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If I turn, say, 18 at home, and immediately travel westwards into a different time zone where it's still the previous day, will I be legally 17 or 18 there?

And if 17, how would that affect e.g. any rules that would require me to be of age for that specific journey (can't think of any specifics, and yes this is getting rather academical now).

This question is about the legal aspects, not the practical side of how to actually do it.

JonathanReez
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Bart van Heukelom
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  • Cannot happen more than once, see the canonical question for details – Gayot Fow Jun 08 '15 at 11:23
  • I'm not interested in more than once situations. Once shouldn't be too implausible? – Bart van Heukelom Jun 08 '15 at 11:28
  • It's the same answer regardless... – Gayot Fow Jun 08 '15 at 12:46
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    In practical terms Calchas' answer is probably applicable 99.9% of the time. I could imagine it being fought in court if you, say, committed a major crime and extradition to be tried as an adult was at stake. Hopefully you're not planning to murder anyone. – Spehro Pefhany Jun 08 '15 at 12:57
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    Should be moved to Law SE. – o0'. Jun 08 '15 at 13:03
  • @SpehroPefhany I'm long past 17/18 so it doesn't really influence my murderous plans one way or the other :) – Bart van Heukelom Jun 08 '15 at 14:30
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    There are some uninhabited islands to the East of the date line that are 2 days behind NZ's date for one hour per day during NZ summer daylight saving. It would take some fairly rapid travelling (probably military class) to make any real (or unreal) use of this. I think :-). | Alaska cheats and runs on Ca time or would otherwise be a prime candidate. |All of China notionally runs on Beijing time (don'y tell HQ that this is not always followed) so the Western side is hours different to its cross border neighbours. ... – Russell McMahon Jun 08 '15 at 16:05
  • ... If one of them did and one didn't use daylight saving you may be able to arrange some to and fro changes. And, the odds of anyone caring are vanishingly close to zero. – Russell McMahon Jun 08 '15 at 16:05
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    @GayotFow - See my China + daylight saving neighbour + non daylight saving neighbour for a possible multi change case :-). – Russell McMahon Jun 08 '15 at 16:06
  • I'm not sure this is a duplicate. Voting to reopen. – JoErNanO Jun 08 '15 at 18:04

1 Answers1

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You will be 17 according to the local calendar.

No one checks your "Place of birth" when they ask for your age.

Calchas
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    You've obviously never seen the John Travolta classic, Phenomenon (1996). ;-) –  Jun 08 '15 at 13:40