Early AM arrival in Europe—Never again!

Toby, why didn't you just book it for the day before? That's what a lot of people here do, and then they're able to get in when they first arrive.

It wasn’t available. Also lodging in Ireland is expensive, over $200/night.

We almost always arrive early morning. When we are staying in hotels, we either leave the luggage or more often than not, we book the room for the night before.

When staying in apartments, I check with the owner before I book to see if we a leave our luggage there even though the cleaners will be there. So far they have always accommodated us. Worst case, leave the stuff in the car and go wander on foot or park in front of a place to get breakfast where you a keep an eye on the car.

If I take a nap on arrival day it messes me up for the rest of the trip.

Our early morning arrival in Dublin from the west coast a decade ago changed how we travel. We always book accommodations for the night prior, explaining to our host that we will be arriving early the next morning. It’s worth the expense.

This is a key reason that many years ago I gave up on early arrivals in Europe. For me it would end up that I was landing around midnight Mountain time and having to function/stay awake for most of the day with almost no sleep.

I now look for late evening departures from Denver that with a connection in Europe will get me to my destination late evenings which works for a quick dinner and then to bed.

As a flier from the west coast with limited direct flights, this is almost always the option unless I'm willing to overnight in an east coast city on the way. Press ahead, do your best, get a good night sleep. Enjoy your trip.

Like CL, this is often my only option. I have sometimes been able to check in early. I have sometimes been able to book for the night before. I have sometimes been able to book an airport sleeping pod for a few hours. I have sometimes been able to drop off my luggage and tour around for a few hours. I have sometimes gone somewhere to have lunch. I have sometimes done some combination of the above.

I have never sat and waited to check in for more than an hour, fortunately. I agree that doesn't seem pleasant.

I hope you have a great time in Ireland, anyhow.

Back in the day I would land at 7:00 AM, shower at the Admiral's Club and be at my first meeting at 9:00 AM. Those days are long gone. As is traveling in a premium class on the company's dollar.

I'm now considering the fly to NYC or Boston and take one of the daytime flights to London. Then, night in London or connection on to the continent. Anyone else using this approach?

Another West Coast flier. Early morning arrivals are our reality. I have reserved hotel room for the night before a few times and that helps. Otherwise, just keep moving. I think OP’s challenge is that an apartment really can’t be ready early when it was rented the night before.

I am sure that things will seem a bit brighter in just a few hours.

My best departure options are in the 5-6pm or 10pm hours with arrival in the 6-7am or 10-11am hours. Early arrival doesn't bother me one way or the other, but if there were anything that I were to be annoyed by, it is how hotels have moved from traditional 1-2pm check-in times pushed back to 3-4pm.

Instead of waiting around, I use that block of time between landing and hotel check-in to take a train & travel out to where I'll actually start my trip, eventually working my way to my departure city. In the past, I've landed at Heathrow and immediately gone on to Chichester or Ironbridge, and last year I landed at Berlin and immediately headed to Prague. By the time I get to my actual destination, it's time for check-in.

This was born out of experience. On my first trip to Europe, I landed in Dublin with an early morning arrival well before check-in at Trinity College accommodations. I spent hours fighting the urge to nod off for a nap right there in the student commons area while waiting for my room. I changed up after that.

It seems you tried to book the night before and wasn't available. And I understand how it is to travel in a budget conscious way.
I would probably had waited in the airport for a few hours as I usually travel alone. Glad you got some company to commiserate with.

I fly from the West too but I haven't arrived at 7A in years. The last 2 trips my Delta flights left from Seattle around 615-645P arriving around Noon or 1P. Much easier to navigate.

I agree with using the night before strategy. I'd certainly need to do that if I were coming in at 7A no matter what the cost! I do understand your unit not being available though.

Our flight arrives in London at 6 am and check in is at 4 pm. There is no way that I am going to power through for 10 hours. The cost of the extra night hotel was too high to justify 10 hours there. I booked a a nice day hotel close by for 1/3 the price where we can shower, get some rest and then check in to our hotel at 4 pm.

Typically if we're flying US-EU we aim for a non-stop departing between 21:00-23:00 ET...landing approximately 13:00-15:00 Berlin-time...arrive at hotel an hour later and usually able to check-in but if not we simply leave luggage in the hotel locked storage room. In either case we grab our daypacks and stay out until after supper. Quickest way we've found to overcome jet-lag.

The increasing problem has become that despite the 9-hour flight duration that departs at roughly our customary bedtime we almost never manage to fall/stay asleep the entire flight. Rarely do we arrive on more than 5-6 hours of sleep (pharmaceutical sleep aids are not an option for us).

