By FOMO Girl
New Year’s Eve is a time for everybody everywhere to pause and give thanks for the blessings that they have received during the year, and a perfect time to welcome the upcoming New Year with all the new opportunities, new beginnings, new relationships, new experiences that it will bring.
 
It would seem that for one full day, the whole world stops and all the people of the world celebrate the coming of a new calendar year. It is a night for fun, music, parties, public parades and private resolutions.
 
How do major cities celebrate New Year’s Eve? In many ways, people of different places celebrate it in similar ways. Yet at the same time, they have their own traditional ways of welcoming the New Year that are different from the others. Some get their traditions depending on where they live and what they believe in their area.
 
Sydney in Australia has a special significance when it comes to celebrating New Year.   Australia is among the first major countries to actually turn into the New Year and a New Year’s Eve in Sydney is the biggest Down under.  Being near the International Date Line, Sydney effectively becomes the “starting point” for all New Year’s Eve celebrations. It is as if the whole world waits and watches for Sydney to officially enter into the New Year and then countdown for the rest of the world begins!
 
Among the major features of Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebration are their two traditional fireworks held in the city’s famous Sydney Harbour. Over the years, Sydney has developed a distinct tradition for ushering in the New Year with an amazing fireworks display that the whole world watches. The first one (Family Fireworks) starts at around 9:00 p.m. and the Midnight Fireworks welcome the New Year at midnight.
 
The Midnight Fireworks is an impressive pyro technique presentation that is televised globally. Last year’s New Year’s Eve more than a billion people worldwide watched the Sydney New Year’s Eve midnight fireworks on television. With firework bases strategically distributed through seven buildings around the harbour and in seven barges moored along the harbour (the seventh “barge” was actually the Harbor Bridge), the fireworks presentation played to the theme of “Embrace.” A million people viewed this fiery display from vantage points along the harbour or aboard boat cruises.
 
Another world famous destination for New Year’s Eve celebration is Times Square in New York City. Every year more than a million people flock to this section of the city to watch the “ball drop” at midnight.  This tradition started in 1907 and has been consistently observed ever since. The ball is composed of panels with computerized LCD lighting. It drops from a temporary pole to the enthusiastic countdown of people watching below. It is also globally watched by millions of people through television.
 
Partying, music and dancing around the square and nearby building accompany the celebration of New Year.
 
In most other cities of the world, fireworks are a standard feature in celebrating New Year. In many cities, parades and parties are commonly practiced.

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By FOMO Girl
As the Christmas lights start to fade and the holiday season comes to an end, there's still the age-old question of where to celebrate one of the most epic nights out of the year, New Year's Eve.  With the New Year just around the corner, now's the time to make your New Year's resolutions, drink away the last year's regrets and celebrate starting all over again next year.

Ever wondered what it would be like to do a New Year's Eve trip somewhere other than singing 'Auld Lang Syne' with a bunch of strangers in your local pub or bar?  There are some really exciting must-do New Year's Eve events across the globe in nearly every continent.

A recent survey conducted by a social network across 17 countries and four continents showed Brazilians were considered the top nationality that the rest of the world would most like to party with on New Year's Eve.  As New Year's Eve falls in the middle of Brazil's summer, the climate is perfect for large outdoor parties to welcome the New Year.  The festivities are held in cities across the country and for those near the beach on New Year's Eve, the tradition in Brazil is to jump seven waves at midnight while throwing flowers in the sea and making a wish, apparently it is one wish for each wave.  However, none of the Brazilian cities can match the scale of the NYE party on Rio De Janeiro Copacabana Beach.  With 2.5 million partygoers in attendance it is considered the biggest New Year's Eve party in the world and Copacabana Beach has giant stages set up along the oceanfront with music, Carnival-style costumes, traditional dance performances and fairground attractions keeping people entertained throughout the night. 

Few places rival the atmosphere of New Year's Eve in New York City, home to one of the night's most memorable New Year's Eve events, the Times Square Ball Drop. Since 1907, the iconic ball, a 12-foot glittering sphere weighing 11,875 pounds, is dropped each year on the stroke of midnight from a flagpole on top of One Times Square.  Cramming into the New York City Times Square to watch the ball drop with fellow tourists from all over the world is something everyone should do once. They say that you haven't really celebrated until you've frozen your extremities and lost your voice screaming while that ball drops above you.

One of the world's first major cities to celebrate NYE, Sydney's New Year's Eve firework show is renowned around the globe.  The fireworks exploding above Sydney Harbour is probably the World's most famous New Year's Eve celebration aside from the New York City Times Square Ball Drop.  What makes Sydney better to be at than New York City though, is that 31 December is summertime in Australia and you can pretty much expect a warm night out.

Other worldwide destinations that have great New Year's Eve experiences include Edinburgh, Las Vegas, London, Miami, Amsterdam and Paris.

So make sure you get your New Year's Eve travel plans sorted out, because the only question is, where will you be when the clock strikes midnight on 31 December this year?  You know you don't want to miss it...