The International Date Line is an imaginary line on the earth's surface that approximately coincides with the 180th meridian (LONGITUDE), and separates the calendar date. Traveling east across the line takes the traveler back one day; traveling west takes the traveler forward one day. Without the date line, calendar confusion would result for the traveler. With the date line, Nancy lost an entire day when travelling to Australia from Argentina!

Journal by Nancy Olson

Today is Todd’s birthday. I woke up around mid-morning, and he and I headed out into the city of Buenos Aires for breakfast. His main mission was food; mine was finding an Internet café and a trailer for my bike tour.

We walked for 15 or 20 minutes before deciding on a place on Florida Street called “The American Café.” I mentioned that I was thinking of ordering a calzone, and Todd decided that sounded pretty good. They were about 14 pesos, though, and I decided to wait and get one at Speedy Pizza for 3 pesos. As it turns out, I ended up eating a slice of Todd’s crazy sausage-egg-cheese concoction (Boiled egg in a calzone? Honestly!). His “chico” was bigger than his head! It was big enough to feed three people, and the crust was heavenly!

Later, at the hotel, we hooked up with Nick and Chanda to depart by taxi to the house they had rented for the month. Todd and they are planning on working, while I’m planning to bike down the East Coast of Australia.

Once we had dropped our bags, we headed out to the streets to locate a bar for Todd’s birthday beer. Everything was closed, even at 4:00 p.m., so we went to the mall (Pacifico Mall) food court. Nick’s quesadilla was better than anything we’d eaten in Mexico—ask Chanda.

Later, something wonderful happened: Todd handed Chanda and me his ID and credit card and asked us to buy him some clothes that would be appealing to the ladies. We were personal shoppers! We labored for a couple of hours searching for the perfect items. In the end, we had two Mistral shirts, dark blue jeans, black shoes, and a button-down, black, short-sleeved shirt. Perfect! And all for under $100!

We found Nick and Todd in an Irish pub, and Todd put on the jeans, shoes, and black shirt. They fit like a dream, and he looked HOT! He was transformed. I feel so happy for him and his great new look.

After a beer, I had to rush back to the apartment to catch a cab to the airport. My flight was at midnight on Aerolineas Argentinas.

I had a pleasant ride to the airport, arriving with plenty of time to get my bike box wrapped in protective plastic, check my bags, have a gander at the duty-free shops, and board my flight, which had an intermediate stop in Aukland, New Zealand.

On the plane, I met a backpacker we had chatted with at Machu-Picchu! She was sitting just one aisle over. What a small world!

The flight was uneventful, with four wonderful movies that I slept right through. Just east of New Zealand, at about 12 noon Buenos Aires time and four a.m. New Zealand time, we crossed the International Date Line. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, we lost Monday entirely. I lost an entire day! I reset my watch for the 24th, and we just sort of skipped out on the 23rd.

Thirteen hours after take-off, we touched down in Aukland for an hour layover. After that, it was just a 3.5-hour hop over to Sydney. I passed through customs quickly and started calling hostels. It was 9:30 a.m.

I ended up at Kangaroo Backpackers in Surry Hills. I set out to find “Cheeky Monkey Multisport”, finally arriving by bus and purchasing cycle shorts and a jersey from nice shop-owner Adam. I’m out of luck for finding a bike trailer, though, so I resorted to ordering one online. I also booked a flight to Cairns and reserved a hostel room there.

I had some wonderful Indian curry and nan (bread) for dinner and went to bed early. Actually, I fell asleep in my clothes while reading my Lonely Planet Australia guidebook.

Tomorrow: Cairns!

Logbook for February 22nd Day 114
Start: Buenos Aires, Argentina
: 34*33.000
W: 58*30.000
Finish: Buenos Aires, Argentina
S: 34*33.000
W: 58*30.000
Mileage: N/A
Notes: The team is still in Buenos Aires. The most important thing about 22 February is that TODAY IS TODD'S BIRTHDAY! Happy birthday, Todd! This morning, he and I woke up and walked around the city until we found a place to eat, "American Diner." Todd ordered a Calzone as big as his face, and I helped him eat it. Then he mentioned that it's his birthday. OH! Shucks! I knew that, but I totally forgot. Happy birthday, Buddy. Calzone's on me! In the afternoon, Nick, Chanda, and Todd moved into their new apartment. It will be home for a month. Later, we went out for Todd's birthday beer, and he gave Chanda and me his credit card with instructions to buy him something nice to wear. We hooked him up with shoes, jeans, and three shirts...all for barely more than $100! He looks hot in his jeans and black shirt. I ended the party early by rushing off to catch my flight to Sydney. What will we all do without our teammies? (N.O.)

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. 100% of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.