OP, look very carefully at the London Pass and make sure there are enough things you really want to do. I think the break-even point for us was four or five – and we were stretching to persuade ourselves that the final one was worth it. What someone above said about the Oyster card – yes, yes, yes. What about going to a matinee? Better make it an exciting one, however. American Idiot? Billy Eilliott? OMG, there’s a musical of Bend It Like Beckham!!! I would totally go for that.
If there’s any way to still get tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, get them. You’ll be SO GLAD you did!!! Google it.
I eat lightly on travel day. We try for the latest flight of the evening from the East Coast to where we are going in Europe and change to UK time when we board the plane. My husband is a huge fan of ambien. He gets a good chunk of sleep and wakes up refreshed. I don’t do sleep aids so my method is to eat a light snack before boarding, forget the meal on the plane and to try to shut it down an hour after take off. Either sunglasses or a sleep mask, ear plugs or noise cancelling head phones are a must for me. I usually can doze off for a couple of hours, though it takes a while to get to that point. Upon our early morning arrival we drop off the luggage, eat breakfast and head out. We skip museums and gallerys the first day and stay outdoors. If I gave in to a nap I would be done for the day so I push through. By days end I am so tired that it is a waste for me to go to a restaurant. I grab a cup of take-out soup or something light. My husband does much better on that first day he might go to a restaurant on his own at 8pm. When our daughter was still at home and traveling with us, she would head off with him. I feel I have done well if I make it to 8:00. The next day I am pretty close to normal.
We did the red eye from Philly a year and a half ago to Dublin, so pretty much the same flight. I think we napped just a bit on the way over, but not really good sleeping. Once we arrived,we dropped off our stuff at the hotel and then headed out for a train ride and long walk. Long walk, like 6 miles. Afterwards, we took another train back to our starting point in Dublin and walked around in the city a bit, had a bite to eat at a pub, meandered back to the hotel and went to bed around 10:00, Dublin time. We were beat from the long day so slept well. The next morning we were well rested and ready to start our adventure. BTW, While over there we did three city walks - Dublin, Edinburgh, and London. All were excellent! http://www.newlondon-tours.com/ I used tripadvisor extensively to plan our trip and found great tips there.
We did this last summer and just had a loose schedule that first day since we didn’t know how we would feel along with our 9 year old daughter. We were tired but got a second wind by the time we made it to the hotel. We dropped our bags off at our hotel and got the lowdown on the train system. We then went and took a turn on the London Eye after walking around parliament, big ben and westminster abbey just to give us a bit of a taste on our first day. We did turn in after an early dinner.