Taylor Swift's fans are wringing their hands wondering how the singer can travel from Tokyo to Las Vegas in time to watch boyfriend Travis Kelce compete in the Super Bowl. But it turns out the political show "The West Wing" solved this riddle for us 23 years ago.
Swift, 34, will wrap up several tour dates in Japan's capital city as part of her "Eras" tour on Feb. 10. The following afternoon, Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs will take on the San Francisco 49ers in Sin City for Super Bowl LVIII.
How in the world can Swift get from Tokyo to Nevada in time for the game's 3:30 p.m. PT kick-off? It would take some kind of freaky time travel, right?
Well, yes. But it's totally doable, and a 2001 episode of "The West Wing" is going viral for its explanation as to how.
A scene that's spreading across social media from the the NBC political drama shows President Jed Bartlet's team scrambling to figure out how the international date line could work in favor of someone traveling from Japan to the United States.
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The international date line runs between the south pole and the north pole, serving as a boundary between one calendar day and the next. Crossing the date line going west increases the date by one day. Crossing the date line going east decreases the date by one day.
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The fact that we have different time zones in the U.S. will also help Swift — as will having access to a private plane.
In the "West Wing" scene, tweeted Jan. 28 by writer and comedian Rohita Kadambi, the president must fly back from Tokyo to Washington, D.C and its Eastern time zone. And what is that time difference, you ask? Fourteen hours.
When Swift finishes her final Tokyo concert, she will be 17 hours ahead of anything happening in Las Vegas thanks to Pacific time being three hours behind Eastern. And the flight from Tokyo to Las Vegas is roughly 12 hours.
Swift was there to cheer Kelce and his team to victory on Jan. 28 when the Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens at the AFC Championship Game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, advancing the to the Super Bowl.
The couple shared a celebratory kiss on the field after the Chief's victory.
This will be the sixth time the Chiefs will play the Super Bowl — the fourth time in just the past five years.
The Chiefs won the Super Bowl in 2020 against the 49ers, and again in 2023 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Super Bowl LVIII will be broadcast on CBS and and streamed live on Paramount+ starting at 6:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 11.
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