Crossing the International Dateline

Time has no meaning when you’re in flight. When traveling in any direction other than along a longitudinal line, the clock shifts earlier or later. What does it mean, as a friend wondered, when my flight departed Auckland before midnight on the 28th and arrived in Honolulu on the same calendar date, but early in the morning? The clock is, of course, a device for organizing social activities among human beings, but still the relativity of time is haunting. As we crossed the international dateline out in the Pacific Ocean, the sun rose on the horizon but the dateline marked a dividing line between two time references when the clock on one side is exactly one day earlier or later than the other side, depending on if you’re traveling east or west. Absolutely mind-bending.