People who are good with time zones and airplane flight, help??

Question

OK, so my friend left from Bangkok International air port 5am on July 5th to tokyo where he stayed there for an hour and tranferred on an airplane taking him directly to minnisoda in th US. I'm confused at how it is possible for him to be there that quick. Can someone please explain to me step by step how it is the six or July in minnisoda and what time it would be in Thailand. Please, help, i'm confused

Answer 1

It's not that he got there quickly at all - it's that he gained 24 hours by crossing the International Date Line in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

There are 24 time zones (give or take - there are some funky time zones in there) around the world.  You're probably familiar with them in the United States.  However, at some point there comes a time when you can't continue taking off an hour as you go from east to west.  That point is 180 degrees longitude (again, give or take - the International Date Line curves a bit to go around some islands).  At that point all of the 24 time zones "catch up" and rather than go from 6am Thursday to 5am Thursday it goes from 6am Thursday to 5am Friday.  

Your friend "lost" a day going to Bangkok and will "gain" that day coming back.

Hope this helps!