# What is the furthest north, south, east and west you've ever been? (By Longitude please.) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 21, 2026, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653 "2026-03-21T13:51:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/41 "2026-03-21T16:09:54Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > > [@Ludovic](#): > > > > An argument could be made that longitude doesn’t even matter if your travels span the globe since longitude is arbitrary. > > Maybe latitude and the equator have a bit more meaning, but y’know, we’re a bunch of apes flopping around on a spinning wet rock drawing lines in the sand… it’s all a _little_ arbitrary, lol. It didn’t HAVE to end up with this particular grid or these particular cardinal directions. It’s true that latitude has a physical reference point while longitude can be regarded as relative. But by establishing the Prime Meridian running through Greenwich, England (which also gives us Greenwich Mean Time) as the reference point for longitude (long live the British Empire!) it’s as well-defined as latitude in the geographical coordinate system. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/42 "2026-03-21T16:12:28Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > All of Iceland is just south of the Arctic circle. OK, I know she’s crossed the Arctic Circle, so her northernmost might be somewhere else. Possibly Alaska, possibly Scandanavia. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/43 "2026-03-21T16:13:03Z")
Well, I suppose that would make Null Island the very center of the British Empire. Long live His Majesty’s Lonely Buoy! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/44 "2026-03-21T16:14:31Z")
(Lat&Long approximated from pages of my atlas) North: Moscow, Russia (~55°30’ N) East: Samara, Russia (~50°10’ E) South: Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI (~18°20’ N) West: Honolulu, HI (~157°50’ W) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/45 "2026-03-21T16:16:22Z")
Great Slave Lake is also in the NWT, but is much further south. Coincidental to this thread, which I find very interesting, I’ve been cataloging all of the places I’ve been, including highlights of those places. It’s up to ten pages so far: I actually find it a bit hard to believe I had the time to do all I’ve done. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/46 "2026-03-21T16:21:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > All of Iceland is just south of the Arctic circle. > > OK, I know she’s crossed the Arctic Circle, so her northernmost might be somewhere else. Possibly Alaska, possibly Scandanavia. I apologize for my tone there. I now realize I had your moniker confused w @Chefguy. Who had lived in Alaska a long time, and could be expected to have a pretty good understanding of the relative latitudes of Iceland & Alaska. For you or me, probably not so much. I was answering you thinking it was him talking about his Mom. Sorry 'bout that. 🤦‍♂️ In fact, researching my first post in this thread is the first time ever that I really looked hard at the latitudes of Alaska, Iceland, and Norway to set them in some rough pecking order of arctic-ness. I was surprised then at how much Iceland wasn’t the northernmost of the bunch. Again, sorry to come off snippy or jerky. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/47 "2026-03-21T16:22:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The Aleutian chain is tough to beat. Although the few farthest islands with east longitudes are uninhabited. Adak at 177.5W is an actual town you can visit. I was stationed on Adak. The island of Shemya out on the tail end of the Aleutians is actually occupied by about 180 government employees who maintain the radar system and refuel military aircraft on their way elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/48 "2026-03-21T16:31:58Z")
The North End The South End East Boston West Roxbury. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/49 "2026-03-21T16:35:05Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Well, I suppose that would make Null Island the very center of the British Empire. Long live His Majesty’s Lonely Buoy! Nah, that wouldn’t be a special place. See, because latitude is defined with reference to the equator, it correlates with climate, enabling Jimmy Buffet to croon about “changes in latitude, changes in attitude”! You don’t hear anyone singing about longitude, do ya? Like, “changes in longitude, changes in fortitude”? Or maybe the Brits sang such a ditty at the height of the British Empire – implying that the peak of well-being is achieved at the Prime Meridian – but it wouldn’t have been very memorable. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/50 "2026-03-21T16:37:41Z")
Furthest north: Newgrange, Ireland (about 53.6°) Furthest south: Ocho Rios, Jamaica (about 18°) Furthest west: Honolulu, Hawaii (about -158°) Furthest east: Vienna, Austria (about 16°) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/51 "2026-03-21T17:05:52Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > You don’t hear anyone singing about longitude, do ya? No? Well, now we have “[No matter my longitude (I’ll always long-for-you)](https://suno.com/s/HRDuFAkEg2dLqnzc)”, the hit carto-love-song currently topping the Billboard Top 50k Sea Shanties. See you at my next holo-concert at 181, -91? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/52 "2026-03-21T17:06:37Z")
