As I write this, we are about nine hours from boarding the first of two flights that will deliver us back to the U.S. Mainland. Here in Manila, it is nearly 4:40 pm on Saturday afternoon, but back home in Montana, it is presently 2:40 am on Saturday morning. This 14-hour difference between Manila and Montana not only underscores the vast distances we traverse but also sets the stage for a strange journey through time.
The 14-hour time difference means that while
Saturday is winding down in Manila, it's still the early hours of the same day
in Montana. This difference becomes even more intriguing when you consider the
effect of crossing the International Date Line during westward travel. The Date
Line, an imaginary boundary running from the North Pole to the South Pole,
essentially marks where one day ends and the next begins. Crossing it can
create the illusion of time travel, allowing travelers to experience the same
calendar day twice. Put simply, you can leave Manila at 7:00 in the morning on
Sunday and arrive in the U.S. on the same Sunday morning at nearly the exact
same time you left Manila.
The experience of seemingly traveling back in time
can be disorienting, to say the least. I have essentially been 14 hours
upside-down in time for the last month. It will take me a few days to get right
with my Mountain Standard Time zone again. And I am hearing warnings of snow in
my goofy Montana mountains!
—Mitchell Hegman
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