Relativity in non-time travel

Sounds intellectual, eh? Well, don't be afraid... step a little closer... that's right. The title is about as intellectual as this ramble will get.

Having recently become an international traveler, I now find myself contemplating the relativity of time during sub-light travel. Oh wait, lapsed there... Let me put it another way. Time seems a bit more elastic than usual when one is out and about in the world. Possibly with an added algorithm that includes the distance away from home. Darnit, another lapse. Right, maybe I should stop fighting it and just go with it.

First off, there's the airport black hole phenomena. No, no, I don't mean the one where your luggage disappears into a logistical black hole. Although, come to think of it, it may just be further proof of my theory. Just think: there's this huge rush to get to the airport on time... but once inside, time slows to a crawl as you stand in queues, then get herded into the plane to wait some more. Once you leave the ground it's like you've entered another dimension. Far, far below people are going about their daily business, totally unaware of your brief flight through their lives - you pass by, catching glimpses that pass too fast for you to make sense of the bigger picture. Upon arrival you are integrated back into real-time, albeit through another time slow-down known as baggage reclaim.

Another phenomenon is that of distorted time brought about by distance separation; a trick of time that is perhaps second cousin to near light-speed time distortion. If you are the one away from home, time seems to fly - you're seeing new things, experiencing different conditions, your senses are continually assaulted by new and different inputs. You look at the calender after a few days, surprised at how much time as actually elapsed. For those at home, the reverse is true. Days drag past as you wonder what the other person is doing, how they're feeling, if they think of you as much as you do of them. When you talk, they seem surprised at your different experience of what is supposedly the same amount of time.

And with that I'm off to contemplate some more of this wonderful flexible resource... preferably in a comfy spot where I can watch the night sky wheel past overhead.