Jet Lag

I hate eastbound jetlag, it ruins me... one thing that works for me is trying to go to bed and eat earlier in the few days up to the trip. Shifting yourself by 1-2 hours will help a lot.
Also, none of your days look particularly big to me (even day 3), so even if you fail day 1, you have plenty of time to catch up!
By the way, Arc de Triomphe is at the top of Champs Elysees so you'll see them when you pass by.

My husband and I have been working on shifting our sleep schedule for a few weeks —we are PST, and currently waking up at 4:30am, going to bed around 9pm (but trying to shift it earlier). We have another 10 days before we leave for 4 nights in NYC to continue waking up earlier and earlier. In addition to that, we are using an app called Timeshifter (?Timeshift) that is designed to help avoid jet lag. It gives you a schedule for wake up, very bright light, bright light, normal, dark etc., to better adjust your sleep schedule.

There are lots of websites with advice on how to avoid jet lag, but I'd stick with the reputable ones. The Mayo Clinic has some good advice for how to avoid it and their tips make sense (stay hydrated, get lots of daylight when you arrive, and so on). https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/jet-lag/symptoms-causes/syc-20374027

Of course it is slightly different as I am coming home but I have found that the often seen advice for travelling eastwards of 'go out and about and don't go to bed until close to your normal clock time' to be completely shattering for me the only time I tried it and from your description this didn't work put well for you last time either. A limited afternoon nap of 2-3 hours seems to make all the difference to me.

This usually works for us. We leave the USA (usually Boston) in the late pm and arrive in europe (usually Spain) in the early morning hours. We try to sleep on the plane, but it doesn't happen most times. If that's the case, as soon as we can possibly check in to the hotel, we take a 3 hour nap. Usually that takes us to the late afternoon or early evening. We get up and go out to eat or drink or just walk. This pretty much gets us on to the local time. We've toyed with the idea of booking the first night hotel for the night prior to our arrival so that there are no problems checking in early.

We don't sleep well on overnight flights from the east coast to Madrid, Paris, etc. but I've learned to make a few changes that help me to get a few hours of sleep.
We've had enough FF miles in the past to travel business/first so getting comfortable is not an issue. But - the alcohol and movies are tempting! So - no alcohol before or during the flight and absolutely no screen time (I can fall asleep to a movie at home but when it's so close to my face - nope).
Very light eating and often a light dose of a sleep aid help. I know that it's supposedly taboo to take a sleep aid so that you can easily be roused in an emergency so a light dose is all I take. But when you are flying over the pond, I might rather be zonked out if there is an emergency! But it helps with the relaxation need. Arrival day is play by ear - if we are in our accommodation early enough, we might nap but often we just power through and go to bed early. If we are up earlier than desired our first few days - that's actually a plus in my opinion. My hubby is slow in the mornings so having a bit of extra time in the morning helps!

Thank you all, good advice. I think part of my problem the last trip was I didn't get to bed till probably close to midnight the night before takeoff, then up early as we were to depart Cleveland around noonish. So we were totally wiped out by 5 pm in England and pushed ourselves to stay up till 7. These days I'm a very early to bed person..... rarely making it to 9:30 even.

As far as the comment on DAY 3...... (and maybe I'm clueless on how short of a bike ride this will be) From Marais walk-about I'l grab a bike and here is the route - Rue Des France Bourgeois - Rue du Pas de la Mule to Bd Beaumarchais turn right to Place de la Batille - continue on to Rue Cremieux. Turn right on Rue de Bercy, left on Au Ledru Rollin - right on Quai de la Rapee and stay on Bd Morland to Bd Henri IV make R then L onto Quai des Celestins to Pont Marie - (stone bridge) continue to Pont Louis-Phillipe Bridge to Hotel de Ville. Cross over Pont d'Arcole - pic of Hotel from other side etc. Coninue on to Re Chanoinesse to Notre Dame. Get to Quai De Montebello to Rue de la Cite then left to Rue St. Severin Harpe to Rue de la Huchette, back to Rue de la Cite (Petit Pont) to the Bird and Flower market at Quai de la Corse - Pont Notre-Dame bridge with carvings, cont left on Quai de l'Horbge to Pont Neuf (bridge with locks) out to the point of island, Head back and left to Quai du Louvre and from there head back to hotel..... which is at 37 Rue de l'Annonciation Hotel Les Hauts de Passy - about 4 blocks or so from the ET. OH I don't think I mentioned I'm 64 and a bit overweight but stay relatively active. That's why I want the electric bike..... even though I still peddle, the added help will be appreciated. Plus with stopping virtually about every 100 yrds or so to take pics, it won't be like I'm briding 10 miles straight with no breaks. I plan to start out early so that I'm in Marais by 9:00. It will be on a Sunday so that will give me a chance to wander on my own and take pics before shops and such open up. I'm really more worried about Day 2 after landing and trying to do Sacre'-Coeur. My original plans were to take the bus to Moulin Rouge and make my way to Sacre'-Coeur but after seeing the hills which I can NOT do........ I think I'm going to alter my route and take the bus TO Sacre'-Coeur and take the tram UP and then do all my street walking (no pun intended haha) back down the hills to Moulin Rouge and then grab the bus to Sq de la Trinite and Chaussee d'Antim LaFayette. I'm hoping if I start out early enough and with really how close everything is....... if I can get back to my hotel by 4 and rest that should be a good day. Then I can go out to dinner or do my night tours.

