Travel preferences tend to be just that – personal preference. From what modes of transport are acceptable, how you carry your luggage to when you travel and where you go, at the end of the day it’s largely down to you. This is just a precursor to highlight that what I write in this post is merely my personal reasonings for preferring certain times over others.

There are a number of factors involved in deciding which flight to book. The biggest one, really, is the availability of flights – if there’s only one flight a day, then you don’t have much of a choice! Other things to take into consideration include the length of your trip, the conditions of your accommodation, the reason for your trip and your home circumstances.

There are of course pros and cons to all times of day. This breakdown of my preferences is based on having a full day, and not working around work or having to arrive by a specific time for an event.

So when do I think it the best time to fly? I’m a morning flier by preference, in both directions. For flying out, I like a breakfast time (or early morning) flight, while I like a mid-morning or lunchtime-ish flight for coming home.

The pros of flying in the morning:

• Gives you plenty time to work out travel arrangements from the airport to your final destination, reducing stress.
• You feel like you have more time at your destination, and who doesn’t want an adventure to last for as long as possible?
• When you fly home in the morning, you don’t have to traipse your luggage about with you all day

Of course, it’s not all sunshine and daisies, so here are some of the cons of flying in the morning:

• you’re going to be tired all day, especially if you’ve managed to secure yourself an early morning flight.
• you might have to carry your luggage around all day, depending on the left luggage situation at your accommodation or destination.
• if, like me, you don’t live particularly close to the airport your flying from then you may need to budget for an extra night’s accommodation before you even start your adventure.
• even if you do live pretty close, if you’re on an early flight it can still be tricky to get to the airport on time unless you can rely on somebody driving you there.

I realise that I have written more cons than pros, but I think that the pros greatly outweigh the cons – and I’m not a morning person at all!

Of course there are pros and cons to flying at all times of day. When do you prefer to travel? Let me know in the comments!