The World that Never Sleeps

I am awed by the speed in which we can travel and the time zones we cross.  I understand it perfectly yet am continually fascinated by the abstract nature of it.  In just a (relatively…) short plane ride, I journeyed to a land where everything happens 13 hours before.  While I am asleep in Korea, my former Eastern Standard Time life is busy about the day.  Somewhere, someone is always awake.  To think I used to take nighttime for granted!  Now here, I find myself looking at my watch, calculating the 13 hour time difference, and wondering, what would I be doing if I were still in America? For the most part, that is just sleeping.  As I explore the streets of Seoul, I am comforted knowing that my loved ones back home are snug in their safe, warm beds.  

I have difficulty imagining that had my life taken any other path, I might be at home eating dinner and watching Jeopardy at this very second.  How long does it take for these imaginative thoughts to travel to the other side of the globe? Is the world really happening all at once?