Always Set Two Alarms

The title says it all! This business-traveler's rule is so obvious that you may think it doesn't need posting. If that were so, why do I often forget it, myself?

Numerous times (greater than mere statistical randomness would allow) I have set an alarm to wake up for an early flight, and for some surprising reason, the alarm doesn't go off.

• I've set the alarm time, but didn't turn on the alarm.
• I've set the AM/PM incorrectly.
• I've set everything correctly on a hotel clock that had its AM/PM setting reversed.
• I've set my cell alarm after a day of having the cell set to silent mode.

The most infamous occurrence of a Visit from Murphy was in Eugene, OR. I had indeed set two alarms (okay, maybe the rule should be "Two Alarms and a Wake-Up Call"). I think I had set my cell-phone alarm time, but forgot to turn the alarm on. I had also set the hotel room clock, but the clock's AM/PM setting had been reversed. I literally woke up 45 minutes before my departure time!

Knowing that there was only one flight out per day, I decided to try to get there rather than just give up and reschedule. 30 seconds to pack, a minute to check out, 15 minutes to drive to the airport (and thankful that there were no patrol cars waiting for me that early in the morning), two minutes to drop off the car... They actually let me check my bags and get on the plane...but this was Eugene, remember: Friendliest airport on the planet! I was extremely lucky.

(Many thanks to the wonderful folks at the Eugene airport that day. All eight or nine of you. :)

The real trick seems to be setting the next day's alarms while you're alert, rather than waiting until you're sleepy and crawling into bed.

During my most recent trip to Boston, I decided I trusted my very reliable cell phone alarm to wake me up. I set the alarm carefully, made sure it was on, had AM/PM set correctly (note to self: consider going to a 24-hour clock), yet it didn't go off! I usually go back and try to identify the problem, and usually I find it, but this time there was nothing. Nothing but a mental image of my phone peering back at me through it's stupid little camera, and laughing at me.

Again, I was incredibly lucky. I had scheduled a room-service breakfast (the only way to get breakfast at this hotel at 6AM), and the kitchen folks had a question about my order, so they called the room only ten minutes after my alarm time. But my heart raced until I looked at the clock, because I immediately assumed it was the front desk, calling to tell me that the taxi driver was tired of waiting, and was leaving without me.

So, I'm saying this just as much for myself as for others: Two alarms, or one alarm and a wake-up call. And, if there's only one flight per day and it's the flight home, then do all three!

Bells wake me up almost fully. It only takes one alarm to wake me up, and I usually turn on a light to keep from falling back to sleep. If this isn't enough for you, set an alarm across the room, so you have to get up to turn it off.