Flying against the Sun

Yesterday, leaving Manila and Desiree, I flew entirely against the sun to get home.

Well, partway home.

I made it as far as Seattle.  I had to overnight here, having arrived too late for connections to home.

I left Manila at 9:40 Tuesday morning, October 29, and flew 4 hours to reach Narita Airport in Tokyo.  After a 4-hour layover in Tokyo, I departed Narita at 6:45 PM, Tuesday, October 29.  I flew for 8 hours toward North America in the dark of night—racing to meet the sun, now hurtling toward me from around the Earth in the opposite direction.

Back across the International Dateline.  Backwards in time.

I arrived in Seattle at 11:30, Tuesday morning, October 29.  Technically, only 2 hours on the clock after I left Manila.

I think I managed about 2 hours of sleep on my night flight back to North America.  I also zonked-out for a bit in the afternoon in my hotel room.

As I sit writing this, the local time here is Seattle is 2:18 in the morning, Wednesday, October 30.  I woke at 1:15 AM after four hours of sleep.  I got up and made a cup of coffee after flopping around in bed for a while.

I cannot flip back to my normal times just yet.  I begin my day in this early morning.  Later today, I will fly back to my snowy, inland mountains.

Mostly, I am thinking about Desiree in the tropics a half-world away from here.

—Mitchell Hegman