Fight jet lag with day flights

The traveler’s afternoon tea recipe for jet lag when flying to Europe is intriguing (“English Tea for Jet Lag,” Sept. ’20, pg. 24). Luckily, I live in a city that offers a different solution.

Instead of taking an overnight flight to London, losing sleep and battling your way into the city during morning rush hour (only to find that your hotel room is not yet ready), take a daytime flight. Daytime flights are uncommon but available, at least from New York, Washington, DC, and Toronto, where I live.

You leave at 8 or 9 a.m. and arrive at 8 or 9 p.m., London time. Heathrow is much quieter at that time than it is in the early morning, and you’re not fighting rush hour. You can be in your hotel by 9:30 or 10:30, have a late dinner and be in bed by midnight (7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time). Wake up at 8 or 9 a.m. the next day and you’re right in the groove.

Even if my wife and I are flying elsewhere in Europe, we still fly to London, overnight at an airport hotel and then continue on the next day to where we’re going.

Incidentally, the Premier Inn London Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 (www.premierinn.com/gb/en/home.html) has rooms at well under $100 per night.

Whenever possible, we stay in airport hotels that are located inside the airport so we don’t have to schlep bags on and off buses and vans and, in the case of Heathrow, pay a hefty fare.

At Heathrow, there are at least three hotels with indoor walking connections to Terminal 4.

The Sofitel London Heathrow Hotel (all.accor.com/hotel/6214/index.en.shtml) is connected to Terminal 5. It’s expensive but has a superb restaurant.

DAVID SELLEY
Toronto, ON, Canada