Random Thoughts - Getting My Travel Dates Wrong

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For someone who plan and book my own travels every time, I still find it surprising how I can still make the most basic of mistakes; getting the travel dates in my itinerary all mixed up.

Yesterday, I decided to book my accommodation for my trip to Hong Kong in April 2025. I had already been booked on a 5-night cruise that will sail from Singapore to Hong Kong, scheduled to depart on 16th April. However, foolish me happily believed that since it is going to be a 5-night cruise, I will arrive in Hong Kong on 20th April. Nope, its 5-nights and not 5-days. This means I will only arrive in Hong Kong on 21st April. Before this realisation, I had happily booked my accommodation from the 20th April onwards instead of from the 21st onwards. Fortunately, I had chosen the higher-priced package that allows me to modify or cancel without penalty. Otherwise, it will be money down the drain.

This mistake had also happened just 2 months prior when I was booking my airline ticket to another destination. I had already had my accommodation booked from 2nd to 6th December 2024. While I got the departure date correct, I had erroneously booked my return flight for 7th December, instead of the 6th. And because I had chosen the cheapest tier pricing which do not allow any modification or cancellation, I had to extend my trip by one day and re-booked my accommodation. 

Twice in two months. Am I getting forgetful? Have I lost my travel planning mojo? Have I become more careless? Or is it all of these? I hope not. I must remember to get the calendar ready before my next booking for any travel-related stuff. Preferably a physical calendar with my earlier bookings already nicely written and marked out in ink. Definitely not the digital version where time differences can help to confuse me further. 🌏

Mong Kok, Hong Kong SAR, China (2023)

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