Coming back from East Asia in the night before school starts...

[NeleusTheStatue]

Apologies if this should have been posted in the holiday section. But it's a bit age specific (secondary school) hence here I am...

DS and I need to go to Far East this summer. It's not purely for leisure as we have some reasons to go there. Unfortunately the schedule is so tight that we have to come back either a night or two nights before the autumn term starts. We will be back home at around 9pm from the airport. To go to school, we have to leave home at 6.30am and drive for 40 mins. He is a weekly boarder.

Do you think I am mad to come back in the night before school starts? Should we come back at least two nights before so he has a full day to recover from the journey?

To share the full picture, he'll be away for 10 days as soon as school breaks, then will be home for 2.5 weeks, then off to another residential course for one week, then heading for Far East next day (night flight). The first two home aways are in North and South of England and we are based in London.

He is well travelled as he's been flying around the world since he was a baby. He's been to Far-East many times and hardly suffered from jet lag. But I always made sure he would have some recovery time so never scheduled this tight from one to another.

I travelled for work when I was younger and often had to work straight after coming out of the airplane. But then I was fully grown up obviously... He is only 11, so it'll be too much to expect him to go back to school next morning after nearly a day worth of travelling a night before...?

I probably know the answer already, but I have a few reasons to keep considering it. So I may just need some confirmation that I am doing a right thing. Any advice or sharing your experience would be greatly appreciated.

[avocadochocolate]

We do lots of long haul travel. My DCs (understandably, I think) don't like it if we are only back the day before the start of time. It's simply due to the jet lag. Ideally they like about 4 or 5 days to decompress, but at least 36 hours.

[NeleusTheStatue]

Thank you all for the kind comments. I have booked the tickets. We'll be back on Saturday night so DS will have all Sunday to recover and prepare for returning to school next day. It's not ideal as we will lose one day there but I think this is the best option for us.