Reading this brought me right back to the excitement of the adventure of going somewhere new! It seems like it's been forever for me. I wish I was one of those people who could sleep on planes. I have about a 50/50 chance of sleeping even if I have a flat bed in first class. I have zero anxieties about flying so I think it's more the anticipation than anything.
Yes, I think it's the anticipation that gets you, especially when heading out to new places. That and the adrenaline (funny how a white night that's travel-related is fine, but otherwise losing a night's sleep feels like Hell in your daily life) :)
I'll never forget the first time I landed in Heathrow. I got, maybe, an hour's worth of sleep and then had to schlep our luggage from where we were dropped off in Covent Garden to our Airbnb and up flights of stairs. It was around noon I think when we finally were settled. I took about a two hour nap and then went exploring London on foot while my wife slept. I just could lay there and sleep when there was so much of the city to be explored. Yes! I simply can't function without at least six hours of sleep in my daily life.
I know, right? I'm the same. I try to offer a half-assed "we can rest a bit" if traveling with someone, or the more likely "you rest, I'll go off on my own", but I'm turbo-charged whenever I'm in a foreign place. I guess it's that ticking clock aspect that's missing from day-to-day life (though it probably shouldn't be, right?).
I only traveled through Heathrow once and found it really hectic to be honest.So maybe not the nicest way to encounter a foreign place for the first time.