Mary has the best solution. If you can't book your lodging for the night prior to arrival, book a day room at a hotel. It's generally under $100.

I usually shoot for a mid-morning/noon arrival, and plan my first night, in a hotel, where they can keep the bags until the room is ready. Early morning arrivals are not terrible, but they do make for a very long first day. Even with a mid day arrival, I don't "crash", I prefer to keep active.

But more so, I watch the return flight time, nothing before 9 AM, prefer closer to noon and a direct flight. Have seen way too many people on here try to save a few bucks taking the early morning flights, then try to figure out how to get to the airport before public transport is running, or wasting most of a last day in Europe staying at an airport hotel.

I'm now considering the fly to NYC or Boston and take one of the daytime flights to London. Then, night in London or connection on to the continent. Anyone else using this approach?

@JKH, This is my only approach. Even though I live less than an hour from Logan Airport Boston, I stay at the airport, walkable to my terminal, the night before, so I'd do that where ever I lived. It's a 7:30 AM flight. This is how I always get to Europe. Day flights are a game changer. I stay at a Heathrow hotel and then move on. No suffering involved! It's a perk of being retired and having the time to really enjoy my sleep.

Mary, that is a good idea. I never thought about that. That makes a lot of sense, especially if you can't book your place for the night before, and if it is really expensive.

Although I will say that I usually just power through. Once I check in at the hotel, I might rest for a little bit, but I'm usually okay in the morning and until around 3 p.m., and that's when I start dragging a bit. That said, I don't really get jet lag heading east; I just get sleep-deprived, so once I take a short nap, I'm usually okay until I can get back to bed that evening.

Too late for the original poster but for anyone else in this position, I’ve started using dayuse.com

I know the statement above sounds like an advertisement, but it’s not. I Just started booking at an airport hotel for a couple of hours after I land. I go take a shower. I’ll go take a nap. I get cleaned up. I changed clothes. I decompress have a soft drink whatever and then I head into the city.

I know that Rick says you should just power through but for me this works

A couple of caveats. Make sure it someplace that is accessible to your airport for example at Charles de Gaulle make sure it’s on their little train, etc. And I never book one that requires you to pay in advance because that way if something goes wrong, I figure I’m not out the money. I’d rather save not save the $10 and not be fighting with the front desk. now I’ve used it about four times and I haven’t had a problem, but I probably won’t change the way I book.

I'm with VAP: plan my trip so that I go somewhere else (preferably easy train ride) first. This year I landed in Amsterdam but got the train right at the airport for Utrecht. By the time I got there and walked to my apartment, it was check-in time.

Although I will say that I usually just power through. Once I check in at the hotel, I might rest for a little bit, but I'm usually okay in the morning and until around 3 p.m., and that's when I start dragging a bit. That said, I don't really get jet lag heading east; I just get sleep-deprived, so once I take a short nap, I'm usually okay until I can get back to bed that evening.

In so many ways, that's me too.

I don't think of any one strategy winning over another; we all just do what works best for our own internal clocks. Even with a short, decent nap on the flight, I’m still pushing through a 24-hour or so travel period. I find that I’m completely fine as long as I am staying active; I'm relying on motion to keep fatigue at bay.

The danger zone for me is stopping. If I sit around and wait, that’s when I want to nod off. That is exactly why my "land and train" approach works for me. Dropping bags off at a hotel just to kill time until a 3pm check-in feels like a false start or just treading water. Jumping onto a train keeps my momentum going, fills that awkward time gap with purposeful movement, and gets me to my destination right when the room is actually ready for me. Like Mardee, it's not jet lag -- I'm just sleep-deprived. Once I'm finally in the room, it's a short nap and I'm fine tuned.

Like Janet and VAP, I generally try to head out immediately by train to wherever my trip actually starts. The only problem for me is that jet lag/sleep deprivation and a rocking train don't mix well! It's a bit of fight to stay awake but my desire to keep an eye on my carry-on bag usually wins the day. My sister and I have often said that when travelling with our families, it is always Mom who stays awake to watch the luggage while everyone else sleeps. Sure enough, and as always, the last time I was on a train soon after arrival with my husband and 2 young adult sons, my sister was tracking my location and texted me, "Is everyone else sleeping while you force yourself to stay awake to keep watch on the bags?" My response was photos of each of them, heads down, dead asleep!

