If we've learned one thing this offseason about Kyle Shanahan, it's that the San Francisco 49ers coach definitely is NOT happy about the fact that his team has to open the 2026 season in Australia for the NFL's first game ever Down Under.

The 49ers will be the visiting team in Week 1 when they face the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne. The game will kick off at 10:35 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 11 in Australia, but due to the 14-hour time difference, that will create an 8:35 p.m. ET kickoff on Thursday night in the United States.

At the NFL's Annual League Meeting in March, Shanahan complained about the trip, and he added another complaint this week: He doesn't like that it's going to affect his team at the end of the preseason.

After four weeks of practice and three preseason games, each NFL team is supposed to get four days off, but the 49ers won't get all of those days because they'll already be on their way to Australia.

"Everyone gets that bye week after your fourth week," Shanahan said. "The whole NFL gets three bonus practices and four mandatory days off. We're traveling on that third day to Australia, so you kind of miss that week to recover and to have those days off and those bonus days. So, it ends up being about a week different than usual."

If the 49ers weren't traveling to Australia in Week 1, this wouldn't be an issue.

"I would love to have three extra bonus practices here and then four days off like everyone," Shanahan said. "But when you open on a Thursday on the other side of the world, you lose that because it takes a couple days to travel there. It takes a couple days to adjust."

The 49ers coach said he's not necessarily mad about all the travel involved. He's more bothered by the fact that his players won't get the four days of recovery time every other team -- besides the Rams -- will get after the preseason.

"You'd rather not travel that much, and I don't care as much about that," Shanahan said. "It's more about recovery."

The NFL did appear to do San Francisco a small favor on the schedule. After the opener in Australia, the 49ers will play three straight home games, but Shanahan doesn't view that as a positive.

"I mean, three home games is irrelevant," Shanahan said. "That doesn't mean anything. It means you're going to have three more road games in December and January. So, that's my answer on three home games."

Based on Shanahan's comments, it seems pretty clear the 49ers definitely will NOT volunteer if the NFL decides to hold another game in Australia (and according to Roger Goodell, that's the league's eventual plan).

49ers' travel plans for Australia

The 49ers are scheduled to travel an NFL-record 38,105 miles in 2026, and that travel will start with the flight Down Under in Week 1. Shanahan outlined what the team's travel plans will look like for both of their international games -- the 49ers also play in Mexico City -- and between the two games, the 49ers could spend nearly 20 days on the road.

For the Australia trip, the 49ers are scheduled to leave for Melbourne on Sept. 2 with an expected arrival date of Sept. 4. It's a 16-hour flight from the Bay Area to Melbourne, and since you cross the international dateline, you lose a day, which is why it will take two days to get there.

The 49ers don't want to travel the week of the game because they don't think that will be enough time to get acclimated to the 17-hour time difference, so they're leaving a full nine days before kickoff. (The time difference is 14 hours from ET and 17 hours from PT.)

"Usually when you travel with a [16]-hour flight, you don't want to get there the day before because you lose like a whole day there or two and you're just messed up," Shanahan said. "The people we've talked to, you don't feel normal until like the third or fourth day. So, we'd like to go out seven days early. But since it takes a day and a half to travel there, we're going to go nine. I think we leave on Wednesday and land on a Friday. And so, then we get there about seven days before our game. I think it's Friday, we play Thursday or Friday morning Australian time, Thursday here. So that's it."

If the 49ers head home right after the game, they'll get back to San Francisco late at night on Sept. 11 or early in the morning on Sept. 12, so that will be nine or 10 days away from home.

49ers' travel plans for Mexico

In Week 11, the 49ers will head to Mexico City to face the Vikings on Nov. 22. The Mexican capital has an altitude of 7,350 feet, so the 49ers are trying to formulate a practice plan that will allow them to acclimate to it.

"The main thing with Mexico City is it's 2,000 [feet] higher than Denver," Shanahan said. "And so, we like to get adjusted to that altitude. So, we'll probably go to Colorado Springs again like we did last time to get ready for that altitude and then probably go to Mexico City the night before."

The 49ers play the Cowboys in Week 10 (Nov. 15), and right now, it looks like they're going to fly to Colorado Springs after playing in Dallas to prep for the altitude in Mexico City.

"We haven't decided that yet, but most likely," Shanahan said of flying from Texas to Colorado.

If the 49ers go that route, that means they'll leave San Francisco on Nov. 14 to head to Dallas. Under this plan, they wouldn't get home until Nov. 23, which would keep them away from home for nine days.

"We'll probably end up, the Mexico City trip will probably be a longer one than the Australia one, just because of that," Shanahan pointed out.

The 49ers are going to be away from home for at least nine days on each trip, which means for the two international games combined, they'll be on the road for at least 18 days.