While in Vietnam, my friends and I took a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi to visit Ha Long Bay. On our way back to Ho Chi Minh City, we experienced a hiccup that almost ruined the entire trip.
Let me explain…
On our last day in Hanoi, we all decided to finally explore the city since most of our time was spent on a boat in the middle of Ha Long Bay. We looked at our watches and agreed that we would try to get to the airport an hour and a half before our flight was scheduled to leave. After looking around in a couple of stores and getting some food, we realized that we were running extremely late. We found the nearest taxi and jetted for the airport. We knew that the airline’s policy required passengers to check their bags 60 minutes prior to departure or else they wouldn’t be permitted to check their bags or board the flight. Since we arrived 45 minutes before our departure time and we only had carry-on luggage, we thought that this policy did not apply to us. We were wrong. Very wrong. As we tried to check in, the representative said that their policy included carry-on bags, and that we were too late. She said that we would need to buy a ticket for a flight scheduled the next day. We didn’t have money in our budget to do such a thing. So, what did we do? We decided to go to another representative.
The other representative was more lenient; she said that if we hurried, we could still make the flight. As we raced toward our gate, we noticed that all of the passengers had yet to board - the flight was delayed. Each of us let out a big sigh of relief. I had never been so happy to have a delayed flight in my life. That day, I learned a valuable lesson about time management.
In our travel programs, we define time management as the ability to use time in a productive manner. We describe it as a process of dividing time between activities in an organized fashion. We explain to our Scholars that time management is important because if used correctly, we can effectively accomplish tasks in a shorter amount of time. We then go on to explain how time management applies to travel, school, extracurriculars, work and life in general. Check out Brandon’s post, Finding Time to Travel, where he discusses how time management is beneficial for planning trips. He provides some great tips!
So, educators, parents and students - since it is the summer and you have more free time, I ask that you read Finding Time to Travel and complete Brandon’s call to action:
Think of a travel-related activity that you can experience by the end of next week, and then take the steps to make it happen. And if you would like to share with us, we would love to hear what you came up with. Email us at info@well-traveled.org! Thanks for reading and as always...
Stay Educated. Stay Empowered. Stay WellTraveled.