A cautionary tale - don't drive after long flights

How frightening! So glad you are okay. Thanks for posting your story to warn others, including me.

Glad you are ok.

It’s a cautionary tale for those that want to hire a car immediately upon arrival in Europe and drive a car they don’t know on unfamiliar roads.

Thankful for your safety! It is a helpful cautionary story to share! And frightening! My husband and I did the same from an area airport 10 yrs ago. We never get sleepy in the car driving…so thought… no problem. We also both “woke up” close to home to avoid accident thankfully as you…but learned a lesson. Just returned yesterday from the most wonderful river cruise and trip….16 days in France, Germany ending in Prague!! This time we hired a local driver to/from airport. As always…better safe than sorry!

Oh Andrea I am so sorry, I know that that had to have been so scary. I am so glad Chris was awake and that there was no other traffic.

Thank you for sharing your story. It’s definitely powerful.

Andrea, I'm so glad you're OK. We learned years ago that it was much safer to stay overnight at one of the hotels close to Pearson if the flight had been long, or if we arrived late in the evening. That 2 hour drive down the 401 is HARD when you're tired. Even riskier in a strange car on an unknown road.

Andrea, thank you for sharing your experience. Over the years many contributors on the forum have expressed concerns about driving after an international flight. This is the first cautionary tale I’ve read. I am so glad that everything was fine for you and your DH. We can all learn from your experience. Thank you!

Thank you for sharing a story which must be difficult to repeat. So glad it was just a cautionary tale. Safe travels for the future.

OMG how scary! I have had that feeling before like I was just going to fall asleep driving home after an international trip and I quite possibly did fall asleep. Husband was asleep we were driving North on the 101 from LAX and I just pulled off and parked by the beach and slept and figured if a cop tapped on our window I would much rather deal with that than possibly getting in an accident. And this happened when we were in our early 40's, so I don't think age has anything to do with it. When your body is ready to shut down it will just do it and better to be aware and not 'tough it out".

What a nice gesture to share your story!

I started hiring a driver to and from the airport for the same reason. I won't be driving in Europe in the future.
I went to Iceland this summer and a rental car is a necessity. The flight is shorter, but that also means there is less time to sleep on the plane. I made it to Reykjavik just fine, but misjudged clearance while parking and scratched the bumper. I remember saying to myself, that could have been a lot worse, no more driving after an overnight flight! My traveling companion was sound asleep in the car and didn't witness my mishap.

Fatigued driving is the same as drunk driving in terms of its impairment of alertness.

Thank you for sharing your experience and it is great news that you are safe. I had a similar experience in 2013 with my husband driving from CDG to Dijon. He is a person who sleeps very well on airplanes and thought that meant he could drive after long flights without a problem. That view changed when I woke up on the A6 as we were drifting off the road and he was asleep at the wheel. In 2013, he was 53 but we had also never tried a drive after a transAtlantic flight before so I do not know if age played a role in our near disaster.

I am so glad you are both ok. Thank you for the cautionary tale. We did this once flying into Manchester en route to the Lake District. Never again. Driving requires concentration. Someone posting on the forum a while back said they can hit the ground running when they get to Europe and planned to drive on arrival despite my urging not to. Jet lag is deceptive. We feel fine on arrival and function well but driving is another matter entirely.

So glad you are okay and that you shared this.

I have rented a hotel room near the airport for the night of return for international flights for several years as I lived a few hours from the airport and knew I shouldn't be driving. I live closer to the airport now (just one hour) and had thought I wouldn't need to do that anymore. Perhaps I need to keep the same plan in effect or find someone to pick me up.

Ironically, the incident took place on Airport Rd. Forgot to mention that.

Really glad things turned out OK. Jet lag can happen coming home, too, it would seem. Hope you get rested up soon, and the trip will be a happy memory.

Interesting. I've found that flying to North America from Europe is no problem, and leads to little jet lag upon arrival. It's just like a longer day. Then again, I generally have no problem staying up late, and that's all it is.

But the other way around -- leaving the west coast of North America and arriving in Europe in the morning -- is much more difficult.

I remember a trip a few years ago, where I had a business meeting and had been visiting family in the western U.S. for a couple of weeks, I flew to Scotland for a short visit before returning home to France. I had agreed to meet a friend about 90 minutes from the airport. It was agony trying to drive. I ultimately pulled over and dozed for 20 minutes or so at a closed restaurant parking lot just to recharge the batteries. I made it to my destination OK but the re-acclimation to European time was harder than I expected.

I won't do that again on a west-to-east flight. But going the other way doesn't pose as much of a problem to me.

Thank Goodness. So glad that you are ok. We will learn from your experience and heed your advice. Thank you for sharing a very scary experience.

Andrea, Thank goodness you two are alright. Thank you for sharing and starting this conversation. I'm glad others have added their experiences because this will be useful testimony to share.

Starting from Nice added considerable time to your itinerary, and it also meant that you had to be up way before dawn. These aren't things we think about when planning the east-west return, but now we know we should.

Andrea, I am shuddering just reading this! Thank goodness you were not on the 401 and that your husband was awake and reacted so quickly.

What time did you arrive in Toronto? ( Did you have the 420PM arrival? If so, it was almost midnight(?) to your body by the time you were driving )

Coach or biz class seats?

Glad it turned out to be a 'no harm, no foul' situation.

We got in closer to 5pm, so 11pm in France. Pearson was a zoo so we weren't on the road til after 6pm. Once it got dark I was in trouble.

