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Early-morning airport pick-ups: how to make 3am painless

3am pickups are the least fun part of a holiday. Here's how to make them survivable.

2026-05-20 · 4 min read

Half our summer bookings are 3–5am pickups. Here's how to make them bearable.

The night before

  • Pack the car bag: passports, boarding passes, phone charger, wallet.
  • Bag by the door: cases zipped and by the front door before you go to bed.
  • Shower before bed, not in the morning.
  • Sleep by 10pm if you can.

The morning

  • Set the alarm for 45 minutes before pick-up, not 30.
  • Coffee in a travel cup for the car.
  • Boarding passes on your phone.

During the pickup

  • We text on the way. If you'd rather we didn't ring the doorbell, tell us at booking.
  • We won't be chatty at 3am unless you want us to be.

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