The capital of Vanuatu, Port-Vila, is at 168.315 east longitude ... about 770 miles
due west of the 180th meridian.
It's hard to tell exactly where the International Dateline is in this neighborhood.
In fact, on January 1, 2012, Samoa synced its calendar date and day of the week
with Fiji's, and that meant that they essentially re-drew the IDL's map.
But the IDL is well east of the 180th meridian in this part of the Pacific Ocean,
so whatever they did to it, they didn't flip Vanuatu to the other side.
Now, having said that, I can't end without pointing out that the Earth is, after
all, spherical in shape, i.e. shaped like a ball. So you can start out from the IDL
and go in either direction, and eventually wind up in Vanuatu. But your trip is a
lot shorter if you head out westward.
The exact length of your trip depends on exactly where in Vanuatu you're headed.
Vanuatu consists of 65 inhabited islands and 17 more that are uninhabited. It
covers almost 4 degrees of longitude, and about 7 degrees of latitude ... about
270 miles wide and 500 miles north to south. The length of your trip from the
IDL ... like any other trip, depends on exactly where you start from, and exactly
where you intend to wind up.
Chat with our AI personalities
Vanuatu is located east of the International Date Line, so it is ahead of many other countries in terms of time.
Australia is located to the west of the International Date Line.
The Cook Islands are located to the east of the International Date Line.
Australia is located to the west of the International Date Line. This means that when it is Friday in Australia, it is usually still Thursday on the other side of the International Date Line.
The day on the western side of the international date line is one day ahead of the eastern side. This means that if it is Monday on the western side, it will be Sunday on the eastern side.
The opposite of the International Date Line is the Prime Meridian, which is located at 0 degrees longitude and passes through Greenwich, England. While the International Date Line determines where one day ends and another begins, the Prime Meridian serves as the starting point for measuring longitude and time zones.