Journal · 2026-04-10
Eating Something When Every Kitchen Has Closed
Land late and the hotel kitchen has already gone dark. A short note on feeding yourself sensibly after midnight near the airport, before and after a session.
The meal served on a long-haul flight arrives on a schedule that suits the crew and the departure airport, not the traveller. By the time the aircraft lands late at night, dinner was five or six hours ago, breakfast is still hours away, and the stomach has given up trying to follow either timetable. Anyone who has arranged a session for a room near the runway will, sooner or later, face the question of what to eat and when.
What is open
Hotel kitchens around the airport usually close in the late evening. Some hotels keep a small night menu through room service, some have a vending area or a shelf of snacks at reception, and some have nothing at all after eleven. It is worth checking before departure, because the answer decides whether you need to buy something on the way. The arrivals level of the terminal has a supermarket with long opening hours, and its sandwiches, fruit, yoghurt and water are enough for a late arrival.
Before the session: little and light
A heavy meal immediately before lying face down for an hour is unpleasant, however hungry you were. The body is busy digesting, the stomach feels every movement, and the calm that the session is supposed to bring never quite arrives. Something light, eaten half an hour before the agreed start, takes the edge off hunger without getting in the way. A banana, a handful of nuts, a yoghurt. Water rather than wine, because the cabin has already dried you out.
After the session: something saved
The appetite that disappeared during the flight often returns an hour after the session, just as the lights are going out. Keeping something aside for that moment, a sandwich or a piece of fruit, means you sleep through instead of waking at four with a hollow stomach and nothing in the room. Put it on the desk with a bottle of water before she arrives, so it is waiting afterwards.
Alcohol at the end of a flight
A drink on arrival can feel like a reward, and one is fine. More than that works against nearly everything a late arrival needs: it deepens dehydration, fragments sleep in the second half of the night and makes jet lag worse the following day. It also makes the conversation at the start of a session less clear, which matters because that is when your therapist sets out her limits and what the session will include. A guest who is visibly drunk may find that she declines to begin, which is her decision to make.
Water, and more of it
Cabin air at cruising altitude is drier than a desert, and a traveller who drank little during the flight lands mildly dehydrated without noticing. Thirst shows up as a headache, a stiff neck or plain irritability. Two glasses of water in the room before the session, and a bottle by the bed afterwards, fix more of the late-arrival fog than any meal does. Tap water in the Netherlands is safe to drink, so there is no need to hunt for a bottle at one in the morning.
Caffeine and the clock
If you drank coffee on the aircraft to stay alert for the landing, that coffee is still working at two in the morning. It is one reason some late arrivals find themselves lying awake after a session that should have sent them straight to sleep. On a flight that lands after midnight, switching to water or herbal tea for the last few hours in the air pays off later.
Breakfast, and the first day
The following morning, eat breakfast at the local breakfast hour even if you are not hungry. Alongside daylight, it is one of the clearest signals the body clock receives. A traveller who arrived late, slept well after a session and then ate a proper breakfast is usually in reasonable shape by midday. The first night page covers the rest of that first day.
The practical list
For a landing after midnight, a short list does the job. Check before departure whether the hotel has any food at night. Buy something light and something for later at the arrivals supermarket if not. Drink water rather than wine or coffee on the final hours of the flight. Eat lightly before the agreed start and keep something aside for afterwards. Then let the rest of the night be about sleep.
The figures do not change with the hour, and the booking page explains how the start is agreed. Whatever you have eaten, the session itself is for your therapist to shape, within the limits she states before it begins.