around 10 and tried to sleep. When I was younger, I'd drop my bags at the hotel and go out exploring. I can't do that anymore. I'm just too, too tired, and I don't sleep at all on a seven-hour flight.

We stay in Westminster so we usually drop our bags with the bell hop, grab breakfast, and head to Westminster Abbey. Never have booked the room for the night before, largely because of cost and not wanting to be tempted to sleep.

We get a hotel/Airbnb for early check in (so pay the night before) and nap for 2 hours. I can’t function otherwise. Sometimes DH takes the kids out while I sleep, sometimes they nap too.

I just got back from Europe, and we arrived at our hotel in Paris at about 10am local time. They actually had a room ready for us so we weee able to shower and change before heading out to explore Otherwise, we’d have left the bags with the concierge and gone back later. Id slept for about 2 hours on the flight, DD16 didn’t sleep at all. We finally collapsed at around 8:30pm after a fairly full day and were able to avoid any jet lag that way.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thank you for all the feedback. Our hotel is a Hilton property with check in at 3pm. Do they tend to allow early check-in in London at Hilton properties?

Also our flight gets in at 11am, about how long does immigration take at Heathrow?

I like that idea to drop the bags and do a HOHO bus, we might grab lunch and do that

With landing at 11 am, I wouldn't book anything the night before. By the time you get there, your room is probably going to be ready.

FWIW, for others reading, we landed at 8 am in Rome recently and we were DONE by noon. Kids were falling asleep at the table, super grumpy, just totally wiped out. Our plan had been to power through until the evening before letting anyone sleep, but we were all miserable. Since we had been able to check in early, we went back, took a quick nap, shower, etc. and were then able to be back out again until a normal time that evening. It would have been miserable to try and tough it out until the usual check in. I decided then that in the future, I'd always book the night before to guarantee being able to check in once we arrived.

PP again. Shower. Rest. Or not. Depends on how we feel. We see how we feel.

Pay for the night before and let the hotel know we will arrive in the AM.

Anonymous wrote: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.

This. Some hotels offer early check ins for a charge (last time I paid 50€ to check in at 7 am or so). Others accommodate for an early check at no additional cost for 12-1 pm. So I go have breakfast somewhere, sight see and go to check in at whatever time they suggested to come back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How long does it take to get from Heathrow into the city? We’re staying near St Paul’s cathedral.

New Elizabeth Line makes it a lot easier/faster. Take it to Tottenham Court Road (about 35 minutes), transfer to Central Line, then 5 minutes to St Paul's stop (if that's the closest Tube Station).

This should be about an hour total from the terminal train station, depending on which airline/terminal.