Welcome to your first day of vacation. The kick-off of a big trip is filled with excitement, anticipation, and, to be honest, sometimes exhaustion and crankiness. Long drives and long flights don’t set you up to hit the ground running; the discomfort (no matter how good your neck pillow) can be real. And, odds are, the days leading up to your vacation may have been filled with lists and more lists, not to mention sweating over what to squeeze into your suitcase.

Ready to explore a new place and make some new friends? NextTribe leads small groups of amazing women on immersive trips across the U.S. and around the globe.

So that first day of a vacation is crucial, both for recharging and setting the mood for what lies ahead. You want fun, joy, adventure, right? Should you queue up to see a blockbuster attraction? Park yourself at a cafe and watch the world go buy? Find the nearest horizontal surface and get to sleep? These tips from seasoned travelers will tell you what works best.

Prep Like a Pro

Invest a bit of time before you leave so arrival day is no sweat.

Get ready, get set: Think through your arrival in advance so you breeze through it. Research the best way to get from the airport to your hotel; you may even be able to buy a transit pass online. Print it out, along with a map (courtesy of Google or elsewhere), and acquire some local currency. Place these items with your passport and a wake-up kit in a waist pack or other secure bag.

Revive and rehydrate. If you’ve flown, as soon as you’re through Customs, head for the airport restroom and do something about those mossy teeth and sleepy eyes. Refill your water bottle.

Find your way to your hotel according to those directions you sorted out before you started your journey. Many of us Americans take overnight flights to Europe, arriving super-early at the hotel, when it’s too early to check in. If that’s your situation, ask if you can stash your bags at the hotel. But don’t race out before checking your daypack for essentials. “Remember to extract your sun hat and sunscreen from your suitcase,” says one traveler, Susan Baldwin, who learned this the hard way while hatless and bare-skinned during a hot, sunny first day hike in Kaikoura, New Zealand.

It may be midnight where you came from, but try to get in sync with your new time zone. Coffee may be involved.

Sync yourself with your time zone. It may be midnight where you came from, but you need coffee now (like, right now) if it’s morning at your destination. The prevailing jet lag wisdom says to get on the local time ASAP, so if you need a caffeine boost to do so, go for it. And maybe a comforting ritual, too. “As soon as possible, I get a latte or whatever comes close,” says Sandy Hurtes.  “I crave a familiar taste and scent. On the first day of a trip to Málaga Spain, I was thrilled to see a Starbucks (no kidding).”

Enjoy Being an Early Bird

If you do find yourself in a new place at an hour when most people are still asleep, take advantage of the special kind of calm you’ll experience. On the first day of a trip to Lisbon, Susan and her travel partner went straight to the city’s most popular tram. “We were actually able to get seats—all the other tourists were sleeping in.”  She also has fond memories of her first day with a fellow traveler in Christchurch, New Zealand. “We explored parts of it by foot and enjoyed the calm and the beauty.”

First Day of Vacation: Immersion Ideas

Ready for some good ways to get acclimated?

Scope out your surroundings. You may want to hit the ground running and see a bucket-list attraction on your first day, but slow down! Get the lay of the land. “I like to get a sense of the city right away,” Sandy. says, “so I look for a hop-on, hop-off bus and ride it around for a few hours. In Rome, I took one, and it went past the Jewish Quarter, which I hadn’t known of, so I went back another day, and it was the highlight of my trip.” 

When designing NextTribe trips, founder Jeannie Ralston likes to start with some sort of activity that offers perspective on the destination. For instance, in Charleston, SC, that means some time on a roof top bar. In Portugal, the trip begins in Lisbon with a sunset sailboat ride on the Tagus River. “I like to give travelers a sense of the city,” she says,”plus some time outside to adjust to the local climate.”

Walk this way. “I never rush out to the big tourist destination on my first day,” says frequent flyer Robin Glenn. Instead, she says her mandate on day one of a trip is to walk whenever possible. “I like to become familiar with my immediate neighborhood,” she says. “If I’m dealing with jet lag, I’ll go to the city’s marquee park or another outdoor area and soak up sun to reset my body clock.” (Yes, daylight is known to offer a helping hand when you are adjusting to a new time zone.)

If I have jet lag, I’ll go to the city’s marquee park or another outdoor area and soak up sun to reset my body clock.

Window-shop. Another gentle way to enjoy your first day in a new place is to do a bit of browsing. You might buy the makings of a picnic at a farmers’ market or snacks at a grocery store. You’ll have fun deciding what to get while watching locals in action. You can make note of shops you’d like to come back and visit (Robin loves thrift stores), but easy does it—jet lag can make for poor judgment.

“A few groceries are one thing,” she cautions, “but I advise to never shop for clothes on your first day. You’ll find better things and better deals when you know more about the new place.” She learned this on her first trip to England. “I ended up with a beautiful summer dress that was ruinously expensive. For the rest of the trip, I was short of spending money!”

Feed Your Senses and Yourself

You need fuel to get through your very first day of travel. If you’ve booked yourself into a hotel with a well-reviewed restaurant, brava. That can be an easy place to linger and have a light bite.

If you’ve been on an overnight flight, a small meal early in the day can be a delightful introduction to a new place. “In Lisbon we left our suitcases at the hotel at 6 AM,” Susan says. “It was glorious to watch the city wake up as we ate breakfast at a hilltop sidewalk cafe.”  That does sound ideal: Coffee, pastry and an orienting view of downtown.

It was glorious to watch the city wake up as we ate breakfast at a hilltop sidewalk cafe.

The late, great food writer Laurie Colwin exhorted her followers to “feed” jet lag, specifically with a comforting bowl of homey soup, followed by a sandwich (and shortbread). Soup may not be on every menu, but this is no time for a big meal—your stomach may still be recovering from dinner (or was it breakfast?) at 30,000 feet. At the same time, you do want to get a taste of your new stomping grounds.      

One of my favorite meals during my last trip to Paris was a perfect first-day jambon-beurre sandwich (that’s ham and butter), served up at the snack bar in the Jardin des Plantes, a wonderful botanical garden. As I bit into the crunchy baguette, shards of crust mingled with layers of sweet butter and salty ham. Suddenly, I felt as if my feet had hit the ground, and I was ready to take on the city.