How do you avoid time zone mix-ups when planning a trip?
Short answer
Write every time in the destination's local zone and label it, so nobody has to convert anything. Flight times are the usual culprit: a ticket shows departure in the origin's local time and arrival in the destination's, and people do the arithmetic wrong.
Where the mistakes come from
A "two-hour flight" that crosses three time zones isn't two hours. Someone reads the arrival time, mentally adjusts it, tells the group to meet at eight, and half the group is still in the air. It's not carelessness — the numbers on a ticket genuinely invite the error.
Rules that prevent it
- One clock for the whole trip: destination local time, always
- Label times when it matters ("lands 18:45 local") in anything you send
- Pad the first evening — don't book dinner for the minute the last flight is due