As best my quick wiki trawl can find, there are a few islands father west than Adak with humans on them fulltime. But they’re all akin to your cited Shemya: military or other government installations closed to the public. If an ordinary person wanted to play Aleutian tourist it seems flying to Adak is as far as you can easily go. I expect a determined adventurer could charter a boat / small ship to take them farther out the chain but the legalities of any landings might get complicated. Lots of wildlife refuge, etc. To say nothing of the safety challenges of running a boat / ship in those waters even in the best of annual weather. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/53 "2026-03-21T17:15:55Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > To say nothing of the safety challenges of running a boat / ship in those waters even in the best of annual weather. Quoted for truth. It’s not called “Birthplace of the Winds” for nothing. Even flying in the Aleutians is dicey. This is a bit of a sidetrack, but if you want to read a couple of books written by a guy who braved those elements on a regular basis, try those written by Bernard Hubbard, S.J. in the 1930s. Hair-raising true adventure. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/54 "2026-03-21T17:27:46Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > But by establishing the Prime Meridian running through Greenwich, England (which also gives us Greenwich Mean Time) as the reference point for longitude If that’s the line then my furthest East and West are both London. Don’t we mean the International Date Line in the middle of the Pacifc? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/55 "2026-03-21T17:37:38Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Don’t we mean the International Date Line in the middle of the Pacifc? No. The International Date Line just happens to be the point where, with time changing by one hour with every 15° of longitude crossed, there’s the inevitable 24-hour crossover. It’s at longitude 180°. The Prime Meridian at 0° is the universal reference point. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/56 "2026-03-21T17:39:15Z")
Further to that the 180 degree meridian (the “antimeridian” in contrast to the “prime meridian”) is not the same thing as the international date line. Not at all. They’re not in the same geographical location, and as you say, they serve very different purposes. The IDL generally follows the 180 degree meridian. But it zigs and zags east and west to avoid falling awkwardly across bodies of related land. If you zoom out on the ordinary Google Maps website the IDL is drawn as a dashed line. Starting up north by Alaska and Siberia you can see it zig-zgging to stay in the water of the Bering Strait and around the Aleutian chain to keep all of Russia on one side and all the US on the other. Then the IDL rejoins the 180 meridian. As you continue south to near the equator it has a huge jog to the east to incorporate Kiribati and some other minor islands on the east longitude side. It stays offset a bit east for quite aways south to keep New Zealand’s South Chatham islands on the NZ side of the IDL. Then aways south of NZ, the IDL rejoins the 180 meridian and continues unmolested down to the south pole. Said another way, anywhere there’s land, the IDL is _not_ on the 180 meridian. Only in far open ocean with no land nearby (or on the Antarctic continent) does the IDL match up with the 180 meridian. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/57 "2026-03-21T17:39:58Z")
Hey @HeyHomie, please clarify what your meaning was by furthest west. We seem to have 3 different standards in play, though the Date Line seems to be the most common. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/58 "2026-03-21T17:40:51Z")
So almost everybody who has been to London should have that as both their East and West? What is the line we can’t cross over and still call it furthest East or West? It’s in the middle of the Pacific somewhere, right? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/59 "2026-03-21T17:46:17Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > So almost everybody who has been to London should have that as both their East and West? The Prime Meridian is 0° longitude. Locations east of it have positive coordinates, locations west of it have negative ones. I assume that “furthest east and west you’ve ever been” should logically refer to places with the largest positive and largest negative longitude coordinates. ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653/60 "2026-03-21T17:47:00Z")
If the standard for east and west is positive and negative longitudes, extreme east and extreme west could be inside the same building in Greenwich, England. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-furthest-north-south-east-and-west-youve-ever-been-by-longitude-please/1028653.md?page=4)