We are flying to London in late July, landing at 6:40. Our transportation is set and since our son will be three days earlier we will have hotel room access.
Our plans for the first day are to visit the Tower of London, London Eye, the Tower Bridge and a Thames River cruise. I'm thinking that if we can get to the Tower of London close to opening, which is 9:30, stay for 3 hours then have lunch, the other things can fit into that first day. Am I too optimistic?
Yep !!!! IF you are arriving from the US, the river cruise will put you to sleep. The London Eye could even lull you to sleep. What is your past experience with handling jet lag?
What @Frank said. It is doable...if you are a seasoned Europe traveler and have flown overnight before and know how your body adjusts to jet lag. If this is your first trip across the pond, personally I would do the Tower on a different day, as it encompasses a lot of walking and I want to be fully functional for it - it's a great site! I advise only doing things that don't required pre-purchased tickets the first day...that way, you can bail out if you're just too tired.
Actually, this will be our first visit to Europe. But in other trips flying west, I've not really had a problem. I'm determined to "sleep" some on the plane and will be ready to go when we arrive.
My personal experience is that I crash around 2. So I think I could do the Tower of London but would then need a nap. In July, you might have time to do some of the other stuff in the late afternoon. Personally, I found the Thames cruise to be a waste of time.
Where are you flying from, if you're going west, but land at 6:40am? I'm intrigued!
We are flying Delta from Birmingham with a 2.5 hour layover in Detroit. After London we are going to Paris for 8 days then return via Detroit with an 8 hour layover. YUCK!
As you have heard from the other folks, it is doable, but ambitious for Day 1. Frank and Kelly provided some good advice to play it by ear and see how you feel after the flight, avoiding pre-purchasing tickets if you are too tired gives you flexibility to rest if required. If you arrive at 6:40 a.m., you will need to clear immigration and get into the city which could take several hours, so you want to account for that in your timing if you do purchase tickets in advance.
I know for me, I don't sleep on the plane, but I still try to stay up to a local bedtime. In order to deal with that first day, if I can get into the hotel early, I get a shower, some breakfast and then get ready for the day. I try to pace my day with as much outdoor activities and walking as possible and to save both indoor activities and my must see attractions to the second day when I can appreciate them more. You will only know what works best for you once you try it.
Have a great trip,
Sandy
We are probably going with the London Pass so the tickets are not date specific. So it could very well be that some things may be adjusted if needed.
I’m a detailed kinda tourist and try to fit things into a fairly specifc timetable but I also realize that many factors come into play, among them the weather and tiredness!
Before you buy the London Pass do the math.
For the majority of travelers the Pass doesn’t work out as a true cost savings. Remember most museums are free.
It is doable but only you know how you will be affected by jet lag.
I am from the UK and I have flown into LHR from the midwest many, many times. I would not book Tower tickets for 9:30. I am not optimistic that you could make this time slot even if your plane arrived on time. LHR is busy with many, many international arrivals at that time in the morning so passport control can take a long time to get through (like 45 mins - 1 hour). LHR is also quite a way outside the city and if you plan on using public transportation it will take much longer than you think to get into the city. (I assume that is where your hotel is). You will also be fighting commuters that time of day. I think you would be doing well if you get to your hotel by 9:30. You will certainly be tired, but if you are like me, I always get a boost of energy when I am excited to see a new city. There is plenty to see in London without having to go into a ticketed tourist site but if you do get tickets, do so for afternoon slots. You will have long daylight hours in London in July and you could quite easily do the Tower, take the boat down the Thames to Westminster and take in the Eye, but I would not plan on doing much more than this on your first day. Turn in early that night and be fresh for the next morning.
Margaret
Kelly, I just read my post again and realized I mentioned flying west instead of east. OOOOOOPS!!
Based on the good points made by these responses, I think I will move some things around and just have a "wait and see" approach to the first day. Thanks for the excellent suggestions!
Your first day sounds really ambitious. If it were me, I’d save the Tower for a day after you’ve slept in London. I work nights as a nurse and have an odd sleep schedule and handle jet lag well. I still wouldn’t plan that much for the landing day. I would maybe plan an orienting walk about and the Eye and some lunch. Save the cruise for Paris. I think the Seine cruise is much more interesting and beautiful. Have a great time!
My landing day suggestion is always a walk with London Walks. They’re only £10 and don’t have to be booked in advance. www.walks.com
This gets you out and about and many of the guides are fairly interactive with the group.
Wait and see is a good approach. You don’t know if you’ll have any travel day related stress or how smooth the flight will be. I’d expect a full flight that time of year. And, of course, I’d expect an hour wait at immigration, plus an hour on the tube.
Is this doable?
Perhaps if you get a hydration backpack and fill it with Jolt, or something similar.
Happy to see you have decided to 'wing it' based on how you feel
I’ll just add that I really love the Tower of London. It’s big, interesting and historically impressive but I would want to tackle it when I was 100% not when just coming off an international flight. There is so much to absorb there that to me this would be a waste of a pricy admission to try to fit it in on arrival day.
Rick has a couple of walks on his audio guide if you want to take a look.
Based on the good points made by these responses, I think I will move
some things around and just have a "wait and see" approach to the
first day.
Good!
Your itinerary including 2.5 hours in Detroit will make your arrival in London more exhausting than you possibly realize. Sleeping on flights is always on the agenda. Constant or intermittent turbulence, cramped leg room, a child kicking your seat nonstop with a parent who won't do a thing about it, loud conversations nearby, nearby passengers with body odor....all sorts of things can interrupt your plan for restful sleep unfortunately.
Play things by ear on the day you arrive. Going for a walk on the Thames is my go-to suggestion.
Edited to add:
How could I forget "the half eaten tuna fish or salami sandwich your neighbor is saving until later" that Mike wrote below? Seriously, Mike is on target with that one.
Continental, don't forget the half eaten tuna fish or salami sandwich your neighbor is saving until later.
Based on your posts, I would definitely not schedule anything for the day you arrive at LHR. Traveling through DTW can be lot more stressful than expected. Two plane flights which could be delayed, travel from LHR to London etc. can put you behind real fast. Get to your hotel, rest a bit and take nice walk (their are plenty of free walking tours) followed by an early dinner at a pub and hit the ground running the next day.
I’m glad you decided to rearrange. Unless you fly first class, don’t expect to get as much sleep as you’d like.
Get in, drop off your luggage, take the Tube and walk along the Thames from London Bridge to Tower Bridge. Have lunch, then stroll around Westminster. Try to stay up until at least 9:00.
We have the London Pass and you really need to carefully consider what you want to see. We have broken even. It didn’t really save for us.
....Try to stay up until at least 9:00...... Maybe. We used to follow that strategy until we discovered, by accident, that a 1.5/2 hour nap mid afternoon recharges our batteries so that we can easily stay up till 9 or 10 pm. Try it -- it could work for you.
Horses for courses. This trip we arrived CDG at 1:00 pm, then drove to Loches, arriving at 6:00. Went to friend’s house at 7:00 for dinner which lasted until midnight. Woke up @7:00 for market day and haven’t slowed up since.
We take a shower and a nap in the early afternoon for less than an hour, which refreshes us and gives us the energy to power through until 2100 to 2200.
