I don't believe in starting from Cold&Dark because that's highly unrealistic in the real world unless it's the first flight of the day/other time frame.

I always look at this way. If I leave the cockpit for the rest of the day, I shut it down to full Cold&Dark state. It's what they would do in the real world anyway. 

If I am going to do another flight immediately, I leave it powered.

I start from the long turn. I can have the aircraft pre-flighted in no more than 20 mins even for an ultra-long haul (not including flight planning which can easily take an hour, but then I'm still getting used to PFPX).

 

Setting up the aircraft itself is pretty easy regardless of the route. I don't know about anyone else but I also go through system checks etc.. as you would on the real thing in addition to the pre-flight tasks, so it is not simply a case of going flying. I also get all the charts necessary too, which takes a bit of time in some cases (depends on the country).

 

Best regards,

Robin.