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I Almost Missed My Flight Due To Daylight Saving Time

Have you guys ever heard of daylight saving time? If not and ever wondering what it is? Oh well, according to Wikipedia, it is the practice of advancing clocks during the lighter months so that evenings have more daylight and mornings have less. Let's take example of this, currently the time difference between Malaysia and United Kingdom is where the latter one is 7 hours behind the local time of Malaysia but during daylight saving, it will be 8 hours different. Although not practiced by the majority of the world's countries, daylight saving time is common in the Western World. 

I knew about this when I was in United Kingdom and Europe after staying there for almost 4 months, but I have never experienced it so far. I also knew that Australia does have daylight saving but then, I never thought I was so unlucky that it eventually happened on the last and final day before I left Melbourne. Before the first few days, Australia local time was 2 hours ahead of Malaysia, but on the final day, it changed to 3. Indirectly due to this, I missed the Skybus, the express bus I supposedly take to airport.

Then, when I decided to take tram to the nearby coach terminal for the next airport bus, the tram will only arrived in 45 minutes cause it's weekend and the frequency of the tram is lesser compare to weekdays. Another sign I might miss my flight. Of course, I was freaking worry at that moment but what I know was I need to keep calm and think of my next move. So, I decided to walk to the coach terminal instead of waiting for the tram. OK, here comes another problem. I know where the coach terminal is located but then I wasn't too sure on how to walk from my friend's hostel to there. Plus, all my Melbourne maps were kept and locked inside my luggage bag. Third sign I might miss my flight. Without thinking any longer, I just walked aimlessly and as fast as I could while dragging my 20 kg luggage bag. Out of sudden, my friend called me and asked me to wait for her cause she is going to accompany me to the coach terminal by taking taxi, instead of walking cause according to her, even by walking, it will takes at least 40 minutes (and this apply for those who have long legs). Thanks to her, I reached the bus station within 10 minutes and managed to catch the airport bus to Melbourne Airport, also known as Tullamarine Airport.

In the end, I arrived airport around 8 am of Australia local time when the estimated time of departure is scheduled to be on 9:35 am. Thank goodness! One thing that apparently save me was I always make sure I will arrive airport at least 3 hours earlier (mostly apply for bustling and big cities like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia). I rather reach the airport earlier than miss the flight and the worst part is buying the last minute expensive airfares. I came across that majority people missed their flights due to heavy jam, woke up late or even wrongly looked at the flying time, I might be among the first person to miss my flight due to daylight saving. So, the biggest lesson I learnt from this trip is to be aware and take note of DAYLIGHT SAVING for my future upcoming trips!

Here are few snapshots I took within Tullamarine Airport, the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne and the second busiest airport in Australia. 

 #1: Last minute souvenirs hunting

 #2

 #3

 #4: My own in-flight meals as I didn't pre-booked earlier. 

#5: With my latest luggage tag I bought from DFO South Wharf. Goodbye, Melbourne! Till then, wish to see you again.

By the way, have any of you ever missed your flight or nearly missed flights just like me? If ever, feel free to share your interesting story with me.
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6 comments:

  1. Wow, I didn't know about this daylight saving stuff. I guess I have to take note of it to avoid missing out flights.

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  2. Daylight savings just ended this morning... Back to 2 hours difference from Malaysian time

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  3. My experience is at Bangkok airport. Me & my friends reached there very early but Bangkok airport is too big to shop. And that time, we do not know the gateway is SO BIG and FAR! We almost missed the flight. We ran like siao lang & when we reached the gateway, we heard they paged nonstop on our names. Phewww, so thrilling!

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  4. I missed my flight to Bali regardless departing 4 hours earlier from home. Took the Skybus from KL Sentral & there was a massive traffic jammed somewhere near the Dataran Merdeka due to some running event if I'm not mistaken. I reached LCCT 2 minutes before my boarding time & the staff told me the plane has already closed its door. No choice, I had to buy a new ticket. Cost double the price I paid for the burnt one. Sob. Lesson learned.

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  5. don't worry, if miss, then just stay extra day...hehehe unlike my 'flight miss' which was '1 month ago'..and then I just realised it later...hahaha (that's for my Japan flight back to Malaysia) hahaha

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  6. I’m glad you arrived at the airport on time! DST can be really confusing, especially when it’s not practiced internationally. I guess it helps that you made a three-hour allowance to come to the airport. It helped you adjust with the time of your flight. Cheers!

    Grady Mann @ Downtown Yellow Taxi in Saint Petersburg

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