In 2011, the nation of Samoa, situated in Polynesia roughly midway between Hawaii and New Zealand, shifted its place on the International Date Line for financial causes, skipping December 30 totally. As a consequence, Samoa and its neighbour American Samoa, solely a brief flight aside, are actually on totally different calendar days. Step off a airplane in Apia, Samoa, and you’ll be in tomorrow in comparison with Pago Pago in American Samoa. The distinction is very hanging round New Year, when it’s attainable to have fun the identical occasion twice by taking a 40-minute flight between the 2.
Fiji: Taveuni
Kristen Elsby
Fiji’s third-largest island, Taveuni, is called the Garden Island for its lush landscapes. It can also be one of many uncommon inhabited places where the International Date Line cuts via land. Near the village of Waiyevo, a marker signifies where the road passes, permitting guests to symbolically place one foot in today and the opposite in tomorrow. It makes the summary idea of the Date Line tangible, operating not simply throughout the ocean however via on a regular basis life.
Kiribati: the Line Islands
Thienthongthai Worachat
The Republic of Kiribati spans an enormous part of the Pacific. In 1995, the nation shifted the Date Line eastward so that each one of its islands would share the identical day. This signifies that the Line Islands, together with Kiritimati (Christmas Island), are among the many first places on Earth to welcome a brand new day. Here you can’t straddle today and tomorrow, however you possibly can stay hours forward of many of the world. It is the rationale Kiribati was the primary nation to have fun the yr 2000.
These far-flung places present how the calendar just isn’t dictated solely by astronomy, but in addition by politics and commerce. Time zones are as a lot a human building as borders on a map. In the Bering Strait, in Samoa, in Fiji, or in Kiribati, you might be reminded that point itself may be crossed like a frontier.