TIME ZONES / TIME BANDIT

Tuesday 5 November / Wednesday 6 November 2019 

Up in the Sky, just breaking free of North America as we cross the Atlantic 

Reporter: How did you find America? 

John Lennon: Turn left at Greenland. 

As I type this, it is 6:30pm on Tuesday in Portland, Oregon. However, it’s 3:30am on Wednesday in Amsterdam, our first stop. It’s a nine hour flight, surely an endurance test on biorhythms and posture. I am trying to force myself into the European time zone, and after a delicious early dinner at 3:00pm (thank you, Delta), I did fall asleep for a few hours, no doubt due to generous complimentary wine and cocktails (thank you, Delta!). But here I am, wide awake in the wee hours, Amsterdam time. 

As a regular traveler throughout the United States, I’m used to time zone jumping. I utilize a Zen approach: “Be in the zone, no matter what time zone!” But international traveling gets me every time, and I always forget that I might gain or lose a day, depending on which continent I’m heading toward. When I flew to Manila in 2015, I left Portland on Tuesday, arrived at midnight, and thanked God that I had a whole day to sleep in because my first meeting was on Thursday. So I was rudely shocked when I received a phone call in my hotel room from Fr. Ricky Manalo. “Ken, where are you? The meeting has already started and we’re waiting for you!” 

I looked at my calendar in a daze. “But I thought the meeting is tomorrow.” 

“Ken, it IS tomorrow!” said Ricky. “You lost a day when you flew to Manila!” 

Yikes! How embarrassing. I jumped out of bed, got showered and dressed, and ran to my meeting. And the same thing just happened on this trip to Rome. I made hotel reservations for Tuesday night at the  Residenza Paulo VI, right across the plaza from the Vatican. But my first night is really on Wednesday. I would have lost big money on a wasted night if not for an alert travel agent, who graciously corrected my mistake. 

So what day is this? What time is it? Please don’t ask me such silly questions until I touch down in Europe.