Before I go to the airport in Tokyo, I make sure to coordinate with some people so we can meet at the airport and celebrate my return on the “Land of milk and honey” AKA the United States. As I leave on Saturday afternoon, I expect to arrive on Sunday morning at the Los Angeles airport.
I have great time in the plane, thanks to my pal Scott who was able to book a stand-by ticket in business class for me. I have ten hours to relax, and as I cannot sleep, I spend some time watching some old pictures from South America and Africa. It has been one hell of a trip my friends, I have to say. I am on my way home, and from now on, everything will be very different.
It is now time to find a job, and it looks like the economy hasn’t got back on the right track since my departure as I was hoping. I am not too worry about it yet, as I have some time before being back in the city, and I have friends who keep their eyes open for opportunities back east.
After flying across the pacific, I finally arrive in Los Angeles, California, where I pass immigration and customs without problems. Later I figure that something is wrong. While I was ready to meet some people as I exit the terminal, there is nobody here waiting for me. I figure I am a little bit early, and I wait a moment. But few minutes later, I begin to suspect that something is definitely not right. I ask what day of the week it is to someone, and she tells me it’s Saturday. Later on, I check with someone else, but I have to accept the reality: it is still Saturday and I traveled in time.
And then I remembered Phileas Fogg, one of my early challenger in my trip around the world. Fogg is the main character of Jules Verne’s book “Around the World in 80 days”. In order to win a wager with his fellow club members, he attempted to circumnavigate the globe within 80 days. To do so, he traveled constantly eastward, as I did. And he won his £20,000 bet because as me, he gained a day on his journey. If we would have traveled on the opposite direction, toward the west, we would have lost a day.
In journeying eastward I went towards the sun, and the days therefore diminished of four minutes each time I crossed one degrees. There are three hundred and sixty degrees on the circumference of the earth; which multiplied by four minutes, equals twenty-four hours – the day gained.
In short, as I passed the international dateline at midnight Saturday night, the day restarted as of Saturday at 00:01.
I saw the sun rise 416 time during my travel, and my friend in New York saw it only 415 times. That’s right my friends, in addition of seeing all these marvelous places, I also gained one more day on this planet.
Once again, as I arrived in Los Angeles, I had to improvise and get going. I took the bus to Union Station, watching by the windows a landscape I haven’t seen in almost fifteen months. The Continental United States and its inhabitants going to work, to the beach or shopping. I was back home, and near completion.
I took the train to Burbank where my friend Andy lives, and quickly enough, I rescheduled the upcoming day meeting so friends and followers could meet me at a nearby restaurant in the morning.
It was great to meet some people there who have been reading the blog for a long time. Some of them were interested by the travel, others by the experience, and some were buffs of Land Cruisers. We had good time, and I didn’t see much people since. Now that I am back in a familiar territory, and not moving everyday, my rhythm is on pause and as my dopamine level went lower, I shot down. I didn’t do much in the last week except dealing with the necessary paperwork involved with the release of my vehicle at the port. Emails are piling-up, and I will have to take care of the situation soon, my apologies to those who tried to contact me recently.
I hope to get the truck on Tuesday this week, and Andy took some time off to help me out with the process. My dad arrives on Wednesday, and we plan to spend few days in LA before going back on the road.
This week we spent some time in Pasadena, Hollywood and Griffith Park which are places I like to go when I am in LA. Sunday morning we went for a fun little interview with the Motorman on the KABC radio show before another promenade in the city. I love hanging out in Los Angeles even so it’s a huge difference with the places I visited this year. I love contrast, and I am glad to be back in America!
