Time Zone Converter

Time Zone USA from Wikipedia. 

Problem
The emails scream at me, the seminar is starting now. They mean now where they are. But when is now, where I am? Does it mean an hour or two's time? Or have ai missed it already?

This time the reminder carries a handy link to the time zone converter. It's not that I could not have hunted on Google myself. Whatever I am searching for, I will get half a dozen answers. I open the first three to check, and choose one of them as my favourite. But next time I need to know, I go through the whole check every website process again.

The secret of success and speed is to have just one favourite website marked, whether it is for converted currency, dress sizes or time zones. Where do I list them?

1 It could be in bookmarks.
2 It could be inside the front or back cover of my diary.
3 I could have a Useful Websites page, constantly updated, printed and stuck on the wall's pinboard each weekend. (I use recycled paper, printed on the back of something else no longer needed, of course.)

Here's the handy timezone website:

http://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/what-time-is-it-in-la-chicago-new-york.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on time in the USA and worldwide. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Statistics, Names And Facts To Research Before You Travel

Problem
I go to a new country. They are speaking about people I don't know who might be the speaker's father, the president or king or opposition leader - I have no idea. Shall I ask, or just say, "You tell me more"?

Answer
When I went to observe a course for aspiring London Guides in training, they were taught to carry index cards of spare facts and song words to fill in time if the coach was stuck in a traffic jam. That is an idea you and I and every traveller could copy, whether it's a business trip or holiday.

Even if you are just on a stopover. The person who gets on the plane and sits beside you for the next few hours could be from that country. You could ingratiate yourself and have a much more entertaining and informative time if you have some conversation openers.

Get a card and keep it in your right-hand pocket or the outside pocket of your bag (sew on a flap with a button or jip to be sure nothing falls out.

You might want to know:
The size of the country.
The time zone.
The capital. (Plus largest city if different.)
Population of the country. Any large minorities.
Main language. Other languages spoken.
Royal family currently or in previous years.
President or leader of current government.
Name of previous leader and opposition.
One, two or three heroes or heroines. eg
Politicians
Religious Leaders
Singers, entertainers
The current best selling book
The current widely shown film.
The national dish or dishes you should try.
The best restaurant.
Most popular non-alcoholic drink.
Favourite gifts or souvenirs to take home, or take to the coutnry.
The best value market.
The best department store.
The greatest success story.
Anything you must not do or say which would get you into trouble.
Their most successful sporting team or sports person.
Do they have a
football team,
rugby team,
baseball team
cricket team
choir
dance troupe
Landmark
Statue of local hero.
Head of the company you are visiting or the hotel group running the hotel where you are staying.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

When Should You Send Birthday Messages Across Time Zones?

Problem
When I am in the UK and I receive a message that a friend in the middle East (four hours ahead) has a birthday day, it's already lunch time by the time my message reaches them. I'm one of their afterthought friends, second rank. When I am in London or a European city and my friend or business contact is in the Far East / Asia, the time difference is even worse. By the time my message reaches them the day is nearly over.

The same applies if you are in the USA but more so. Your UK and European-based family. friends and colleagues are a few hours ahead of the East Coast of the USA (New York and Florida), another hour or two on from the central area, more so from the west coast such as San Francisco and LA.

Since your friends may also be travelling, you can't know where all of them are when you send a message. They could have gone abroad for a business trip. Their surprise birthday gift from the family could be a flight off to somewhere else.

The same applies to your goodwill messages for a wedding - they could already be off on a honeymoon, or a wedding anniversary. The same applies to Christmas and Easter.

The same applies to Chinese New Year. (This year, 2017, in January - always on moveable dates in January and February - which may catch you out if you are not Chinese and not living in Asia. Chinese New Year is a family reunion time, which means your holiday flights will be expensive and busy.

The same applies to Jewish New Year and Hanukah. Also, Passover/Seder night which moves about around Easter time and like Christmas is a family reunion dinner.,

For years I have been trying to adapt my holiday messages to suit all occasions. I thought belated wishes already put the sender in a bad light and made the recipient feel forgotten and slighted. So I turned my message into something about the recipient's future happiness of success.

