Edit: This is a longer version of an article I wrote in 2015. After writing this article I wanted to make some edits and found the old article! I'm so old I'm starting to forget! Or I just love New Year's travel that much.
Antarctica was the chalice of my New Year's trips, I wanted to visit all 7 continents, and all 7 continents for New Year's. It was a trip I thought would never happen, thus the name of this blog 6 of the 7... And surely became one of the best trips ever to this special land, and on for me, this special day. Was it time to retire New Year's trips after? Not even close. I celebrated New Year's in Oregon the following year with a girl I was dating, and kicked off the year this year in the Old Havana neighborhood of Cuba. This year I'm thinking of celebrating it in Africa or Asia as I realized of the 18 New Year's I've done, they are heavily weighted in my hemisphere and I'd love to expand the resume just like expanding the passport stamps, but it's a good ways away, so we shall see when it gets closer.
In my past life when I grew up in New York City I remember as a little kid the celebration was to have a big dinner and at midnight we would bang pots and pans over the streets in Brooklyn, some people shot off fireworks, some people shot off guns, but my block was pots and pans, and I'm okay with that. Y2K when the world was about to end would be the last New Year's I'd truly celebrate for awhile, it was a house party in Brooklyn, nothing special, but I still remember it 25 years later. After that when I became a grown up I had grown up jobs that I worked new years for several years, bartender, police, firefighter. Somewhere in that mix I did get to celebrate Las Vegas with friends for New Year's and one year with the fire department I had off and celebrated in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Then in 2011, things changed. I once again didn't have off, but I knew if I covered one of my buddies for Christmas he would cover me for New Year's. At the same time a friend invited me to Austin, Texas to end 2011 and kick off 2012. I don't have any kids so the trade was on and the trip was on. The following year me and a good friend celebrated it in Russia in Red Square, from there on, I decided after having worked so many New Year's shifts (which in retrospect now at 43 years old was only a small part of my life) I wanted to spend the rest of my New Year's traveling to a different city or a different country every time. It could be a huge party like in Red Square, it could be something quiet like a cold beach in Oregon with the girlfriend, a deck overlooking Antarctica, a rooftop party with the pyramids Egypt, the Sydney harbor, Miami Beach, wherever!
The thing that makes New Year's special for me is that it is the holiday for all. They don't celebrate the 4th of July in Mongolia, we don't celebrate El Dia De Las Velitas in the USA, not everyone celebrates Christmas, etc. But New Year's is the one day, the world gets together, and says, "Ok, let's do something." Some places are clearly more than others! But what about China Joe? China has their own New Year's? Yes they do, but I was in Shanghai on December 31st, trust me, they also celebrate that night!
It's a special time for me, I still don't have kids and I still generally work Christmas, but then the travel blood activates, and I'm on the plane to wherever, a long or short flight I'll review the year that was in my life, my travels, and in the world. And of course, plan the next year ahead. The end of one chapter, and the beginning of the next. I'm only 3 months into 2025 and have already done 3 trips, 2 international (Colombia and Cuba). And some big things happening at work that will change my life forever. So while I plan to enjoy every minute of 2025, I'll also be excited to see where I end it on yet another special New Year's in 2026.
UPDATE: Brazil, here I come! New Year's eve 2026 in Rio!
UPDATE: Brazil, here I come! New Year's eve 2026 in Rio!
Choose the continent!!!!
OR...
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