Who is celebrating New Year's Day first?
 

I'm in New Zealand which is the first time zone so I should be celebrating the New Year first. I'm 21 hours ahead of California, 23 hours ahead of Hawaii and 18 hours ahead of New York.

But no, Kiritimati, a group of islands that makes the International dateline slide to the east for a moment is on the same time zone as Hawaii, but one day ahead.

Any of you Fodor's people in Kiritimati? Otherwise, I'll be first to say Welcome to 2011.

Check your spelling - Kiri<b>b</b>ati. (Pronounced Kir-ee-buss.)

Probably you're the first, unless there are any Fodorites going to the movies on Taveuni (if they've reopened the 180 Meridian cinema.) http://travel.webshots.com/photo/107...46694695AOTzrM

Great photo, Gardyloo- (snuck a peek at your others and loved the shot in Amsterdam from the canal)

Well, wally34949, I'm In Sonoma County, CA - so I've got a bit of time before welcoming the New Year. So I've a moment to ponder:
where's the most interesting place I have been at New Years ?
:-?
You ?

Happy New Year from the vineyards in Northern CA !
(in about 33.5 hrs....)
((D))

R5

If you fly from NZ morning of 1/1 to Hawaii, you can do the New Year countdown twice.

Kiritimati is the island that we call "Christmas Island" in English. It is part of the nation of Kiribati.

Happy New Year to all, no matter when it arrives.

Looks like you'll welcome in the New Year about five hours before we do wally - enjoy NZ. I'm planning a trip to NZ this very minute - where are you specifically?

Most interesting place? Rio is probably at the top of the list for me, but I do not plan to do it more than once. Right now, Thailand is the place of choice. It has been our place for five of the ten years of this new century. Heading out from Bangkok to the beach in about a half hour, to enjoy fireworks tonight... will see the new year 13 hours sooner than friends back in Illinois.

Most boring place... Denver Amtrak station.. waiting for the California Zephyr, which was running late (as always), to take me home.

DH and I have travelled for the new year for about the last 20 years, so there have been lots of places where we have ushered in the new year... usually in a warm place.

Happy New Year to all.

Less than 1 1/2 hours until the New Year. I'm surprised I spelled it wrong. It did a cut and paste off the internet. Anyway, I have really enjoyed Wellington, NZ. The weather was great today. This can be a really windy city. Lot's of BYO restaurants in this town. I have an 8:30 a.m. flight out of the airport so I purchased an alarm clock for $2 NZD. Wish me luck on that one. Everything is walkable in downtown Wellington.

I love BYO. Wish it would catch on in the US.

I walked down to the waterfront last night for New Year's celebrations and there were no fireworks in Wellington, but a few people seemed to be fired up. The bars and clubs were crazy.

wally-I love hearing the different places people are
right now !

SO,wally34949, rkkwan, melnq8, Jeff_CR-any thoughts on the most interesting place you've spent New Years ?

Melnq8-we do have a sort of BYO in the US-yet it comes with
a little caveat called "corkage".
:)

R5

I spend one New Years in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. Had been in Fiji up until about the 28th or 29th, so missed that notch.

Nothing interesting, but I started 2010 in the upper bunk on a Chinese hard sleeper train. And once (1995 perhaps) I scared for my life in NY's Times Square when people started pushing.

rkkwan-Where were you headed on that upper bunk ?
Is a "hard sleeper" the surface you are sleeping or some other conotation ? Have had many friends relate that same fear that has kept from experiencing New Years in Time's Square.
Me + 1 million others. Not on my "bucket List".

NoFlyZ-Now, Fiji is on my list !
I hope the folks from 'Survivor' did not leave a mess of
Vanuatu-I was thinking/hoping they must make some promises or
something.

These sound like very interesting spots to be in on NYE !

R5

I've spent NYE in Paris, Berlin, and London. Nowhere too exotic. :)

razzle - I was traveling from Xichang to Chengdu. Both in Sichuan province. "Hard Sleeper" is the Chinese name for 2nd class sleeper train, in contrast to "Soft Sleeper" or 1st class. There is actually a decent mattress, but the bunks are 3-high, and no doors for each "berth" of 6 bunks.

Here's the view from my top bunk:
http://rkkwan.zenfolio.com/sichuan010110/e2c207943

This is what the hard sleeper car looks like inside:
http://rkkwan.zenfolio.com/sichuan010110/e2112e9a1

New Year in Edinburgh is great. Music in the park and fireworks from the castle at midnight. What could be better. It's only a shame that it's not shown on TV here. Just bl**dy boring Sydney, Paris and London.

razzledazzle -

They charge corkage here too, although in this age of screw caps, they should really call it screwage.

I've spent New Years Eve many places, but by far the most memorable was last year. I was up on Barrow Island in NW Western Australia, working as a volunteer tagging endangered flatback turtles. I'm still not sure how it happened, but I managed to get 'slapped' by a giant turtle flipper while working the beach on NYE.

I ended up with an absolutely massive bruise and a knee injury that resulted in surgery.

No alcohol, no fireworks...just a bright moon and a remote beach busy with turtles laying eggs...magic.

Sydney, Australia has one of the best New Year's celebrations that I have ever seen.

