In the Realm of the Golden Dragon

No, we are not in some little-known realm of the world.

Rather, crossing the International Date Line (IDL) at the 180th parallel makes us members of this mysterious realm. At least, so claims the certificate delivered to our room last night. I’ll have to check if crossing the IDL in the opposite direction, and losing a day in that instance, already put us in this realm on RTW2017.

Crossing the IDL in an easterly direction means dealing with a little weirdness. Yesterday was the 28th of June. Today is the 28th of June!!! That literally means an 8-day week for us … less the hours we’ve been giving up in order to put ourselves in the same time zone as the Aleutians … coming up in a few days’ time 🤞🏻.

All this is thanks to the imaginary line that bisects the world into two hemispheres vertically. Obviously, whoever came up with this line concept had no adjustment of electronic devices with which to contend 🤪.

Eagle eyes will note that the certificate does not show the latitude at which we crossed as 180 degrees. That’s because where we are, the IDL zigs and zags so as not to go through land and split countries between two different days.

Ahhhh! The vagaries of world travel!Read more