Like it never even happened…January 24th that is!

Crossing the International Date Line is discombobulating.  We went to sleep the night of Thursday, the 23rd, and woke up on Saturday morning, the 25th.  Poof!  There it was, gone!  We had made a dinner date  for the 24th with a lovely couple of Aussies we had met on the Moorea ferry, and I panicked for a minute thinking we might have stood them up.  Then we remembered about crossing the IDL, and a quick email to our Aussie friends got everything rescheduled and back on track.

The International Date Line is an imaginary line that extends between the North and South Poles at approximately 180-degrees longitude.  It was in 1884 that the International Meridian Conference came up with this solution to the time zone problem, a place on the earth where the 24 time zones would“reset.”  It was placed on the opposite side of the globe from the prime meridian in Greenwich, England.

To compensate for the loss of a day, the Viking Sky is having a party!  “Dinner Under the Southern Stars”  will be another of the fabulous feasts that our culinary team prepares for us.  The pool deck is being transformed into an al fresco dining room, where separate stations will be offering a jaw-dropping spread of all things delicious, all presented with great flair.  Leaving now to join Gloria and Bob, a couple we’ve met onboard, for a pre-party drink.  More later…

People are the same everywhere.  On our way to Happy Hour, we walked past the pool patio where the dinner would take place later last evening  For a moment, I thought we were back at Wind Crest, where amphitheater and A&E seats are “reserved” days in advance.  People had taken up residence at most of the tables, leaving a member of their party or some other indication that the table was taken.  Had to laugh.  But when we got to the place where we were to meet our friends, only Gloria was there.  Bob was anchoring down a window table for four up on the pool deck!