I just saw Air Vanauatu taking off here in Auckland, New Zealand. Is Vanauatu worth visiting? I just flew from Wellington to Auckland and the Air New Zealand magazine said that they are replacing the 747-400's with 777's. I flew on a 737-300, remember the toilets where the water just slides around and never sucks? They are going to replace those planes with A320's. They have also purchased some Boeing 787's. (not happy with this keyboard)

Talking about a great way to travel, I joined the Magic Bus in Auckland and stayed in hostels along the way for two weeks. Meals were not included but I paid about $404 for hostels and bus transportation that picked me up at the hostel and dropped me off at the hostel each day. All of the hostels had kitchens but I usually went out for meals.

I hope you'll consider posting a NZ trip report wally. I assume you sampled plenty of NZ wine?

Jeff_Costa_Rica -you are far too modest ! I'm certain you
would have a story to tell about each of those cities.

rkkwan-Great photos ! Want a wonderful view into another
culture. I might be OK on that train-give me earplugs and an eyeshade and I'm good to go, LOL! I see I would benefit from not being very tall,as well. Do I see your mom and dad ?
(I know, I sneaked a look a look at your album)
I seem to remember photos from the exotic local of
Kansas City ?

joto-Edinburgh sounds perfect for NYE ! Is SF ever on TV
(I mean other than here locally )
or are we just so behind everyone else turning to the New Year, you've already gone to bed ?

Melnq8-Yes, I've heard that other "term" they charge for BYO.
Ouch for the turtle slap ! It sounds as though the
moonlight and busy turtles made up for it-fascinating !

wally34949-Your a good sport for letting me hijack your thread a bit - when you mentioned "what time" -the
"and where" popped into my head. The Magic Bus sounds
really fun, and a great value. I hope someone answers you about Vanauatu-I like to know as well.
Where are you now, wally ?

Well, it's coming up on 8:30PM PST and Mr R5 is cooking up a batch of broth with clams and mussels, to be served with
some crusty sourdough and a small green salad.
Champagne, or the CA equivalent thereof, a Anderson Valley Roderer Estate will be opened later. We'll share a quiet
NYE as the rain begins once again here in Northern CA.
Noah should be sailing by anytime.

One of my favorite NYE was spent here,
http://www.noao.edu/kpno/
many years ago,watching the heavens in the pristine Sonoran Desert.
Visitng there has gotten a bit more formal over the years.
We had a family friend who was an astronomer out there
and he invited us up. Such a wonderful memory.

I so enjoyed you all sharing your fascinating NYE travels !
Happy New Year Everyone !

R5

razzle - Yes, those are my parents in the album. It was a chore for them to get into the middle bunks and in a separate car. That train was booked full and we couldn't get softsleepers or bunks together or lower bunks. And actually, no eyeshades or earplugs necessary. I slept super well that night.

Kansas City? My mom and I went there 3 years ago for a quick trip. :)

I forgot about Edinburgh. We were there on New Years in 1998/1999 when the euro came into circulation. Huge celebration.

I've been to Vanuatu 4 times and it is fascinating but an acquired taste. Formerly known as New Hebrides, it is still quite tribal in areas and there is not a whole lot of activities and things to do. The Tanna volcano is quite good.

Main attraction is the scuba diving. My favorite dive in the entire world (the SS President Coolidge ... http://www.aquamarinesanto.com/coolidge.html) and I have about 30 dives on it. For scuba fanatics it is not to be missed even though it is a technical/decompression dive. Awesome in every sense of the word.

Espiritu Santo is my favorite island (home of the Coolidge) because it actually has some infrastructure, friendly and interesting tribal locals, good developing cavern/cave diving (which I helped explore back in the days when they were discovered), and lots of great WWII history. It was the setting for Michener's South Pacific and Bloody Mary's Bar was still there my last time on island. From the ruins of the hospital you can see the island which was known as Bal'i Hai on the horizon.

The main island of Efate is worth a day or two but is basically just an airline hub. There are some interesting neiighborhoods to visit such as Nambatu and Nambawan, named for WWII US radar installations.

Pentecost Island is where local daredevils tie themselves to vines and jump from high towers. This land diving later transformed itself into our current bungee jumping craze.

"Jeff_Costa_Rica -you are far too modest ! I'm certain you
would have a story to tell about each of those cities."

Oh, don't me wrong. London, Paris, and Berlin are wonderful places, but NYE in all of them means mobs of people. I've never cared much for that magnitude of crowds. You gazing at the heavens in the Sonoran Desert would be much more my style. THAT'S a New Year's Eve to remember. :)

I'm in San Diego for four nights trying to recover from the flight. Driving from LAX to San Diego was a challenge but at least they drive on the right side of the road.

I've had seven meals today--not a good day to fast. I recommend fasting on the day you fly from LAX and cross the international dateline.

I live in Auckland, New Zealand, but was in Bamberg, Germany, for New Year's. Originally I was supposed to be in Berlin for it, but that didn't work out. Anyway, I was thrilled with Bamberg. It was totally crazy and fun. Heaps of people on the streets. ALOT of crazy fireworks. Absolutely wonderful :)