Everyone who thinks they know what time it is in their country take one step forward. Not so fast, Samoa. According to the Daily Beast, you guys are jumping time zones, and pretty soon you’ll be skipping a whole day to be on the other side of the dateline. Please file this under “things I don’t think you can just change when you want to.”
But apparently Samoan Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi “wants to make it easier for Samoa to do business with Australia and New Zealand, shifting away from the island’s historical alliance with the time zones of California and the U.S. He says being on the other side of the dateline is effectively losing Samoa two business days a week. He also says being a day ahead of American Samoa—which is just an hour apart by plane—will lure tourists who want to celebrate their birthday or anniversary twice.”
Now we all know that the time zones didn’t even exist until the railroads were created. Before that, everyone was operating on their own time schedule, probably going on the simple sunrise and sunset of every day. So technically I guess this Samoan prime minister is allowed to decide what time of day it is in his country. However, I can’t help but think that, since they’re on a tropical island, so close to the dateline, out in the middle of nowhere….this situation could get very close to the plot of Lost at any second.
May I advise that if a plane crashes on Samoa anytime soon, stay away from it.
NoMad Blogger 
Haha…I could use 2 business days off. I’m sending a mass e-mail that my personal time zone has changed, and I’ll resume a 5-day weekend schedule. Wee!
I want to teach in Samoa – only 3 days a week. Nice !