Now I realize that if I am sending a message across time zones I can use this to my advantage. If my friend is celebrating a birthday on the second of the month eight hours ahead in Asia when I am in London, England, a message sent at midnight from London, England will reach them at 8 am in Singapore and all of Asia (except Thailand and Western Indonesia which are an hour behind).

We said ahead - I mean behind. If you are not sure, use an online clock to sort this out. Also note that your laptop or phone or computer may be set to the wrong time zone. Or an app or website may be fixed to the time of its country of origin.

You may be able to set your laptop so it is always set to your home time zone, so that your blogs are set to reach American readers in their daylight hours, or your messages to your own family and children reach them in their daylight hours.

This is handy to have. But it means that if you don't know, or forget to change it, your computer may be not telling you the right time for the recipient of your birthday or seasonal message.

You probably know that New Year starts in Next Zealand and Australia, moved to Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, China) across Russia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, East Coast America and New York, finally the  Mid West and San Francisco and Los Angeles. If you think of that, it will help you to visualize when you should be sending your birthday messages.

So now you have a choice. Adapt your message to the recipient's time zone, or send out earlier if you want them to be sure of getting the message on the birthday morning.

Happy birthday to you, a happy year of sending goodwill messages, whether you are staying home, travelling, or letting your fingers travel.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Sharing Documents Across Time Zones When Travelling with Google Docs

Problem
How do you send different thoughts all day long to somebody else in business or family without inundating them with emails?
How do you stop clutter in your own sent email box?

Answer
Use shared google documents. You can keep updating with new thoughts or tasks, or re-edit, or change priorities.

Go to Docs.google.com and create a document. Click on share and add the email of whoever you want to see the document.

Sections could be:
ACTION
Meetings
Phone calls
Order goods
Make list
Send email
Invoice
Pay

DONE
Meetings ; arranged for date. Meeting held on. Postponed. Cancelled.
Phone calls made date and time and person.
Order goods: supplier, price and postage.
Make list.
Send email ; to, copy, subject.
Invoice: from, to, work, amount.
Pay: from, to, for.

They can also edit the document. Both of you can move items from :
Action at the top half of the page to
Done and by whom and date at the bottom of the page.

Story
I find this very useful, especially when I am on a different time zone. I won't wake up the family in the middle of the night with pings on their mobile phone by sending them a message or a what's ap message.

Tips
https://docs.google.com/document/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Coffee and Cures For Jet Lag?

Problem
You arrive on a different time zone and can't sleep. Then you are awake all day.

Answers
Is the answer coffee? What keeps you awake in the day? Coffee. Or keeping busy. You sleep in the dark and wake in the light. You can re-set your day and night so you are nearer to the time zone of your destination.

Coffee might keep you awake but coffee in your system can keep you awake at night.

Stories
I complained to a doctor I was getting up in the night. He said drink only one cup of coffee for breakfast, one at eleven, decaff at lunch time. I have stuck to that ever since.

I gave up brown sugar and cream in coffee when I started dieting to lose weight and coffee rarely tastes as good as it used to. I love coffee flavour in cakes and chocolates, but coffee rarely tastes as good as it smells. I'm turning to mango juice and mango lassi. Thinking of trying coconut milk (yes, that is also fattening).

Driving and Sleeping
I avoid driving after missing sleep. Somebody drove into the back of my car on a motorway. I heard her speaking on the phone telling somebody that she had just got off a flight from Asia. I immediately wondered whether she might have been dozing off at the wheel. Signs along British motorways warn Tiredness can kill.

Tips
You can buy Melatonin at pharmacies in airports.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my books on Lulu.com and Amazon.com. I am also on blogger com with other blogs, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Please follow, like and share.

Celebrating your birthday in another timezone or country

Birthdays Celebrated On The Exact Day
When do you celebrate your birthday? Some people insist on only celebrating on the day, so if they are working, that means lunch  out with colleagues or an evening celebration with family, or both.

You might celebrate your birthday when you get up on the birthday morning. To have bunting (wall to wall hanging streamers, often with the words Happy Birthday), a spouse or family member might need to get up an hour early, or put up the signs when the birthday boy or girl is in the bathroom.

