On the second day, a Gulfstream G650ER private jet roared off from Teterboro Airport, carrying Lin Yu'an's family on an epic journey that spanned two continental plates.
This time, their route followed the shortest distance between two points on Earth—the great circle route.
After taking off from New York, the plane didn't fly straight west but climbed northwest, tracing a graceful arc on the large display screen.
It would fly over Canada's vast Hudson Bay, brush past the edge of Alaska, and finally enter the immense North Pacific Ocean near the Aleutian Islands.
This was a route seldom experienced by regular passengers; it connected the North American Continent and the Asian Continent in the most efficient way.
"Wow," Aliya exclaimed as she looked at the ever-northward extending route on the screen, "I thought we'd fly straight west, but we're heading towards the Arctic first."
