The International Date Line

 

Crossing the International Date Line

Or ... How we didn't exist on September 7, 2014.

We left Santiago, Chile, heading to Sydney Australia, on Qantas Flight 28 at 2:15 in the afternoon. It's famously one of the longest non-stop flights in the world, covering around 7,044 miles (11,336 km) across the Pacific Ocean.

This plane will take us across the Pacific.

The flight takes around 15 hours and spans ten time zones. Most notably, it crosses the International Date Line at 180 degrees of longitude, on the opposite side of the Earth from the Prime Meridian.

We crossed the International Date Line at 12:30 a.m. (Sydney time). A lot of passengers (including us) snapped pictures outside the window.

According to the captain's announcement the flight took us on a path arcing to the south, so we were also inside the Antarctic Circle as we crossed the International Date Line.

It's not much to see, really.

Because of the irregularities of time, we only existed in September 7, 2014 for about 30 minutes before we jumped right ahead to September 8, 2014.

Tom Fassbender

Tom Fassbender

Travel Writer • Explorer

Tom Fassbender is a writer of things with a hearty adventurous streak. When not undertaking an adventure, he’s been known to enjoy a cup of coffee or two. You can find him at Facebook, Instagram, and the links below.

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Header Image: The international date line. Image from the author's collection.