AT the start of our latest trip, we took three flights and travelled for a total of more than 12 hours, but arrived nine hours before we had left home.
This is because we crossed the international dateline on our way to Western Samoa.
Apart from the stunning beaches, laid-back pace of life, and many dormant volcanoes, Samoa is notable for the fact it sits on the very western edge of the world.
In fact, the Falealupo Peninsula on the island of Savai'i is the furthest western point - according to the dateline - on the planet.
Sit on the beach and stare into the horizon and, on a clear day, you can see tomorrow.
The dateline lies just 37km offshore, meaning Western Samoa is the last place to see the sunset in the world.
We visited the peninsula as part of our two-week visit, which also saw us trek up to the crater of Samoa's most disruptive volcano (it wiped out a village in 1905), snooze in beachside wooden huts called 'fale' and snorkel in the warm waters.
The temperature in Samoa does not vary much, sticking to an average of 25-27 degrees the entire year.
The capital Apia feels like a large town and the former home of the nation's most famous immigrant, Robert Louis Stevenson, is now a museum.
We spent a few days exploring the capital and the main island, 'Upolu, and then had a week on Savai'i staying by the beach.
We saw the largest blowholes in the South Pacific, heard about myths and legends, and discovered a great coffee shop (the most westerly in the world) run by a Swiss couple who import their coffee beans from Italy.
During our second week we stayed in a place called Lalomanu Beach which meant more snoozing by the beach, snorkelling, and enjoying the Samoan hospitality.
We saw fire dancers and visited a church service on a Sunday - the one place which Samoans dress up for - before enjoying a feast which involved raw fish salad, squid, a dish called palusami which is taro leaves in coconut cream, and a whole roast piglet. Gemma was upset about the piglet.
It took another three flights for us to get back, but this time we'd actually lost an entire day in the travel, as we'd crossed the dateline the other way.
It's all relative I suppose...
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