Microsleep is something that can happen to anyone, at any age, jetlag or no jetlag. I've known several young and older people to have accidents or near-accidents like yours. It hasn't happened to me yet, fortunately, but I know I was close a couple of times.

All those household remedies like strong coffee or opening the car window or slapping one's cheek or pinching yourself or turning up the music or taking a break and doing gymnastics or whatever you come up with can only help very briefly when you are that tired.

There is one remedy only: sleep.

This got to be such a common occurrence in NZ with jet lagged tourists hiring a car immediately on arrival and not used to our road signs or driving on the left. Unfortunately they not just killed themselves but the innocent party they ran into.

The rental car places really cracked down on hiring to peple who had just arrived in the country. We hired in Queenstown recently and it was quite cute to still see the signs about not hiring if you had recently arrived - how sweet - maybe next year there will be overseas tourists again

Has anyone tried chewing gum to stay awake? I've read that you can't fall asleep if you're chewing gum. I'm skeptical.

I have slept with gum in my mouth, so I am doubtful !!! (Some dumb thing I was doing as a teenager on a ski trip drive to Colorado from Oklahoma to see how long I could keep one piece of gum, totally ridiculous I know )

I've read that you can't fall asleep if you're chewing gum.

Anyone wishing to do scientific studies on that, please, for the benefit of all other people using the road with you, perform these experiments while you are sitting on the passenger side and not on the driver side of your car. I for one don't want to be in that car in the oncoming traffic when you are disproving this theory.

The rental car places really cracked down on hiring to peple who had
just arrived in the country.

We have traveled the US several time with a rented RV, and the big rental agencies won't even let you book an RV starting on the same day you arrive from Europe. Good decision, IMO. Driving a vehicle like that, jetlagged and not being used to a vehicle of that size, would be totally irresponsible.

Andrea--Thank you so much for the very important reminder. My aunt was 17 when she fell asleep at the wheel and they had a terrible accident and the result was that she became a parapalegic. When we went to Iceland in August and were trying to figure out airport transportation from home, so many people said to just drive our vehicle. Nope, no way were we going to drive home after an international flight!

I am more upset by what could have happened to others. I couldn't live with myself if I had injured or killed others.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and I hope others pay attention. I’m glad you are okay. We always fly from Sacramento and we live 20 or so minutes from the airport. I know many local people who choose to fly from San Francisco so they don’t have to make a connection like we do. My thought is that I’m not spending more time making the connection than I would spend getting to San Francisco, and I don’t want a 2 or more hour drive when returning home. Flying from the west coast takes more time than those who fly from the east and our time difference is 9 hours, not 6. Still, we must all practice road safety. I have driven upon arrival, but limit myself to a one hour drive at the most. Ideally I can wait a day before driving.

Andrea, I so agree with you. We have driven from SFO to our daughter’s home in Woodland (near Sacramento) after a long international flight and will never do so again. It is just too dangerous even after spending a night at an SFO hotel.

Great reminder to all of us that driving after a long flight, even if it's in familiar territory with signs in our customary language, can be dangerous.

I will also add that chewing gum as a preventative can lead to aspiration if you fall asleep. The best preventative is not to drive when sleep deprived. Again, thanks Andrea & others who have shared their stories. Important topic.

We've been travelling to the US for a number of years and the only time I drove straight after the flight was on our second visit where we flew into Philadelphia. I felt fine to drive however we left the airport slap bang in the middle of rush hour and our journey took much longer than anticipated. The tiredness crept up on me and I acknowledged the risk. From that point on I have always stayed overnight at an airport hotel or one within a short taxi drive even after flying business where I've managed a few hours sleep. The only occasions I'll drive straight after a flight is when flying intra Europe.

Unfortunately I've witnessed first hand the devastating impact of driving whilst tired.

Thank you all for your good wishes and sharing similar stories.

We need to make a pact with each other to remember all of this when we plan our next journeys.

I've never booked a car after an overnight or long flight anyway, but thanks to your post, my wife and I discussed that we will add a no-car after long flight policy to our travel tips for any future plans that will require a car.

We have just a one-hour drive home from the airport, and during daytime we're fine after a long flight, but once we arrived late at night. Halfway home I wasn't sure I could keep driving and tried to stop for a Coke somewhere but it was after midnight and ALL the convenience stores were closed. Pretty hairy.

It is good that you were not driving completely solo. I have never driven after a long flight, but I do remember once having a long and very late night drive home, and feeling myself starting to nod off close to home. I did make it home, but it could have gone very wrong. I have not done anything like that since.

Although I have driven on occasion after long flights including my first time driving in the U.K., I do agree with you that it's not a good or safe practice. I managed reasonably well but by about 16:00 I was starting to get a bit drowsy so I checked into a hotel and parked the car. My destination was Scotch Corner in North Yorkshire and after leaving the motorway, thankfully traffic was sparse. After a good night's sleep and a full English breakfast, I was better able to handle the driving.

On the west coast, every return from Europe seems to be around mid-night. And since one gains time flying east to west, it can sneak up on you. Since R. Steves lives on the west coast, we understand completely now why he stresses the point of jet fatigue. Going out, never seems to be a problem, as we always arrive early in the next day, and just bed down for a bit at the hotel to recover after using mass trans from the airport. Coming back, there isn't any mass trans, and on the same day, so some sort of car with another driver is needed, cause we are both just trashed and slightly delirious. :)

We decided then and there that we will never drive home directly from longer or connecting flights again.

Andrea, we had a similarly scary incident on our drive home from the airport after a trip to Europe about 4 years ago. Never again, we decided.