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Quests like:
"Come meet me in Limsa Lominsa! I've never been there before!" - NPC Residing in South Shroud
You teleport to them.
We assume only certain people can use the Aethernet/Aetheryte to travel.
How do they manage to beat you there, and how have they managed to read three books whilst waiting?
My simple question is:
How long does it take to teleport?
This is sort of explained via the 'time bubble' we've got going on.
The theory is that, while patches are loosely chronological, everything in the game happens concurrently. That is to say, there is no real timeline. The WHM quests happen at the same time as the THM quests as the fetch quest for Tommy Toughnuts over in Camp Brittlebark.
In-game, it can be assumed that you're an aloof adventurer. You come and go as you please, checking in on NPCs as you wander in an out, being a general vagabond and going where you please and doing what pleases you.
Otherwise, teleporting has been said to be nearly instantaneous, as all you have to do is tap into the Lifestream and home in on your destination to coalesce there. The NPCs show up there before you because you're that aloof adventurer who takes his/her time doing whatever s/he pleases.
There was an official thread made by Camate early on in ARR's service which described lore wise how aetherytes work - teleporting is effectively nearly instantaneous, meaning barely any perceivable time is passed between leaving and arriving at your destination aetheryte. Considering how aetherytes work is the 'Teleport' spell breaks down the person teleporting's body into an aetheric 'essence' for lack of a better term, which then travels via the 'river of aether'/'Lifestream' to the destination aetheryte.
The aetheryte thus acts as a kind of combination lighthouse and 'matter constructor', serving as a beacon in the river of aether that the player's consciousness is drawn to. Upon arriving at their destination aetheryte, it reconstructs the player's body from aether back into their original physical form. To teleport is a aethically demanding task, meaning those not really sensitive to aetheric manipulation (such as native-born Garleans) cannot use the aetheryte network - even if they could channel enough aether to teleport, the results would probably be horrific (essentially killing them).
As Wolfrandre says, how we perceive time as a player is not consistent with in game story and npc progression, which can vary wildly from time seeming to stand still to whole days passing by narrative wise.