This weekend marks an annual tradition: the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. However, we had a snafu last year that almost ruined our Canary Islands vacation. So this year I’m sharing with you a Daylight Savings Time warning so you don’t have to learn the hard way. It’s known in Deal Family lore as the year we sprang forward twice.
Here’s the daylight time we know…
Our Spring Break last year was a week after we sprang forward. The only time change we prepared for was the one associated with jet lag. We watched no TV besides Netflix (especially with Deal Dad’s hospital stay) and paid no attention the local media. After a week we prepared to go home on a 630AM flight out of Gran Canaria via Madrid. We got to the airport at 4:30AM, returned the car and got to the terminal at 4:45
…or so we thought.
Turns out our hour and forty five minutes before boarding dissipated into 45 minutes with an unbeknownst (to us) time change! Boarding for our flight closed an hour before takeoff and we should have missed the flight. We made it through only the kindness of an Iberia gate agent. My panicked mangled Spanish explanation of Deal Dad’s hospitalization probably didn’t hurt.
I have no idea why it didn’t occur to me. Of course different countries have different definitions of daylight savings time! And this isn’t unique to international travel. Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands don’t observe daylight savings time at all.
So please learn from my mistake. Double check the daylight savings time rules for both your origin and destination every time you spring forward and fall back. Doing so could save you a ruined vacation.
The Deal Mommy is a proud member of the Saverocity network.
We are going to London on Friday and coming back the 24. British summer time starts on march 26, so we will be there on one of two weeks out of the year when the time difference is one hour less than normal. Every little bit helps when it comes to jet lag!
It’s great as long as you know about it.