I am an IDIOT!

I know what you're all thinking. "Gee Fick, you are one of the smartest people I know, how can you possibly do something idiotic?" Well, let me tell you! This past Sunday was my flight from Singapore to Cairns by way of Melbourne. Not the most direct route, but it was the cheapest, so I was leaving at 10:15pm and arriving in Cairns at 12:45pm the next day. Remember those times because it is important. So I'm hanging out with Pia and company, enjoying some last minute beers and rugby before I hope a cab to Changi Airport for my flight. I grab a cab, get to the airport and look for my flight info. The departures board says the gate for my flight is closing and I was thinking that was weird since I was there at 8:15pm, 2 hours before take-off. I get to the gate agent to check-in and she then informs me that my flight already left. WHAT? Was the flight changed? No. Was I checking in for the correct flight? Yes. So what is the problem here? The problem is me and my ability to read international time clocks. My flight was scheduled to leave at 20:15pm AKA 8:15pm so I was too late to board my flight. I somehow got it into my head that my flight left at 10:15pm! JESUS H. CHRIST, how can I have been so careless?

My heart is palpitating at this point and I'm bordering on a mild stroke at this point. What was I going to do? I was sure to be stuck in Singapore for another 2 days before a seat opened up to Cairns. So the gate agent suggested I go talk to Qantas Customer Service to see what they could do. Now, everytime I've ever visited an airline customer service desk resulted in tears and anger, so I was convinced I'd rather be thrown in a room with rabid dogs than go talk to them. Being I had limited choices at this point, I slumped over to the desk, on the verge of tears since the cause of all this was me being a complete moron. The Qantas rep took my ticket and started banging away at her computer while I blubber on about my stupidity. She was, dare I say, pleasant about all this? So she mentions there is a flight going out on Jetstar, Qantas budget line, in 1.5 hours on and it goes through Darwin instead of Melbourne, putting me into Cairns about 4 hours earlier. She asks me if this is OK. OK?!? It's more that f*ckin' OK, it's fabulous! I almost shit myself. She processed my ticket, handed me my boarding pass and then wished me a good flight. That was it! I wanted to throw myself across the counter and hug this woman because I was indeed getting to Cairns! It was so awesome, I am still flabbergasted to this day!

So I end up getting into Cairns 4 hours early and chatting up a fellow traveler and getting a ride into town via her friend, saving $18, and then she decides not to use her room reservation and catch a bus to Mission Beach instead and gives me her room for free! I'm riding a mean streak of good luck and I can only attribute it to me finally cashing in on some good karma I've collected in the past. Crisis averted!