June 25, 1988.
In the early morning hours, as Europe is still chasing unfinished dreams, noon has crossed the nineteenth meridian. As I wake up, my first thoughts are to imagine a wet torpor wrapping up midday hours in a mythic, exotic and remote Orient; a reality as of tomorrow.
A few hours flight suffice to accelerate time. Whilst traveling against the sun, the lag of the internal clock is fostered by a precarious sleep, rocked by the vibrations of the engines. Eleven hours of flight, sixteen hours on a clock, it is early morning in Bangkok, the first stopover. Furtively, time has shrunken.
East bound around the South Pacific
Two week spent to discover South-East Asia, jumping around the 100e meridian, have faded-out all references to time. After Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta and Bali are in neighboring zones. Finally, before taking-off towards Australia, one single hour is added to the lost time.
Touching ground in Sydney, the journey continues towards the Fiji islands where the date line diverts from the anti-meridian (1), allowing Tonga to stay in the same day. This sector added another 5 hours to the time deficit (6 hours when compared to Greenwich). After three weeks of travel, half a day has melted. Nevertheless, losing four minutes for every degree of longitude crossed, is meaningless in the vast Pacific.
A few days later, the tour continues. Takeoff from Nadi, stopover in Rarotonga and arrival in Faa, airport of Papetee, eight hours later… the previous day! Going back in time is improbable and it is easy to be amazed by this phenomenon. The culprit is an imaginary line, roughly drawn on the antipodes of the prime meridian (Greenwich). Depending on the direction of rotation, the crossing of this demarcation, adds or retracts one day from the travelers journey.
Time is melting
Actually, minutes “saved” whilst traveling to the east are restored at once, with an additional credit of twelve hours, to be written down during the second part of the trip.
Magellan’s sailors, after their circumnavigation, already created astonishment as they were living on a different day, as attested by a precise log. On its side, Filias Fog, Jules Vernes’ hero, took advantage of one additionnel day to win his eastbound race around the world (2).
Polynesia, Hawaii, United States two more weeks of strolling before returning to Europe, 35 days later … actually after a round the world trip of 36 days averaging 23 hours and 20 minutes.
29 juillet 1988.
(1) meridian of 180° longitude
(2) Jules Vernes; Around the World in 80 days
