Long story short, I’m planning on flying from northern Europe to Japan, but increasingly not loving the idea of 13+ hours cooped up on a plane. Maybe this is too niche of a question, but if anyone has good words to say on a potential layover destination? I’d love to hear them.
Unless there is somewhere you actually want to spend several days in along the way, fly direct. 13 hours on a plane is FAR less tiring than two long flights (you’d be looking at probably 8+ hours) and a layover. Better to get it over with in one go - far less jetlag that way.
@Shai
Wise counsel.
@Shai
I’m emphasizing his very good point FAR LESS.
Can you get direct to Chengdu? Far enough west in China that it should break up the flight a bit, and the city is breathtaking. Some of the best food I’ve ever had. Not just Chinese food, food period.
Sam said:
Can you get direct to Chengdu? Far enough west in China that it should break up the flight a bit, and the city is breathtaking. Some of the best food I’ve ever had. Not just Chinese food, food period.
Depending on where you’re coming from, you will need a Chinese visa.
@Zara
A lot of countries have a possibility of visa-free transit in China. Of course, there are a lot of rules, but still worth checking.
I used to do Brunei to the UK on quite a regular basis. Just settle in and sleep as much as you can. It isn’t that bad if you relax into it.
13 hours is a great time on a plane. I would prefer it over 8. Here’s why. You get settled. 90 minutes later is first food. Might as well eat, take a sleeping pill (I use an OTC) with food, try to sleep. Get almost 8-10 hours of fitful sleep and get woken up for breakfast 90 minutes before you land. When it’s an 8-hour flight, you only get 4-5 hours of “sleep.”
@Rowan
I think most people aren’t able to sleep for 8-10 hours on a plane. Heck, a good chunk can’t even do that at home! And this really depends on the time of departure and what direction you’re flying.
A lot of nice places to stop will be out of the way, and one of the legs will be close to 13 hours. Instead of one 13-hour trip, you will have one almost 13-hour trip plus another fairly long trip. Part of the problem is that the shortest route from Northern Europe to Tokyo does not go over a lot of popular places to visit: https://www.greatcirclemap.com/?routes=NRT-LHR. Ideally, there would be a great place to stop in the middle of this route with direct flights from between your origin and Tokyo. I would start with direct flights from your origin to anywhere close to the middle of this line and go from there. For example, there are direct flights between London and New Delhi.
@Zephyr
No one flies the shortest route between London and Tokyo any longer as Russian airspace is unavailable to the airlines that do for the route. BA, JAL, and ANA.
Depending on your personal interests, but I’d recommend having a layover where you don’t need a visa. It’s just so much paperwork and logistic headache for 1-2 days of layover. With that said, a layover in Bangkok or Hanoi could be cool.
@Jules
Unless you want to layover in central China or the Middle East, there isn’t really anywhere that makes it worthwhile. I’m in the same predicament, currently in Tokyo at the back end of 3 months traveling in Asia, and flying back to the UK in 2 days. Not keen on the idea of a 14-hour flight but without flying to somewhere like China or SE Asia first (6hr approx from Tokyo) and then booking a flight to the UK from there (best option then would be something like Bangkok > 7hr to Dubai > 6hr layover > 7hr to the UK), there is no workaround, and it just isn’t worth the inconvenience and extra expense.
Choose an overnight flight. A lot of long-haul flights to Asia leave Europe in the evening and you arrive mid-morning (late afternoon local time). That way, you board the flight, have an evening meal, sleep for X hours, wake up for breakfast, and then you are there.
I only take direct flights to Japan from the US - 12.5-14 hours depending on the direction. This is to maximize the amount of time I spend in Japan. Why waste your time somewhere else? You use up a lot of time if you sleep on the flight. I would regret losing a day due to a layover.
UAE, Turkey, and Bangkok are the main options for major carriers except for Hong Kong and Singapore, but then you are so close to Japan. TBH, 13 hours is better than two separate flights and the hassle of immigration and baggage handling. Your back may hurt, but you will be less tired than catching two separate flights.
I would opt for an overnight flight if possible. I am also flying out to Tokyo soon, but as my 10-hour layover to my final destination, I plan on leaving the airport and grabbing some local grub to stretch my legs. Safe travels!
Lived in Europe for a few years then we moved to Tokyo to be close to our grandson. It was the best years of our life. We would break up flights all the time to fly back to Arizona and Washington to see family. Direct flights are hard, if not impossible to find anymore.
Business Class is my favorite location on long-haul flights. Take off, have a nice meal, sleep, wake up, eat again, land.