I have a question about those early morning flights - the ones that arrive at 5 or 6 in the morning. Are there places now in the city where you can store your luggage at that early a time without having to go back to the airport? I heard that recently they have removed the lockers at train stations, and I am not so sure about asking a hotel at 6 in the morning to take my bags.

Better yet, are there any kind of "day rooms" that you can rent anywhere to serve as a kind of base station so you can take an easy first day?

The ones that arrive where? Any particular cities in mind?

I either book the room for the night before, unless I have meetings or want to have an early morning tour (in which case I drop off my bags at a hotel). I can't think of any real hotel in a city that would not check luggage.

you asked this and got several answers. To find all of your threads -- click on your name.

(most any hotel will store luggage until a room is ready)

I've never encountered a hotel that wouldn't store my bags, no matter how early in the morning, until my room was ready. It doesn't matter to the hotel whether they store your bags for 20 minutes or 6 hours.

While many train station no longer have luggage lockers, they do have attended baggage deposits for which you pay a per-bag fee.

I too would not hesitate to go directly to my hotel, even at 6 AM and ask them to hold the luggage. It's the best place for it as you won't have to go elsewhere to retrieve it later. I've never found a hotel that wouldn't be glad to do that (plus it makes them aware that you have arrived and are "ready" for a room).

Sorry about double posting - I posted originally and couldn't find it again, even typing my username in the search field. Never thought to click on my user name up top. Sorry, and thanks for all thesuggestions!