Bucket List / Experience Goals
See In New Year Twice
Still to do
Count down to midnight among the first people on Earth into the new year, then fly back into yesterday.
The adventure
New Zealand is one of the first countries to see the new year, and Auckland marks it with fireworks fired from the Sky Tower over the harbour. You cheer, hug strangers and watch the sky light up. Then, instead of heading to bed, you head to the airport.
Your plane flies east over the Pacific and crosses the International Date Line, the invisible kink in the calendar where one day becomes the previous one. You land in the Cook Islands, Hawaii or American Samoa on the morning of 31 December, with the whole of New Year's Eve still ahead of you. By the evening you're on a beach with a drink in hand, counting down from ten for the second time in a day, and becoming one of very few people to have lived through the same date twice.
Why it’s epic
- Auckland's midnight fireworks launched from the 328-metre Sky Tower.
- Rarotonga in the Cook Islands is almost a full day behind New Zealand despite being a few hours' flight away.
- Samoa and American Samoa sit about 130 kilometres apart but on opposite sides of the date line, a full calendar day apart.
- A second, very different celebration on a tropical island or in Honolulu.
What it is
Celebrating New Year twice means crossing the date line.
How to do it
Celebrate in Samoa or New Zealand, then fly east to American Samoa, Hawaii or the US.
Top tip
Check flight schedules carefully.
Need to know
- Very few flights cross the date line on the night itself, so plan around actual schedules and book early.
- Flights after midnight on New Year's Day can be delayed, so allow slack before the second countdown.
- American Samoa and Hawaii are US territory, so you'll need an ESTA or visa.
Plan this trip
- Rough cost
- £2,000 to £5,000 per person, including flights from the UK
- Time needed
- 1 day
- Best time to go
- 31 December
- Fly into
- AKL airport
Long-haul flights to the Pacific, plus a second flight on one of the busiest nights of the year, make this pricey.
Make it happen
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Why it’s on my list
Thanks to the peculiarities of boundaries and borders, it is wholly possible to see in New Year Twice. If you really like to party and travel backwards in time this is the bucket list item for you.
The most common way to do it is to spend new year in New Zealand, then hop on a flight East to somewhere like the Cook Islands which is a short 4 hour flight. Due to the location of the international date line they are 22 hours behind, so you start the party all over again.
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