Overnight flight to London question

[ohgillian]

I'm on the east coast and am trying to plan a family trip to london (2 kids 10/12). We could take a direct flight from our city around 7pm which would arrive around 8 AM London time. 

I'm not an experienced traveler and I just can't figure this out. Like, will we be rested after sleeping on the plane? Isn't it going to feel like pulling an all nighter and then trying to figure out how to get around in a new place, on zero sleep, with 2 cranky kids? Won't we be totally exhausted, and then not be able to check into our hotel until the afternoon?

I'm not trying to have a negative view of this -- maybe this is what everyone does and it's totally fine. But I haven't travelled overseas much so I'm just wondering how this will work. Like, we'll be fine? Maybe I just need someone to say this is fine, lol.

[ohgillian]

And while I"m at it, how does this look? Too much or too little to do?

Friday 3/31
• 8:00 AM arrive London.
• Train from airport to hotel; check bags with concierge.
• Low key activities;
• Try to check into hotel early; check in by 3 either way.
• Spend night at Hilton Kensington (1)

Saturday 4/1
• Morning: Buckingham Palace
• Light lunch
• London Transport museum
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon Tea
• Spend night at Hilton Kensington (2)


Sunday 4/2
• 10:00 changing of the royal horse guard
• Westminster Abbey and Big Ben
• Mudlarking in the Thames
• Spend night at Hilton Kensington (3)

Monday 4/3
• Harry Potter experience tour (4ish hours including transit)
- Something else but I don't know what.
• Spend night at Hilton Kensington (4)


Tuesday 4/4
• Tower of London (crown jewels; armor, swords, weapons)
- Something else? Just wandering around?
• Spend night at Hilton Kensington (5)

[mrsGreeko]

Oh you will totally be tired and your kids will be after the flight. It will probably be a rough first day the day you land no matter what, but it will be fine. You power through and the rest will be fun. . Also, by the time you get through the airport and get to your hotel it will probably be close to mid day.

When we’ve went to Europe (3 times now, UK, Croatia, and Portugal) with our kids we always had an afternoon or evening arrival at our destination which works well because you get dinner and go to bed at a normal time.

[wanderingback]

Yes that’s how it works, you don’t really have much of a choice!
How the day goes totally depends on how you all do on planes.
I personally can’t really sleep on planes, like I might take a cat nap here and there, even when I’ve flown first class, but lack of sleep doesn’t really bother me. So when I get to my destination I just make it work.

In an ideal world you all would be able to sleep on the plane and get some rest.

I usually can somewhat adjust to the time change pretty quickly so just try to make that happen as soon as possible.

Have a great trip!

[tvlmm]

The key is not to take a nap that first full day in London. Walk, walk, walk, all day long. Go to bed early, but not too early. Not before 8pm, is my suggestion. For me always the key is to stay active and keep moving, take a hot shower and go to bed at bedtime. Kids will likely fare better than you.
Enjoy!

[mich1]

I have yet to fly overseas where I don’t get in feeling like a zombie. We were in Amsterdam for a river cruise, got to our hotel by 9 am. There was no room available, so we went for breakfast, and I had booked us to Keukenof gardens at noon. That kept us moving (there was some dozing on the bus) and we got back to the hotel at 5, checked in, cleaned up and went for an early dinner. I think we were asleep by 8. Next day, all was good.

[dragon's breath]

I've gone to Europe taking my son a few times. We have vastly different adjustment requirements.

I never get great sleep on a plane, my son varies (one time he was able to lay down over an entire middle section and he got great sleep that trip).

I prefer to arrive in the afternoon, but sometimes you don't have much choice. I stay up until a "normal" bedtime, and then go to bed. I *might* take a very quick nap, about 20 minutes or so. This brushes off the worst of the tiredness, but does not ruin my day or make sleep at night difficult. I can function decently on little sleep. My son *must absolutely sleep* as soon as possible, and then he'll also sleep all night. The first trip, I was afraid of letting him nap, ruining his sleep for the night, and it completely backfired on me. He was unbearable at dinner, and simply cannot handle not getting sleep (he's now in his mid-20s, this sleep requirement has not changed).

Doing the math, it looks like an 8 hour flight, and so, to your kids, they will be arriving at 3 am, possibly with no/little sleep, then expected to do anything but sleep for the next 7 hours (10 am to them). There could be a long line at customs, so you'll want to figure that in too. You know your kids best, so you've got an idea of how well they might handle this, but I'd use them as your guide.

If there is a direct flight that gets you there early afternoon, I'd book that one instead. Redeyes are great for commuters or adults who can sleep well on a plane, but less child friendly (depending on the child).

ETA: just noticed the age of the kids... My son was 9 on that first trip, so similar age.  I can think of a few of his friends around that age, and it's a mix, some would have been fine, others would have also needed to sleep much sooner.

[ohgillian]

Thank you everyone! This is super helpful. I may check if there's a different nonstop but I think from my airport there's one flight a day nonstop. I appreciate all the tips of how to handle it best.