Upon arrival we did hang out at the airport for a half hour, deliberately stalling, before renting a car, then the drive to Galway, close to 3 hours. So not just pissing away a whole day but still ended up with 3 extra hours before check in and needing a lie down. We could enter the (still dirty) apartment early to leave bags but that doesn’t really get us any thing. After posting I did rouse everyone and we walked around central Galway with thousands of other tourists. We just left the bags in the car.

There are 2 nonstops Minneapolis to Dublin but they leave 5 minutes apart (ingenious!) so both get the dreaded 7 am arrival. There are 2 flights from MSP to Europe that leave after 11 pm so arrive after 1 pm, nearly perfect arrival times (Amsterdam and London). The Icelandair connections to Europe also arrive in the afternoon so those are good choices too.

Adding that 8 hours on a single aisle jet without a drop of alcohol aboard (Aer Lingus) poses additional challenges.

Edit: Our 2 previous trips to Europe, Reykjavik and Berlin, both had awful 6-7 am arrivals and in both cases we got free admittance to our hotel rooms about 9 am. So got lie downs on those trips. But it’s still nowhere near as desirable as an afternoon arrival, then normal check times then crash. That timing sets up the best recovery and ultimately best trip.

My flights from the West Coast seem to typically arrive about 10-11K, and by the time I get through Passport control, retrieve my checked luggage and get into the city from the airport, it's usually about 12-13K. Some hotels have luggage storage rooms and most of them don't mind if I leave my luggage behind the desk or whatever. That way I can go get a coffee or do a quick walkabout of the area.. Sometimes the room will be ready before the "official" check-in time and if it's only an hour or so, they haven't minded if I go to the room then. I usually need to have a short "power nap" on arrival day but I set the alarm so that it's not a long nap.

We've always been able to check-in by 3 p.m. or earlier, enjoy a 45-minute nap and no longer, take a shower. This has allowed us to feel far better for the rest of the day instead of a zombie-like "powering through" until bedtime. I mean, that's no fun. I guesss you could say we do a partial powering-through but not from 0700 until 2100 or whatever lol.

How? We call in advance and request an early check-in. Never been an issue. Maybe just dumb luck?

But we've found that if we sleep well in the week leading up to the trip, one bad night's sleep on a plane isn't so bad. When I was running marathons and cycling races, I rarely slept much at all the night before but it didn't matter because I had built up a reservoir of good sleep in the preceding week. I've known a lot of athletes who had the same experiences. Very common, especially when you're in a hotel with a bunch of other competitors and are all keyed up. It's fine and normal.

Fly first class? We once got upgraded to first class on Swiss air, it had the seats that fold out into to beds. Slept on the plane like I was at home in my own bed and awoke ready to go for the train journey requiring four connections including the cog railway to Murren. Was it worth it? If “money is no object” yes, however to me it’s hard to justify spending x times the ticket price for several hours of relative comfort. Otherwise I like the “arrive later, drop off bags and go for a walk approach”. After a day of that we are rebooted and ready to go.

Speaking of overnight flight related travel hardships: How about standing for hours in an EES line after arrival? Subjecting people to that is bordering on inhumane in my opinion, especially older people or those unable to stand for long periods of time. That I would pay extra to avoid.

I normally have a 6.30am arrival in London after a 14 hours economy class flight. Where we stay they often manage to give us a room immediately (ie when we arrived about 8am (checkin is 2pm) and if not they have a full private bathroom I use to shower and change. Even when we do get a room early, we normally just change and leave our bags before heading out.

The only guaranteed wayl is to book a room for the night before.

"*How about standing for hours in an EES line after arrival? *"

@Joefarnacle - Have you had the experience of having to stand in line for hours for EES? It seems like forum members have had varying experiences over the last few months and the thread another poster started on the France forum indicated that some had no EES, I did have EES but it was very quick and no one indicated they were in line for hours.

I guess after reading everyone's experiences, for a change it's good to live in the inland Northwest where we have no International non-stop fights, have to get to the local airport, fly to a hub, have transit time there and then fly out later in the afternoon Pacific time. So most of our waiting time is leading up to the international leg.

".....Also lodging in Ireland is expensive, over $200/night."

Small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

This one is $330.

It’s more the multi-day f-up of the body that’s the result of early arrivals that’s the issue. No way to buy out of that, except maybe lie flat. I think tomorrow (day 3) things might be back to normal. Was awake 3-6 am today, then slept 2-1/2 more hours.

Afternoon arrival I can usually crash about 7-8 pm, sleep 10-11 hours, then fine starring day 2.

@Joefarnacle - Have you had the experience of having to stand in line for hours for EES? It seems like forum members have had varying experiences over the last few months and the thread another poster started on the France forum indicated that some had no EES, I did have EES but it was very quick and no one indicated they were in line for hours.