You might say Happy Birthday one minute or a few seconds past midnight if you stayed up late the day before and continue celebrating until midnight.

If you travel from the UK to Singapore and Asia, you can celebrate your birthday co-ordinating with family back in England, from 8 pm Singapore time until 8 pm Singapore time.

Photo of Angela Lansbury. I have other photos of this and similar events. Copyright Angela Lansbury.

If you travel from the USA to the UK, or from the UK and Europe to Australia, the second country is on a different time zone. You can benefit from the difference by celebrating in both time zones, and send cards and messages early to be sure not to miss the date where the birthday boy or girl is living or travelling.

Different Time Zones
If you travel abroad you might be in a different time zone. Be prepared for people to miss your birthday because of time differences.

Birthdays Celebrated At The Weekend
Other people who are busy working during the week, or away travelling, out of reach of family and friends, will celebrate the nearest weekend.

Birthdays Celebrated In The Birthday Month
If you are travelling and wait until you get home, or until your family can travel to be with you, you might celebrate up to a month afterwards. Many restaurants use the birthdate you give them to send you an offer which lasts throughout your birthday month.

For security reasons, you may wish to have a second 'official' birthday, like HM the Queen of England, on a set day which differs from your actual birthday, known only to close family and on official documents. Whilst you may want to have a party on the first Saturday of your birthday month,  we have not yet got the world to agree to a convenient calendar which allow for such regularity as having the first day of January and every first day the month falling on a Saturday or Sunday or Monday.

An alternative would be to make your official birthday the first day of the month, or seven days in advance of your real birthday, allowing you to pick the nearest weekend in advance. On the other hand if you prefer to celebrate after, rather than before, you could pick the week after. Alternatively shift your registered birthday with restaurants to the Xmas, Easter or summer holidays if you want to celebrate your birthday whilst on holiday.

 This won't always work if restaurants insist on seeing your passport, but in reality they are not looking for restricting giving you a free gift to regular customers on their actual birthday, but hoping to attract you on your birthday when you are likely to spend moe or bring the whole family and order extra drinks. So they are only to glad to have your business. Win, win all around. Some restaurants make such a feature of birthday that on any night they will have two or three birthdays. This adds to the general jollity.

If your actual birthday falls in the middle of the school exams, you might prefer to shift your 'official' (why is it called official when it's really unofficial?)

Hotels
A top hotel will check the passports of guests and inform the restaurant when you have a birthday, instruct the reception staff and restaurant staff, even the concierge to wish you happy birthday.

Photo of birthday cake at IEA Toastmasters Club, Singapore. Photo taken by Lim Chee Hoo. He may have other photos of this and other birthday events at his club. 

Clubs
One of the clubs I attended overseas meets monthly. Every month they buy a birthday cake and ask members to go on stage if they had a birthday that month. The birthday boys and girls are photographed with the cake, and one holds the cake and another holds the plastic cutting knife (supplied with the cake by the bakery). What a happy thought, especially for those who have no family, a small family, or are travelling away from family.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer

On a different time zone - how to schedule delivery tomorrow

I am often on a different time zone to other members of the family. I don't want to keep them away by instantly replying to something they sent me at midnight their time. I can think of many uses for delayed messages. Ordering a cab home. Telling people you are back in town when you are too jet lagged to call arriving at 5 am.

So I googled schedule emails - with my preferred email sending service.

The answer I got was that I could have a free service for just one or two messages, or a premium service if I wanted to send a large number of messages on a regular basis (for example for a business or club).

You can delay messages being sent from your outbox. You can use Google Scripts. I found it quite complicated. I thought it would be just the click of a button like picking a date to schedule a blog post. But it seems you must methodically working through half a dozen instructions, like HTML, basically a mixture of English language instructions and little symbols. If you can cope with text messaging, algebra, washing machine symbols, you can probably do this. I'm sure when you have time and are alert you can do it.

http://www.labnol.org/internet/schedule-gmail-send-later/24867/
http://ctrlq.org/code/19716-schedule-gmail-emails

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker ,