Early Arrival - Where to Go to Rest

Have you thought about just booking your hotel room for the night before and letting them know you'll come in very early in the morning? Perhaps that might be in your budget.

Early arrival on that first day is always tough! You can pop into the restroom at the airport and freshen up with wipes and/or put on fresh clothes. By the time you process through immigration and travel into town, it would be close to 10:00. You should be able to drop your luggage off at the hotel even if you can’t check in. Look into a Seine River cruise to kill some time, and/or a hop on / hop off bus to get oriented to the city. Neither of these require much physical exertion or brain power! Grab lunch and sit outside (weather permitting). With excitement and adrenaline we can usually push through till 2:00 or 3:00. If necessary, go back to the hotel and sit in the lobby until your room is available. Your sitting there just might make your room suddenly become available!

We have always had pretty good luck just showing up at the hotel late mornings. Some times the rooms are available and sometimes it is an hour or two. If we cannot get in, we storage our luggage and walk the neighborhood, early lunch, or anything to stay activity and in the sun. Often an airport lounge club will have a quick shower and a light breakfast so that is an option IF a member.

Are you staying in a hotel or an apartment?

If a hotel, you should definitely be able to leave your bags there while you go out and about.

If you are concerned about jet lag, I have had good success with the TimeShifter app in not having any jet lag when flying to Europe from the Inland Northwest.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful thoughts! I’ve arranged to drop our luggage early so that’s no problem and the hotel will accommodate an early check in if that can. I’m all set with those details.

Your suggestions about what to do are so helpful! I think we will take the river cruise and hop on hop off bus tours to just sit back and relax. And I think the hotel will do their best to accommodate us so I’m hopeful. They have been very responsive so far.
Many thanks to all. I’ve got what I need now.
Good travels to all!
Carol.

YMMV, but if I sat down on a bus on the day I arrived in Europe, I'd be asleep within 10 minutes if not sooner. I'd hate to spend the money on a HO/HO bus under those conditions. If the Seine cruise boats are open air, that would work better for me. Then I'd recommend an inexpensive walking tour. I probably wouldn't remember anything about it the next day, but it would keep me outdoors and moving. In truth, what I do on arrival day is collapse into bed at the first opportunity and sleep for about 8 hours. Don't do what I do.

Haha! Yes I imagine I could totally fall asleep on a bus! I’ll keep the movement and fresh air in mind! Thank you! I won’t do what you do but if I could I would!

I think a great deal depends on how you think you will be feeling upon arrival. I have gone ahead and booked the hotel for the night before and notified of a late arrival before. The last time I did this I arrived at the hotel, ate complimentary breakfast, took a shower, and a 3 hour nap. I awoke refreshed and ready to explore. Only you can decide if the additional cost is worth it to you.

We always book a hotel for the night before and let the hotel know we are arriving in the morning. Best money we spend after overnight flights from the west coast.

We always book a hotel for the night before and let the hotel know we are arriving in the morning. Best money we spend after overnight flights from the west coast.

Either way, your hotel will hold your luggage until check in if you opt to wait it out.

I did the hop on bus one time on my arrival in a European city. I slept through the tour of the city twice. For some people this seems to work well, for me obviously it didn’t.

Your best bet is to head for a local cafe and get a creme and relax -- you can sit as long as you like. And then take a neighborhood walk. I would fall asleep on a Seine Cruise on that day and absolutely on buses. I'd not do the HOHO at all and save the Seine cruise till later in your stay. If your hotel is near the river -- that is a great place to stroll and you will never be far from a cafe. If you are near a big park -- Luxembourg Gardens, Tuilleries, Monceau etc they are wonderful places to walk and also sit and read and grab coffee (although the quality of park coffee is pretty terrible so you are better off at a cafe on the street -- and Paris which has fairly bad coffee generally is now home to quite a few newer coffee shops that focus on providing good Italian style coffee . You can find them on google maps with 'coffee shop' which will show coffee shops and not cafes.

Jet lag loves sitting and chilling. The extra added plus of movement and light vibration will help lull you to sleep. You will spend most of the time on the bus or boat catching some ZZZ;s.

Instead, take a walk, bask in the sun and grab some caffeine if you use the stuff. If you want lunch make it light. Then head back to your hotel, freshen up, and you'll be good to go.

However, after years of travel, and doing my best to avoid an overnight flight, if I have to take one, I'll arrange to stay the night before in the hotel. This way, when I arrive, whenever I arrive, I can go straight to my room. It does add to the cost but I function much better.

After hours on a plane, I suggest you not ride on a bus, or a cruise. (Anything where you are still). You probably will be ready to move your legs and walk. Get the blood moving. You’ll feel better.

We have dropped our luggage, had lunch and then done a London Walks tour. My problem is more thinking than moving so having someone else take me around works well.

Sitting on a bus would put me to sleep.

Edit:oops. I thought this was in London! But principle of guided tour still could apply.

Usually by 11:30 AM I am finished at CDG and ready to take the RER to Paris Nord. Chances are the hotel room won't be ready, in which case the hotel holds my luggage. Then I go out to have a relaxing hot lunch at the restaurant directly opposite of Gare de l'Est.

This last time, however, having arrived at CDG ca. 10:00 AM or so, went to the Paris Est restaurant , getting out of CDG taking the RER B took longer than I had calculated, still no pressing hurry since my aim was to arrive in Metz ca. 4 PM on landing day to check in the reserved located hotel 5 mins from the train station. All worked out quite satisfactorily.

I would much prefer landing at 07:45 than ca. 10 AM on the non-stop overnight flight from SFO.

We did a harbor boat cruise after an early arrival in Nice. We sat outside on the boat and it was lovely. And the benefit of a Hop on Hop off bus is that you can Hop off, walk around and Hop back on! It might give you a chance to see part of the city you had not planned on visiting.

All along the Seine river are parks where you can sit on benches or on the grass. Absolutely free too! You have the best views in the city. Wander the area around Notre Dame Cathedral.

Another option is to hang out at one of the outdoor cafes found everywhere.

Sleep on the flight if possible

I enjoy a walk along the Seine. It takes me about an hour or so of strolling between the Eiffel Tower & Notre Dame, or in reverse, at street level & or river level. Crisscrossing bridges along the way.

From the Eiffel Tower: Walking along the Seine, crossing the Pont Alexandre III bridge, stroll through Place de la Concorde, through Jardin des Tuileries, past the Louvre Pyramid, out the back, walk over Pont Neuf, stopping by Fontaine Saint-Michel, then off to Notre Dame.

Enjoy.

"we will take the river cruise and hop on hop off bus tours to just sit back and relax. " that is a horrible idea !!!! Nothing worse than sitting about a long overnight flight. You will be a sleep in ten. You need to stay active and that is walking, as a min, in the sun, outside. Now --- we find it very beneficial to take a nap, max 2 hrs, in the pm roughly 1-3, 2-4. We set an alarm so that oversleeping is prevented but find we normally wake up about an hour and a half or so. There is a fair amount of research that supports the nap cycle.