As you may know the international date line is as crooked as the contents of a badly packed suitcase, and Samoa, once known as the last place to see the sun set, is now the first place on the planet you can see the sun rise. This makes it’s neighbour American Samoa the last. So where to go in between? Well, with 40 different local times around the world, which actually take 26 hours for the New Year to arrive in, an intrepid (and very quick) traveller could do the following itinerary…
Manase Beach Sunrise, Samoa by Jorge Price CC BY 2.0
Midnight strikes in Apia, Samoa! You then have 15 mins to get to…
Chatham Islands, 45 mins to get to…
Aukland, New Zealand, 1 hour to get to…
Anadyr Russia, another hour to get to…
Sydney, Australia, with half an hour to get to…
Adelaide, Australia, another half hour to get to…
Brisbane, Australia, and because Oz is sooo big, another half hour to get to Alice Springs!
You’ve so far seen in 7 New Years in 4.5 hours! As you hit the 5 hour mark you need to be in…
Okutama Sunrise, Japan by Kirt Cathey CC BY 2.0
Tokyo, Japan, but 15 minutes later…
Back in Australia in a place called Eucla. 15 mins later again you arrive in…
Pyongyang, North Korea, with a whole hour before you need to be in…
Hong Kong, and another hour to get to…
Bangkok. Half an hour again and you’ll be in Myanmar, with another half hour to get to…
Bangladesh, fifteen mins to reach Kathmandu in Nepal, and another 15 to get to Mumbai in India.
It’s been 8 and a half hours of cheering in 16 New Years, so you are well and truly over the limit unless you’re on the shandies. And on we go…
Sunrise over Mumbai by Alex Dixon CC BY-SA 2.0
You have half an hour to get from Mumbai to Lahore, Pakistan, and again from there to Afghanistan, and again to Azerbaijan, then Iran then Moscow.
Next up you have hourly slots for each of the following:
Athens, Greece
Paris, France
London, England
Ponta Delgada, Portugal
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Buenos Ares, Argentina
That is 17 hours of travelling so far and 24 Auld Lang Synes! Half an hour later you should arrive at Mary’s Harbour in Canada, with half an hour to get to Halifax in Canada, and another 30 mins to get to Caracas in Venezuela. We are nearly on the home run! One hour later…
New York City Sunrise by Anthony Quintano CC BY 2.0
New York USA, another hour Chicago USA, another hour to get to Denver, USA, one more hour to reach Los Angeles then another full hour to get to Alaska!
It’s been 23 hours, 25 celebrations and there are still 3 hours and 4 destinations left:
Sandy Beach Park, Kalanianaole Hwy, Honolulu by Robert Linsdell CC BY 2.0
Half an hour to get to…Taiohae, French Polynesia, another half an hour to get to Honolulu, USA, and an hour to reach Pago Pago, American Samoa!
If you are determined to do the official list, not just follow the sun, you can spend your last hour of travel heading to Baker Island, where the sun actually rises at the same time as it does on Chatham Islands, the second stop on your itinerary!