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Time Zones Simplified?By Paula Farris I live in Arizona. We don’t participate in Daylight Savings Time, except in the northeast corner on the Navajo Indian Reservation where they do participate. For half the year I live in the Pacific time zone and the other half I live in the Mountain time zone. About the time I figure out the time differences so that I can call my sisters and friends at decent hours the time changes again and I have to refigure. Sigh! There are some people who fly through 5, 10 or even 15 time zones in a day or two. Knowing what time it is where you are and where you are going can help to make your travels more enjoyable and productive. It also helps to know the time differences when booking flights so that you will know why you gain three hours in your day when you fly from Atlanta to Phoenix. Time zones have only existed since 1883. The advent of railroad travel and the need to synchronize departure and arrival schedules necessitated developing a precise system for telling what time it was in various cities across the United States, thus the four time zones--From West to East--Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern. The earth has been divided into 24 zones for every 15 degrees latitude that you travel around the globe. Starting in Greenwich, England (outside London where we start to measure time using Greenwich Mean Time or GMT) for every 15 degrees you travel westward you subtract one hour from the time. For every 15 degrees you travel eastward you add one hour. Simple enough, right? Don’t forget about the International Date Line! If you travel through 12 of these sets of 15 degrees you pass the International Date Line. Going west to east you lose a day. Traveling east to west you gain a day. No wonder people suffer from jet lag--it tires them out just trying to figure out what time it is and what day of the week they are in! If you are one of those people who is feeling a little sick over the time changes check out our tips for combating jet lag in this article. StressFreeFamilyTravel.com 1849 N. Wilbur Circle Mesa, AZ 85201 Paula @ StressFreeFamilyTravel.com |