There are really two issues IMO. One is the exhaustion of staying up all night and then the next day. The second is the jetlag, which, if you are not suffering from number one, might not hit you until day 3 or 4…but it is nothing difficult to deal with alone. As you are on the east coast, just take a day flight. Then one totally disappears and two is just a slight loss of energy for a day. YMMV

I, too, suffer from westbound jetlag. I got back 2 weeks ago from Paris and I am still waking up in the wee small hours of the morning. Maybe it’s because I am more committed when I am in France amd more active that I get used to the time within a day.

to Wray.......... I have yet to see a DAY flight over the pond. Everyone I looked at all flew at night as most international flights do. Coming home is different. My flight leaves Heathrow at 2:40, but I don't get home till till 10 pm
I don't drink as a rule........ I do have my obligatory bloody mary when flying........ and when I tried to sleep last time, I turned the in flight monitor onto Led Zeppelin and closed my eyes...... I can't sleep to silence so I need music or a movie I've seen a billion times so I don't have to look up and see what is going on. I think this time I plan to download some of my fav shows like Downton Abbey or the Crown etc and I can sleep to those, I do it every night. I may also take an Ativan..... I really need this itinerary to work.

SLEPT FOR 15 HRS - OMG
I used the Timeshifter app with great success on my recent trip.
there is another thread on this that has many useful tips: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/jet-lag-ed9dc453-4bac-4cbf-a5c0-f28c1f6bd8b8#1865637

I agree with Wray, day flights are a game changer if it works for your schedule. But they mostly only run from Boston/NY and DC to Heathrow. But I am really appreciating reading other traveler's suggestions!

On this current trip to Paris I didn’t sleep well the night before my flight.
I can’t sleep on the plane and I fly from the west coast so that transit day made a very long day for me.
I was operating on what I call zombie time when I checked in to my apartment.
I took a one hour nap in mid-afternoon, setting my alarm so that I would wake up. And I was meeting friends for an early dinner so I was highly motivated!
I found that I had no jet lag at all!
I can’t promise that this approach will work for you but I was surprised and delighted!

There are buses (line 40) up the hill to Sacré Cœur, do not worry about that!
And Rue des Francs Bourgeois to rue Crémieux is a 15-minute electric bike ride at most, same for rue Crémieux to Ile de la Cité, so, really, do not worry too much! Paris is surprisingly compact.
By the way, if it's very cloudy don't bother with rue Crémieux. The colors won't pop. And there is nothing of interest there besides the colored buildings.

"I took a one hour nap in mid-afternoon, setting my alarm so that I would wake up"

Yes to Sharyn's approach! I fly from the West Coast as well and have a flight from home to the international hub ahead of that. I'll usually be up by 445 on a flight day. I can push through easier when I am with others but when I am on my own, I just take a nap but always, always set an alarm. I then go out and walk unless it's pouring. I read something a long time ago that you not only need morning light in your eyes you need the decreasing sunlight in the afternoon to cue in melatonin production or something. Sorry, do not have the link and of course current research may not agree with this.

I also set an alarm the first morning to get up and out early because I, too, have sometimes slept 15 hours. I'll set it for 6A or so which is my normal waking time. If I need to go out for a walk BEFORE I have my coffee, lol I'll do that.

