Wine tour vs HOHO upon arrival - Auckland

[Paraveina]

I've been thinking about how most flights from Canada to Auckland have an arrival time in the early morning. I imagine even if we sleep on the plane, we won't be up for a full day of sightseeing, but I don't want to lose the day entirely. I know if I can force us to stay awake at last until evening, we'll be much less jetlagged than if we sleep and speed the rest of the trip trying to fight our circadian rhythms.

 

With that in mind, I've been trying to decide between doing a wine tour or going on the hop on hop off bus on the first day. I think I'd prefer to do the wine tour, but the combination of jetlag and alcohol makes me leery. I've also never actually done a wine tour before, so I have no idea what to expect. I've previously taken a redeye before from Montreal to London and went the HOHO route, but we only rode for the day and didn't actually get off the bus because we were tired.

 

Have people done a wine tour after an international flight? Was it too exhausting? Any other recommendations?

[Keith1010]

If you have a couple of days I would do the HOHO the first day. Each person is different in terms of the jet lag.

 

For me I like to be out in fresh air so a HOHO bus would be nice particularly if I was on the top deck in the open space.

 

Keith

[OzKiwiJJ]

Firstly the important thing is to get out and about as early as possible, that will really help to reset your circadian rhythms.

 

I'd suggest doing the HoHo, you don't want to push yourself to the point of being over-tired otherwise you won't sleep at night. If you do a tour you might hit the wall before the tour finishes and you'll end up feeling really lousy for the rest of the tour.

 

If you start getting really tired in the afternoon, head back to your hotel for a rest (and if you do, set an alarm so you don't snooze too long), then head out again for dinner. There are some good restaurants around the Auckland waterfront and it's a nice area to stroll on a pleasant evening.

 

We've done a number of international trips (almost everywhere is a long flight from Australia) and that's our usual pattern on arrival day.

Edited March 21, 2016 by OzKiwiJJ

[Adidas4fun]

Having done similar journeys a number of times I vote for the HOHO as well. Wine + jet lag = falling asleep very quickly for me.

[Paraveina]

Thanks for the consensus everyone! It makes decisions a lot easier when everyone recommends the same thing. We'll do the HOHO first :)