Oh yes, I most certainly have — just over 3 hours standing in the EES line after an overnight flight. These multi hour EES wait times are well reported across many airports in Europe.

As for whether or not it will happen, you could get lucky or it could be hell. Seems impossible to predict, or avoid. 🤷‍♂️

I swtiched to daytime flights across the Atlantic over 10 years ago. But then you have the extra added expenses of a hotel at the airport the night before and since the daytime flights are--usually--out of JFK, EWR or BOS, the airport hotels aren't cheap. (And usually limited to London.)

For the couple of times I've had to take an overnight flight, I reserved a hotel room at the arrival location for the same night so I could go directly to the room.

I've also done this for my one overnight train. I wasn't sure if I'd get any sleep so I reserved a hotel room for that night as well. When I arrived at the hotel at 9 AM, my room was waiting for me. And.....the receptionist noted that since breakfast was included and still being served, I could get something to eat before getting some sleep. I did.

Although I’m not a fan of repeat visits, the world is too big for that, I’m eyeing that 11:10 pm nonstop to London that arrives after 1 pm. Don’t even have to bother with an airport hotel, can be in the city for immediate check in, then an early dinner then a long sleep before returning to LHR to fly onward. Maybe not as good as a day flight from JFK/Boston but it completely avoids the dreaded 7 am arrival then a whole miserable day. The Amsterdam late flight would work similarly.

It’s more the multi-day f-up of the body that’s the result of early
arrivals that’s the issue. No way to buy out of that, except maybe lie
flat.

There are other ways to address jetlag, like prepping your body for the trip by adjusting your body clock ahead of time. Several of us in the forum have used Timeshifter (an app) to do that. I understand it's not always possible to do so, but it has helped me.

Although I’m not a fan of repeat visits, the world is too big for
that, I’m eyeing that 11:10 pm nonstop to London that arrives after 1
pm.

I have taken that flight from MSP on a trip booked with air miles. The main annoyance was they waited until roughly 1 a.m. to start "dinner" service which was super disruptive if you were wanting to try and get some sleep. However it was nice to arrive in London in the early afternoon, as I mentioned earlier that's not usually what happens for my trips. Some potential hassles with your plan are needing to keep your ETA current so you could go landside for the layover and the relatively expensive cost of London hotels, etc. Using a day hotel and booking an onward flight for the early evening would be an option too.

I guess I was thinking just staying up and not trying to sleep at all. Sleeping on the plane is a (stressful) requirement of a 6 or 7 am arrival, but it can be skipped here since can sleep well and long almost on arrival.

The time shifting technique with darkening window blinds or eye mask isn’t for me.

London lodging is cheaper than Boston or NYC, if comparing to the day flight flight option where the extra hotel night comes at the start of the journey.

The Timeshifter thing is too fussy for my husband and me, but for years since retirement we have gotten ourselves 4 hours onto European time. Even 2 hours helps. We do it gradually over about 2 weeks, but one year we went too fast and experienced jetlag while still at home. I have since wondered if a person could do that deliberately --- just be jetlagged at home for a weekend or so, and then feel pretty much OK after flying to Europe. By the way, I can never sleep or nap on a plane and do not even try, my husband sleeps for the entire time. So I am sleep-deprived when we land, but not jetlagged --- to me, a different and entirely bearable feeling.

If you try the jetlag-at-home idea, remember to shift all of your meals, too --- it's not just about sleep, but all of your, uh, bodily habits.

If you try the jetlag-at-home idea, remember to shift all of your meals, too --- it's not just about sleep, but all of your, uh, bodily habits.

This. For me, it's more about waking up hungry than anything else. So, I've taken to having a snack, like a banana, handy. If I wake up, I have a little snack, and I'm usually able to get back to sleep until a semi-reasonable time.

For us, part of an overnight flight and an arrival in the morning has been the option to spend several hours in a park getting some sun.

In general, our flights land 8am-ish (direct if at all possible) and we're usually through immigration, baggage check, and headed to our hotel to drop our bags. That can take us to or past 10am, so we check with the front desk to see if the room is ready or can be ready early, and then head out to stretch our legs, maybe grab lunch or a snack, and find a park to have a seat and maybe a picnic.

In general, it works pretty well for us, and I prefer "wasting" a day in the destination (watching people in a park) rather than in the air (watching a movie on the seatback). Flights to the UK may fill a different category, though, as they are a bit shorter and there is one hour less time change. Maybe if flying to London we'd adapt our plans - especially if in the winter where sun would be less likely around.