The first days after a long-haul flight

When you land matters more than it seems

The same flight can lead to very different first days depending on what time you arrive. When planning, it's worth looking not only at connections but at the arrival hour.

• Morning arrivals: the day feels long, and rooms are often not ready. Where possible, it's worth booking the room from the night before, so you can shower and rest straight away rather than wait in the lobby until the afternoon.
• Afternoon arrivals: often the easiest. There's time to settle in, take a short walk in daylight, eat quietly and go to bed at roughly the local hour.
• Late-evening or night arrivals: the priority is a short transfer. A first night near the airport or in the city centre, not another two hours on the road to a mountain lodge.

The first base: somewhere easy to be

The first night suits somewhere that asks nothing of you. Not the most remote camp or the most spectacular hotel, but one from which you can walk to a riverbank, a park or a quiet neighbourhood with a few places to eat. In Kyoto that might be an evening by the river; in Bangkok, a ride on a river boat; in Lima, a walk along the clifftops of Miraflores.

We'd generally suggest not scheduling anything in the first days that depends on an exact time and can't be moved: an early light-aircraft flight to a safari camp, timed tickets, a long hike. If a flight is late or a connection missed, the whole journey shouldn't fall like a row of dominoes.

Three days shaped around arrival

Many of the itineraries we suggest share the same logic in their first days, whatever the destination:

• Day one: arrival, a short transfer, a walk and an early dinner. Nothing obligatory.
• Day two: half a day of something calm and close at hand – a market, a garden, a guided walk through the old town. The afternoon free.
• Day three: the journey properly begins. Only from here do longer transfers, early starts and the things you're most looking forward to come in.

The first days shouldn't demand anything. They should let you arrive.

And coming home

The same logic applies at the other end. Coming back from Asia or the Americas – especially in the dark months between November and February – a first day at work the morning after landing is often harder than expected. If your annual leave allows, one free day at home before going back helps a journey end calmly rather than in exhaustion.

Tell us about the journey you have in mind and how much time you have, and we'll shape the first days so it begins gently.