Written on the high speed train from Barcelona to Paris:
Time management is incredibly important when traveling, especially when traveling internationally by yourself, as I do.
Departure Times
This is a gimme. I’ve never missed any big transportation times. I blew past one soft deadline (meet here before dinner), but luckily, there was someone waiting to lead me to the the restaurant. It’s important to verify a specific meeting time to ensure everyone is on the same page.
In general, the best practice is to arrive early. For instance, I’m currently writing on a train, which I boarded ten minutes prior to departure, but I was on the platform 15 minutes before. That’s cutting it a bit close, but the optimal goal is to waste as little sweet holiday time as possible sitting around waiting to sit some more.
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m usually pretty precise with my time management, but still, I’ve had some close calls. It wasn’t particularly enjoyable running through the Charles d’Gaulle airport Paris (CDG) to make the one flight per day to MSP. I decided to not cut it that close again, since my ultimate success was partially reliant on the fact that the French are a wonderful, loving people, and I wouldn’t be so lucky anywhere else.
So I try to have a decent cushion of time to work with, because something always comes up. Today I gave myself about 30 minutes more than I needed to get back to my place, get my bags, and catch my train. I’m lucky I did, because an unexpected event in the park captured my attention for a solid 20 minutes. If I hadn’t given myself extra time, I would’ve missed my train.
The allure of music brought me to the tail end of a big swing event in a park. The lesson was ending as I arrived and I joined the social dancing. I ended up teaching American East Coast swing to a few ladies, but I changed my dance style to be less confusing to my partners, did some social dancing, and that’s when I finally ‘got’ Lindy Hop, a dance that completely eluded me in my last swing story.
If I hadn’t allowed myself extra time, I would have missed my train while I was having a blast dancing and learning Lindy Hop. Or maybe I would have caught the train but missed out on some great dancing memories, but I strictly believe that one should always allow extra time to dance.
