The First Day

The First Day: 3 Tips for Surviving the First 24 Hours

By Donald Miller, Freelance Writer

November 2006

The initial phases of overseas travel frequently present daunting challenges. Knowing how to deal with these obstacles can insure your vacation begins in a positive manner. Early airport arrivals, long flights, cramped seating, transitioning from one mode of transportation to another, lengthy layovers, crossing numerous time zones, lost luggage and unpredictable weather are difficulties you may encounter. These may lead to mental, physical and emotional distress which could interfere with your ability to enjoy your entire trip. Through experience as well as trial and error our family has discovered certain tips to help mitigate some of the above problems, so your vacation may begin with a memorable "First Day".

Our tips fall into three categories.

Exercise
Adapt to the local time zone
Do something fun or worth remembering right away

Exercise

In the current world of global terrorism, airport security recommends arriving at the airport a minimum of two hours prior to departure. Assuming thirty minutes (if you are lucky) to check your luggage and clear security, you have 1 1/2 hours until you leave. Most travelers slowly meander to their gate, sit down and patiently wait for their flight. From our home base in Houston, a direct flight to Europe takes at least nine to ten hours. Combining the drive to the airport, pre-flight waiting and the actual flight, most people will be sitting for at least twelve hours.

Several issues need to be addressed from this lack of activity. First, many Americans like myself suffer from BRES (Big Rear End Syndrome). Secondly, when our family travels, we are excited. Our adrenaline is pumping. All that time in the air seems like an eternity when you are full of energy. Finally, a very serious fact is Deep Vein Thrombosis which basically means sitting for hours on a plane can potentially lead to having a blood clot.

One simple method can deal with all those concerns. WALK. After locating your gate of departure, walk around and explore the terminal. Always use airport terminals and train stations as opportunities to exercise. This helps tremendously with burning up calories as well as pre-trip energy and may actually make just resting during the flight seem great or at least tolerable. During the actual flight do not hesitate to move about the plane or at least stand in the aisle to bend and stretch as long as you do not interfere with the flight attendants or other passengers.

Acclimate to the Local Time Zone

We prefer leaving Houston in the late afternoon or early evening thus arriving in Europe early in the morning. Such a travel schedule gives us the advantage of not wasting precious daylight hours "en route". The disadvantage is acclimating to different time zones or jet lag. For example, a popular flight leaves Houston at 3:45 p.m. arriving in London at 7:00 a.m. 7:00 a.m. in England, however, is 1:00 a.m. in Houston. Unless you slept a lot on the plane, you might be tempted to find your room and quietly slip under the covers. Unfortunately, if you do your body clock will never adjust to your new time zone and you will be dragging for several days. Force yourself to stay awake until it is bedtime in the city you are visiting. It may seem like an unbelievably long day but that night you will sleep like a baby and by the next day your body will have adjusted to the new time zone.

Do Something Special Right Away

This last point might best be illustrated by examples of our various excursions to Europe.

Our first trip we arrived in London at 7:00 a.m., braved the tube (subway) during rush hour and located our hostel. We were there five hours prior to check in so we did not have the option of sleeping even if we chose to do so. We left our bags and began our grand adventure. In one day we visited the old London Medical Museum, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Hyde Park, the London Dungeon, ate and drank at a pub and finally had dinner (during which I fell asleep several times). Converting to Texas time we had not yet been gone 24 hours but what an amazing first day.

The next year we flew to Paris arriving around noon. Our sleeper train to Switzerland did not leave until 11:00 p.m. We stored our bags at a train station and spent the day at Versailles outside of Paris. We had lunch and walked the extensive grounds for several hours. Our day combined history, beautiful scenery and an excessive amount of exercise prior to catching our late night train to Zurich.

On another trip, our plane landed in Amsterdam around noon. We immediately transferred to a train arriving in Brugge (the city of bridges), Belgium in the middle of the afternoon. We walked about twenty minutes to our hostel (exercise), sampled a few of the 300 hundred beers brewed in this tiny country and spent the day exploring this medieval city on foot. Again we were able to combine history, scenery, exercise, food and drink for a remarkable day.

Probably the most challenging, arduous and legendary first day was in 2005 when we visited Greece. By the time we landed in Athens and rented our van, we had already been gone 18 hours. Another member of our troupe would not arrive until midnight so we had six hours of free time. Since we had not eaten anything other than airplane food for a day, the consensus was to locate a little atmospheric Greek restaurant on the water. If you have ever looked at a map of the Athens area, a total fool could drive in virtually any direction and hit the coast within a few minutes. At least in theory that seemed possible. In reality, road signs and directions were non-existent. Everything related to transportation seemed under construction (which apparently had stopped). Did they really host the Olympics just a year earlier? No wonder the stands appeared empty---everyone was stuck at the airport.

In total desperation we finally drove down a dark, poorly lit road into a parking lot with maybe two cars. Why we thought this area looked promising is still a mystery. Obviously lack of food and sleep affected our judgment. Amazingly, we found what we thought might be a restaurant but at 9 p.m. it appeared totally abandoned. (At the time, we did not realize lots of "in" places in Athens might not even open until 11:00 p.m.) After a family conference, it was decided Kim and I would "check it out". We had already driven over half of Greece looking for food and the ocean and could not find either. What could we possible lose by going inside? Hesitantly peaking in the door, we immediately determined we had located a restaurant. The waiters looked at me with questioning eyes and probably were about to escort me out the door. Remember we had not changed, showered, shaved or cleaned up at all for over a day. This looked like a very classy place. When the waiters noticed my dining companion, however, their attitude changed faster than Texas weather. When we mentioned there were two more ladies waiting in the car, I have never experienced such a flurry of activity.

With ceremony and attentiveness usually reserved for royalty, we were seated oceanside with a soft breeze gently blowing in from the Aegean Sea. In the distance we could observe the lights of the ferries and ships leaving the port of Pireaus. The food, the subdued lighting, the decorative lighted pool, the wine and the fact we were exhausted and starved contributed to an unforgettable dining experience. The restaurant can be found on the internet at www.akrotirilounge.gr.

That meal not only made the day, it saved the day. We still talk about that restaurant. Especially when you consider we would drive through the night to Western Greece, take a ferry to the island of Kephalonia and not actually arrive at our first sleeping destination until noon the next day. No, we did not go to sleep (remember the rule). We spent our day exploring the tiny town of Assos, swimming in a beautiful lagoon and then hiked a mountain before dinner. If we would not have perserved and had that meal, however, we would have been gone 48 hours before we did anything remotely justifying a trip of 6000 miles. Our attitudes might have been totally different.

The first day is a vital ingredient to the launch of a wonderful vacation. By observing a few suggestions such as exercise, staying awake and adapting to the local time zones and making "the first day" special, you can insure your trip will be the beginning of the vacation of a lifetime.