[wanderingback]

Sept 23, 2022 17:17:19 GMT -5 ohgillian said:

Thank you everyone! This is super helpful. I may check if there's a different nonstop but I think from my airport there's one flight a day nonstop. I appreciate all the tips of how to handle it best.

I haven’t flown internationally since before covid but my partner goes to Europe from the east coast all the time and yeah most flights in this region at least, leave in the afternoon or evening and you get in in the morning.

I distinctly remember my last 2 flights to Europe I was training for a marathon or half marathon and I was able to get my 10+ mile runs in during the day before my flights lol.

[rennequin]

Our flights to Europe have always been overnight. When we went to London (kids were 11 & 9) we gave them melatonin & they slept for a few hours. We dropped our bags at the hotel, freshened up & changed clothes in their gym bathroom and went to lunch, then Westminster Abbey and walked around a bit. Back to the hotel to shower & then out for dinner and then to bed. The excitement of the trip kept us going. Being out in the daylight really helps to reset your body clock to the local time.
My kids really loved the British Museum - they had scavenger hunt guidebooks which made it way more interesting than just looking at displays. 
we also did a boat ride on the Thames that was fun & relaxing

[mrsukyankee]

We always fly overnight to come home from the States to London. We basically get here and do stuff (if we couldn't shower immediately, we'd do it later in the afternoon if we were beginning to flag). We attempt to stay up as late as we can (usually 9pm) and then we start our day at our normal time the next day.

[pittpurple]

We live in Scotland and are American so we have done a version of this flight many times. My daughter and I don't sleep on planes so we are zombies and need a 1-2 hour nap when we get home (because the overnight is on our way home). But we never, ever sleep after noon otherwise it messes us up for days. Lots of walking, lots of outside time, lots of whining. You can probably drop your bags at your hotel, have lunch somewhere and then walk walk walk - can ask for an early checkin but you should really try to stay up until 8pm to get into a normal version of life the next day.

[devonpow]

I CANNOT sleep on a plane to save my life, nor can DS1 (15). DH and DS2 (10) easily sleep on planes. So when we go to Europe/do any other overnight flight two of us are insanely grumpy messes and two are merely grumpy lol.

We always plan for the first day to be a pretty relaxing/chill day. My sister and I on a quick trip to London a few years ago did the double decker bus tour the first day - a good way to see stuff but exert very little energy lol. Assuming you are staying at a hotel you won’t ge able to get into your room until the afternoon anyway so you need to power through, but don’t schedule any must see events/sites/etc the first day.

I know some people say the key is not to nap, but it honestly depends on the person. I become an intolerable raging bitch machine if I try to power through, so I always nap the first day, I set my alarm for about an hour and take an afternoon nap once we check in to the hotel. It helps!

[jamaicam]

Yeah, we have done that over night flight many times. it is rough but you just kinda get on with it. As others have said, the most important thing is to not go to bed when you arrive but to try and stay up to a normal bedtime.

We just did the HP Studio in the summer with my 8 & 10 year old. We were there for about 5 hours and my 10 year old who is a huge fan could have stayed longer!

Another vote for the museums - the Natural History Museum and the British Museum are probably the two that my kids like the most.

[RockNVoll]

Sept 26, 2022 12:33:55 GMT -5 devonpow said:

I know some people say the key is not to nap, but it honestly depends on the person. I become an intolerable raging bitch machine if I try to power through, so I always nap the first day, I set my alarm for about an hour and take an afternoon nap once we check in to the hotel. It helps!

I wish I could like this a million times because, solidarity!  I attempt to power through when I can but I'm also not going to make myself (and my husband) miserable if I really need the shut eye. 

That said, I know nothing about how to handle this situation with kids so I won't opine. 

[neonpink]

My advice when I travel os try to stay moving as much as you can and get to sleep around 8-9 local time.

I’ve done it a few times where I’ve taken a nap once I arrived. Usually an hour then get moving. You want to get your body on local time as soon as possible.

[mich1]

Sept 26, 2022 20:15:16 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Sept 26, 2022 12:33:55 GMT -5 devonpow said:

I know some people say the key is not to nap, but it honestly depends on the person. I become an intolerable raging bitch machine if I try to power through, so I always nap the first day, I set my alarm for about an hour and take an afternoon nap once we check in to the hotel. It helps!

I wish I could like this a million times because, solidarity!  I attempt to power through when I can but I'm also not going to make myself (and my husband) miserable if I really need the shut eye. 

That said, I know nothing about how to handle this situation with kids so I won't opine. 

I have done this both ways.  We fly from the west coast and we have taken a short nap, showered and gone out to find dinner.  Full belly, a bit of walking and we crash for the next 9 or so hours.  When we were in Amsterdam, I had scheduled a tour a few hours after we got in.  We dropped our luggage, scoped out nearby restaurants for dinner then went on our tour.  Got back to hotel, changed, went to dinner then crashed.  

the catch for the first method is to not let yourself sleep anything more than an hour.