Winging it...
Part of being a good hacker is being willing to wing it. No matter how hard you plan things, or how badly you want to maintain control, you're never completely protected from unwanted stuff happening, unforeseen changes, or things spiraling into chaos.
It may take some hard knocks to learn this but once you do hopefully you'll develop the ability to deal with things with a cool head.
Traveling presents us with all kinds of opportunities for anxiety and troubles and the only way to keep yourself from melting down under adverse circumstances on the road is to take it all like water off a duck. Things may be going badly now, but they'll be fine later. Allow yourself more time than you have and realize that whatever deadlines you have can and will be missed sometimes and that it's not the end of the world. If you miss a flight or can't book into a hotel just roll with it.
Ask questions and seek help - you'd be surprised at how helpful people can be when you are polite and friendly. Keep your eyes open, by all means, and watch your back, but don't let that stop you from reaching out. Treat people with dignity and respect, and don't be afraid to seek assistance until you find it.
I had one plan for getting to Key West from Ft. Lauderdale and after having flown from Hong Kong for 13 hours and connecting to another flight from Chicago to Ft. Lauderdale, I decided to skip taking the shuttle down to the keys and check into a hotel for some much wanted rest.
In the morning, after calling the shuttle service, I found out that I couldn't get a reservation until 4pm. Waiting 6 hours to catch a van for a 4 hour drive didn't sound appealing so I went to the airport and found a flight boarding at 3pm with a flight time to Key West of only 30 minutes. Bingo! That's for me.
Now I only have to hang out in Chilli's for a while, have some of that good old franchise American Mexican food and read my book for a few hours.
Let's hope things keep going this smoothly. A good hack can be as simple as going with the flow.
