Yeah, I understand that, but what kind of an analogy can you come up with that the average guy would understand?
I've illustrated the "photonic bandgap" problem as a long train leaving Washington D.C. for Baltimore, where the length of the train is a significant fraction of the distance between the cities. The train is not said to "leave" or "arrive" until the center of the train gets to the station. Just as the train is approaching Baltimore, the engine detaches from the rest of the train, and it "arrives" in Baltimore when the center of the engine gets to the station, which happens to be in record time.