Editing to add this...and I have been arguing with myself on whether to say anything or not as I do not want to hurt your feelings. This statement makes my heart sink: "My entire Paris itinerary depends on pushing through jet lag."

I wish you would consider being easier on yourself. You're setting yourself up for anxiety over this. Your itinerary is mostly self-directed so you can add some flex time into it. What happens if it's pouring rain on your potential walk days? You'll shift around, do something else in the AM and hope for sunshine in the afternoon. This should be a really fun trip. You are seeing sights that are important to you BUT you've got a lot of ability to move things around. If you are running out of time, hop on the Metro which may be faster than the bus routes. The only things that will be timed will be your Louvre entry (and yes you need to buy a timed entry ahead of your trip.) and your Catacombs entry. Everything else for daytime activities can flex.

Hope you have a wonderful, wonderful time!

To Balso regarding Rue Crémieux - I'm a professional photographer as well as having Photoshop. I shoot in RAW format as it is, which is very little color anyway..... it's the digital form of a negative. Camera's "auto-guess" the colors for you that is what jpeg format is. It interprets the colors for you. With RAW, I have to edit each photo individually to get it to what I remember seeing. Some people I'm sure you've seen over saturate in editing. As long as it's not completely night with no street lights......hahahaha, I can get color. I can even replace the sky and make it a beautiful sunny day. I hate doing that though. I like my photography to be natural but sometimes nature needs help.

We been lucky to always have had a hotel room available the morning of arrival and always take a two-three hour nap, setting the alarm. Then it's up and about, business as usual. I do find that I have to eat lightly that first day.

For years, anyone on this Forum who said they napped was definitely in the minority. We tried staying up until 7pm once and we're miserable.

There are day flight from JFK and BOS to London. American, British Air and Virgin offer them.

I prefer them instead of overnight flights as I don't sleep on planes.

Flying out of SFO I always look for a flight that lands prior to 11 am or noon at the very latest when going to Paris or Frankfurt, the only two places I land on the continent. I've had the day time flights, didn't really like them; the overnight flight dep. SFO ca 15: 00 or so is much better. The flight is usually 11 hours and non-stop, don't want any break in between, did that once by going SFO to Seattle, then a four hour lay over before continuing to London.

Landing in London after that "short" flight from Seattle seemed strange and I didn't really like it.

I don't get jet lag after the 11 hr. flight. My aim is to sleep, ie, no movies or any tempting distractions, focus on falling asleep. No pills, no alcohol, except a little red wine at dinner, followed by a cup of coffee or hot tea at the end, no dessert. Usually by landing time I will have slept 5-7 hours, no problems getting oriented ....I'm there ! Especially in Paris.

After Border Control etc, I take public transport from the airport to the train station, ie, Gare du Nord or Frankfurt Hbf, then a hot lunch at the station. No problems on the arrival day, in Paris sometimes check-in was allowed prior to 3 pm, other times not.

Such great advice here. After testing many methods of avoiding jet lag over the years, I finally decided to just ignore it. :) Some trips, the lag goes away quickly -- other trips, it lingers.

The things I do:
--As folks above noted, easy on the booze on the overnight flight, and eat lightly.
--When possible, shell out the extra money for the hotel or apartment the night before my arrival, so I have access early. Most of my flights from East Coast get in about 7am, and it's a blessing to be able to take a shower, etc.
--I try to limit the first jet-lagged day to things that don't need a lot of brain cells. I do the fun gift-shopping on my list, sit in some cafes, wander around parks, etc. Museums or guided tours or meeting up with friends can wait until the next day.
--Needless to say, I don't make any plans the first night (I remember my mom and I falling asleep and snoring at a concert at St-Germain-des-Pres...)
--I try to stay up until perhaps 7pm or 8pm, but don't get too hard on myself if I keel over after dinner.
--If I need to take a nap the first couple of days, I ABSOLUTELY set an alarm on my phone!!! Jet-lagged naps are like the sleep of the dead. Way back when, I flew to Paris, took the train straight away to Avignon, then checked into my hotel in mid-afternoon. I thought I'd take a short nap at 5pm before dinner; I woke up with a start at about 1am, starving and with nothing to eat but a package of airline snacks and chewing gum.