Those are probably the exact words I said to the lady at the baggage drop

"Cool I'm just gonna take my bag and uhh go". Those are probably the exact words I said to the lady at the baggage drop at Penang international airport

It's not the 31st today, it's the 30th.
The flight is on the 31st. The 31st is tomorrow.
Today is the 30th.

My plan was superb, meticulous, spot on.
My discipline was unmatched - not lying in bed a single moment more. I had done everything right except for one thing - I thought I was going to fly out today.

I got out my phone and did a search for cheap accommodation close to the airport.
There's a reason why people can successfully operate hotels close to the airport and far away from anything awesome. It's probably because suckers like me either can't or don't want to travel all the way to where the cheap places are.

I found a budget hotel with a room costing around x4 what I'd normally pay. Trying to make the most of the situation I realised i had technically jumped the queue for tomorrow! Yay, Silver linings!

I booked a Grab ride from outside the departure area as I was already basically there. The driver, already at the airport drove an entire circuit of the airport loop, making his way from arrivals, through departures and then back to arrivals probably confused as to why someone would go out of their way up to the departure area on the 1st floor in order to leave the airport.
Realising this guy was clearly stumped, I cancelled and booked another one. I kept the conversation to a minimum so that he wouldn't find out how retarded I actually am.

I didn't have a fake story to explain the situation. How do you explain getting picked up at the airport with a baggage tag for tomorrows flight? "So basically in New Zealand we're actually a few hours ahead of Malaysia and I when I left to go to the airport I switched over to New Zealand time. Buzzy aye!". That's probably the best I could muster up.

I already told him I'd been backpacking for 4 1/2 months already and I wasn't too keen on hearing him make a comment regarding how the fuck I'd made it this far.

To be fair I was asking myself the same question.

Singapore here I come.

(FYI if you're flying Air Asia, you need to print off a boarding pass, despite what anyone tells you. I don't care if he speaks Chinese or Malay, don't take the risk, don't stand in line twice)

(Ainur, thanks for your kind support. It's good to know my 'misfortunes' can be of benefit to others. Judge me - I don't care.)