Arrival time strategy

I prefer to leave the US in the late afternoon, arriving in Europe in the morning. As soon as I get on the plane, I set my watch to the destination time and adjust my sleep schedule accordingly, which means that I am usually go to sleep an hour or so after departure. When I arrive at the destination, I drop my bags at the hotel and spend the rest of day wandering the city. I absolutely never nap during that first day. I just stay on my feet and keep moving. This has always worked for me, and I have never had a problem with jet lag.

I'm kind of curious where you may have seen a flight arriving Paris at night. The latest I can find is 1:10 in the afternoon. We've always arrived in the morning.

The tip that we learned and practiced is to get out in the afternoon sunshine and walk around some. Then try to stay awake as long as possible that evening. If the hotel has a swimming pool I try to take a swim to get the links out from the long flight. I have been known to take a short nap but only if I've done the outside walking bit too.

You have a choice?

Coming from Pacific time in summer and Mountain time in winter, the nonstop airline schedules don't give us many options. It's early morning or maybe up to noon, Paris time.

I'd prefer to arrive later, myself. But fresh croissants in the morning are excellent reasons to arrive early.

Of course, in December the sun rises at about 08:30 (8:30 am) and sets at about 17:00 (5:00 pm) so if you arrive early enough it will be dark.
Whenever you arrive the day will be short anyway, about 8.5 hours long.

Not to worry. Paris is beautiful in the dark, especially if it's rainy.

Fly to Boston NY, or Wash DC, stay overnight at airport, and take a daytime flight to London. Upon arrival, eat dinner, go to bed, no jet lag. We usually fly British Airways or Virgin Atlantic out of Boston Logan around 7:30 am, the shortest flights.

This past June was the first time I’ve ever flown super early from Tennessee and landed in London the same calendar day in the late evening. I didn’t think I would like doing that, but it actually turned out to be very nice. It felt just like the end of a normal day when we landed.

The problem with dealing with jet lag is that there is no absolute answer. Unfortunately it could be trail and error for you. And when someone says, I absolutely never nap during that first day, that is what works for them but not necessarily for everyone else. Because I will make the reverse statement ---- we find taking a nap in the PM to be absolutely critical for us to fight jet lag. For years we tried the "never take a nap" routine, struggled through evening meals trying to stay awake, and being absolutely miserable. Then one year we accidentally took a nap and never looked back. We take a nap roughly 2 to 4, 3 to 5. We set the alarm for two hours but rarely sleep past an hour and thirty to forty-five minutes. It is just enough to recharge our batteries, allows for a pleasant evening meal on local time, and a decent bed time of 10 to 11. We generally find the next day to almost jet lag free and certainly by the second day. You may have to try it both ways to see what works best for you.

A while back we ended up on an AF flight from Detroit to Paris that left at 9:10 pm and arrived in Paris at 10:45 am local time. After we checked into our hotel and started out on the day my wife commented that she really did not feel tired and had no jet lag problems. We have taken the same flight three times with the same results and will be on it again in Sept. I don't pretend to know why it works but it does for us and not believing in fixing the unbroken, we are sticking with it. The timing does allow for a decent period of sleep followed by a nice breakfast in the new time zone before landing which may or may not be the reason.

Best of luck and have a great trip

Leave in the morning from the US and arrive in the evening in Paris. When you arrive at your hotel, you go to bed and wake up fully refreshed the next morning. That is simply the best.

That said, I am not sure how many US cities have that convenience of flying same day to Paris.

Unless you have a private jet or take a multi-stop 20+ hr routing, there is no way ( that I could find) that has you arriving in the evening.

The conventional advice, for morning or midday arrival, is to 'keep moving', preferably outside. If you do nap, limit it to no more than 45 minutes

the best time to arrive is the cheapest time to arrive. Jet lag bothers me less than Wallet Lag.

I don't think it really matters, just be on a normal schedule once you get there. If you arrive in the afternoon, do afternoon things. You may think you have a lot of time on your arrival day, but by the time you land, walk to the taxi line, take a taxi into Paris proper, check in, get settled in... you may just have enough time for a stroll around your neighborhood , find a place for dinner then back to your room for a normal bedtime depending on what you have planned for the next day.

On one trip napped when we arrived and I really thought it would be the kiss of death, but no, we woke up refreshed and did some sightseeing and went to bed at normal time and continued to be well rested for the rest of the trip. Plus in December you will have really short days, so there is that.

We are all different in how we react to jet lag. So unfortunately you will have to find out what works best for you. Even then what works can change over time or from one trip to the next.

As listed bu others above the main approaches are

• Time arrival for evening time.
• Take a nap to refresh yourself
• Stay awake and power your way through the day.

Some people use products such as melatonin or ambien to help them adjust.

Ideally, I prefer arriving in Europe sometime between 7 to 10 am local time. If I arrive at 10 am, say in Paris or Frankfurt, that's 1 am here in Calif., ie the 9 hr difference. I don't get jet lag when I arrive, avoid it by sleeping as much as possible on the plane, normally no problems in doing just that.

If the plane touches down at 10 am, it may be close to 11:30 by the time I am done with everything, Immigration, baggage claim, dilly-dallying, so by 11:40 or so, I should be having a hot breakfast at the airport as in Gatwick or en route by public transport, the RER B to Paris Nord.

When I get to the hotel at Nord, say after 12 noon, I know I'll be able to check-in, (that depends on the particular clerk based on my experiences) or at least, leave the luggage there. Then it's lunch near Gare de l'Est.

In Paris I have never arrived at night, always in the morning prior to noon, only once when it was past 2 pm.

If you can find a flight that would let you arrive in the evening of the same day, that sounds pretty great.

Coming from the west coast, that's not really an option. My flights usually depart around 6PM which has been conducive to fight jet lag. After the meal and perhaps finishing a film I was watching with dinner, I go right to sleep. When I awake, they are serving breakfast on the plane. In reality, it's actually around noon in Europe, but because the flight attendants are offering juice, coffee, omelettes, etc. my body is tricked into thinking it is morning. By the time we land, go through customs and check in at the hotel, it is mid-afternoon and pretty easy to adjust. I definitely go to bed at a normal bed time that first evening (e.g. 11PM even though back in CA it's only 2PM).

I found a 8:40 PM Iberia Nonstop for our Trans Atlantic Med Cruise arriving Barcelona the next afternoon at 4:45 PM. What I will do is sleep on the flight and then by the time we get to the AirBnB it will be around 6:30ish and as locals eat around 8:00 PM go for a dinner and walk and crash by 11:00 PM and wake up by 7:00 AM and stay up the entire day. On purpose I booked a cooking class for the next day after arrival to keep me on schedule!!!!

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I prefer to arrive in the evening, perhaps have dinner, then go to bed according to local time. I'll wake up early and will often book an early morning tour that first day - but nothing in the evening.

This trip I arrived in the morning and thought I'd never last the day. But I spent the day outdoors and the fresh air and exercise kept me awake and fine the next day.

Maybe I just don't have big problems with jet lag. In which case I agree with James... go with the wallet.