How do you handle super early flights?

[JadeVS72]

I stupidly booked a 5am flight at our local (45 min drive) airport so it will be a 2am wake up call. How do people get through such days? It's only to Greece so 4.5 hours economy. I guess we can snooze a bit on the plane but worried we will be exhausted for days 😬
Flight's on Saturday and I am dreading it!

Actually I think 2am is early enough to be a late night!
I would do what someone else suggested and just nap until 2am rather than go to bed properly. I’d probably have a day nap because I’d be too excited at 9pm.
You’ll be fine. It’s only a pain if you. An’t get into your room until late afternoon and you feel like death.

Cry??

I seem to be going against the grain I'd be tempted to leave at midnight/11 then get some kip in the car on arrival at the airport especially if the kids are decent at sleeping in the car.

I have a similar journey to my local airports and would prefer not to try to go to bed rather than do crappy attempts at sleep dreaming I'm late... Did exactly this for my last 6am flight and it was way easier than having to wake myself up and drive at 3am.

I've got an 8.00 flight next week, probably going to need to leave at 4am for that one because luggage/traffic joys.

Have done airport hotel for a layover before a 6 am flight. Definitely no point unless walking distance to terminal or you've checked the transfers start early enough...

It’s currently 2am and I’ve done 2 flights already - left at 3pm for the airport - now have another flight at 5am and then a 6 hour bus from 8am.

Sleep when you can - plane, bus etc - and plan a long nights sleep on day 1. Alternatively, load up on caffiene and sugar.

Hopefully I’ll be OK as I have 3 days on a boat after that lol. You just have to power through.

Good snooze by the pool on the first day !

I’d far rather a very early start than an evening flight, it irritates the hell out of that day one of your holiday is wasted waiting for your evening flight but it doesn’t bother me if the final day is spent at the airport and travelling 🤷🏼‍♀️

We ride the adrenaline, arrive at holiday resort very excited, jump in pool eat, then siesta, get up, dinner, back to bed.

Kids always say they aren't tired/don't want a nap, so we say just lie down with a book.......zzzzzzzz

It’s all very well friends and others saying they would never fly early etc. But remember, up until 2 weeks before departure airlines can more or less do as they like with changes. You can apply for a refund if they change a flight by more than 2 hours, but that usually is not helpful either.

I’ve recently had a flight changed from 10:45am to 3:00pm. That causes me problems on arrival, but not all destinations have multiple alternatives on a given day. Cancelling and getting a refund would further mess up my plans.

I love an early flight. I’m too excited to
sleep anyway! I’d try to get 4-5hrs sleep so 9pm bed for 2am wake. If I can get 4 I’m usually ok for a day.

I sleep a bit on the plane but it only takes me a day to recover. I just make sure not to drink too much on the first day and get a relatively early night. Then I’m fine on day 2.

My worse fear with early flights has always been sleeping through the alarm. It makes sense to just stay up late and not bother with bed but for god knows what reason (yes I'm weird) if I don't get a decent sleep (min 6 hrs) it affects me needing the loo and it can give me an upset stomach and / or have to constantly go for a wee.

Grin and bear it. It’s really not that hard or difficult OP - you’re going on holiday and with no other responsibilities to handle one sleepless night really isn’t going to cause any major dramas. I recently did nearly 32 hours of no sleep with an early morning flight to Australia! It was tiring but it’s a very privileged thing to complain about.

Yes flight time changes are incredibly annoying. My DH & DS had a recent flight change from 7.30 in the morning to 7.30 in the evening, and they were only going for a long weekend. And as an opposite we’ve had a change from 12 noon (perfect time) to 6 am meaning a whole day hanging around as the accommodation not accessible until 5 pm.

We had a similar timed flight in Nov to Budapest.

At the airport, there was only a burger king open with massive queues. The WH Smith hadn't had fresh sandwiches delivered, and I wished I'd prepped a little picnic to have on the plane.

We snoozed on the plane a little.

In Budapest, we'd hoped to check in early, but our room wasn't ready till 3pm. We walked around the Christmas markets etc, but were absolutely knackered by the time we did get to our room! It didn't affect the rest of the stay, but I'd ask your hotel if you could have an early check in.

It’s not that bad. I have had 3am wakeups followed by a full day of work in the office when I have travelled for work. Then sometimes having to be social at dinner!

im usually fine the next day.

Go to bed as early as you can the night you leave so you max out possible sleep. When you get there everyone will be excited anyway so is likely to stay awake. Unpack, get to the pool or beach. Nap if you like. Get some food in the evening and get another early night on arrival day.

Losing a few hours sleep is really not a massive problem given you are on holiday and have endless opportunity for lie ins and naps. 5 hours of sleep for an adult is totally doable.

Im pretty used to 25 hour flights with 8 hour stop overs. I don’t sleep on planes so have often missed two nights of sleep on arrival. I’ll still stay awake until 9pm (not difficult) and have a usual nights sleep and be perfectly normal the next day.

We had a flight at 6:10 am with our 2.5 year old. She went to sleep as normal, and we took her out of her cot just when we were about to leave as we had put all the suitcases in the car the night before. To our surprise she woke up and didn't go back to sleep until we were on the plane, she had loads of energy and was singing in the car and while waiting to check in our luggage. We were tired but had a nap later that day while she was napping!

These days we don't.
Generally if we can't fly from our local airport at a civilised time we won't be going. Limiting and no long haul but as a pair of oldies we've done all that for many years and we can no longer be bothered. Infact for anything other than city breaks we are as likely to take the ferry and drive as we are to fly these days.