Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!! Hope everyone had a wonderful new year wherever you were. It was a great time here in Thailand. I had meant to post more during the holidays but the internet connection where I was was very slow and very expensive. I had finished some but still only had drafts. So, it’s been pretty quiet here at Nomadic Matt but this year will bring many changes to this site:

• I want to have more guest posts on this site. If you are interested in writing a guest post, please send me an e-mail.
• I have changed the banner again. I’m digging the green/black theme. Thoughts?
• The photo page will move from its current form to an interactive flash map within a few months. I am just looking for a designer to do it. You’ll be able to click on a country and see the photos from that country. If you are a programmer and can help me out, please send an e-mail.
• The big shift will be that this site will be connected with my other site about how to travel the world. This site will be the updated/blog portion of the other site. The URLs will stay the same. The biggest change for Nomadic Matt will be that the travel tips page will now connect to the other site.

I’m looking to develop this site a bit to be a more multi-author blog than just about me, though I plan to be the main author. I’d like 1 guest blog a week. So if you are interested, please shoot me an e-mail.

Happy 2009 and regular postings will begin again on Tuesday.

The Weekly Photo: Birds

Monkey Mia, Australia

Top Ten Places to go for New Year’s Eve

Countries around the world will be ringing in the new year soon with fireworks, festivals, parties, and, of course, kisses. It is an exciting time and a holiday that knows no nationality. For those still looking for some place to go and want the best of the best, here are the top ten places to go on New Year’s Eve:

New York City

Times Square has been a focal point of New Year’s activity for more than a hundred years. Millions come in the square to watched the famed ball drop. Millions more around the world hold their breath watching Times Square on New Years Eve as New Year’s Eve Ball drops. If you want to be at Times Square, dress warm and arrive early - people start gathering around 3 pm on New Years Eve. The festivities continue after midnight with remarkable fireworks around the city and lots of late night drinking at the bars and clubs.

Sydney

Sydney is the first major city in the world to greet a new year (sorry New Zealand, you aren’t as big!) and they know how to do it right with the largest firework celebrations in the world. The fireworks end at 12:15 but the celebrations last until dawn. You can witness absolutely stunning firework over the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge from many vantage points around the harbor, but the best views come from a boat in the harbor. After the celebrations, the city stays up until late.

London

London has astonishing fireworks launched into the sky from the London Eye. The fireworks can be seen from rooftops and balconies all across London but best views are from Westminster Bridge and the north embankment of the River Thames, opposite the London Eye. The show starts after Big Ben chimes midnight and lasts for 15 minutes. Endless number of London pubs, clubs and restaurant are open well into New Years night, as would be expected since the British love any excuse to have a pint.

Paris

Paris has great festivities- from high class dining to clubbing to fantastic fireworks to Champagne on the Champs-Elysees. The place to be is the Champs-Elysees. Around 9 p.m., people gather at the famous street and start to count down to the new year. Around midnight here you can watch the Eiffel Tower’s light show. Montmartre is another fantastic place to ring in the New Year as its elevated and has spectacular views of the entire Paris skyline. While Paris doesn’t typically have a fireworks show, there are till great parties and many people light them off from the Champs-Elysees.

Ko Phanagn Thailand

Over twenty thousand young people cram on Haat Rin beach to celebrate the new year. People from around the world dance, paint themselves up, and drink buckets until the sun rises. It may not be as large as New York or Sydney or Tokyo but, for those who want to spend their new year on the beach, this place is Thailand is the only destination that should be on your mind.

Kiribati

What better way to ring in the new year than be the first people to ring in the new year? This spot in the Pacific is officially the first place in the world to see 2009. Tourism here has picked up in recent years as the locals have tried to capitalize on that interesting fact. And regardless of this fact, what better way to spend the New Year than on an island in the South Pacific?

Tokyo

If you want to start celebrating early, head to Tokyo, where the celebration starts on the 29th of December. Here, you also have a chance to prolong your New Years celebration up to January 4th. Even though most of the major tourist sites are closed, the streets of Tokyo, as well as, all restaurants and clubs are packed with people. The city is jumping with loads of fireworks, dancing and singing. On January 1st, visit the Imperial Palace opens to the public.

Las Vegas

The city that parties every night throughout the year certainly knows how to throw a New Year’s Eve bash to remember. There are so many clubs, hotels, bars and casinos to choose from in Las Vegas, Nevada, that it’s almost impossible to not celebrate in style. Outdoors, the Strip is closed to traffic so everyone can watch the grand fireworks displays high above the city’s neon lights. If you can wade through the crowds, make your way downtown to the Fremont Street Experience and join the massive block party, complete with confetti, a massive wine toast, concerts by big-name rockers, and a five-block-long illuminated canopy 90 feet overhead, on which state-of-the-art sound and light shows are shown.

Boston

Boston’s First Night celebrations are very famous for its fireworks and ice sculptures. The fireworks take place around midnight over the river but festivities begin days before. First Night Boston is the country’s oldest and largest New Year’s arts celebration. From 1 p.m. to midnight, First Night presents a day-long festival of art, music, dance, ice sculpture, and fireworks. First Night is an alcohol-free event that welcomes children, families and revelers of all ages.

Anywhere your friends are

No Matter where you are, this holiday is about celebrating with friends and family. Where ever they are will be a great place to celebrate. Celebrate the end of one year and a set of new beginnings. Paris, London, New York- it doesn’t matter. As long as you are with those you like and love, it will be the best New Year’s party in the world.

Carnival of Blogs #11

Merry Christmas! No one got coal this year did they? Good. Santa must have read our letter. It’s been awhile but it’s time to highlight the best of the travel web to give you something to read while you are (most likely) off work this week.

Angela Nickerson has a great travel blog about Italy that will make you want to go pack up and live la dolce vita.

Justin Wright has a great photo blog as well as a good travel blog about the life of Justin.

Vagablogging and Gadling both profiled my new how to travel the world website. Not Bad Huh?

Matador Travel tells us there is something more to do in Brussels than drink beer. I still don’t believe it.  Brave New Traveler also has a great article on duty backpackers- travelers who go to check off a list of places instead of traveling for the joy of it.

A great travel blog with great tips and advice, as well as great photos can be found at Eyeflare.

I’ve recently came across a good website called “Boldy Go Solo” that offers good encouragement for getting your act together and getting overseas.

If you are looking for another expat blog to read, look no further than “This Non-American Life” about a women making her way in Germany. Well written, insightful, hilarious.

The Art of Non-Conformity is offering some great tips on how to get into rogue states. Fancy a trip to North Korea? He helps you get there.

And, finally, if you don’t know who Tim Ferris is, you should. His book “The Four Hour Work Week” is a great motivator on how to minimize work in your life, maximize efficiency, and do more of what you like.  Check out his website at the four hour work week.

The Traveler’s Wishlist for 2009

With the new year a week away and Santa Claus visiting tonight, it’s time to create a travel wish list for 2009:

Dear Santa,

It’s been a great 2008. We like to think we were good travelers this year. We started a lot of good travel websites, meet great travelers, participated in good causes, some companies went green, and more people traveled green way. More people around the world traveled this year and even more people inspired themselves to travel. We did our best and we were good! However, not everything is perfect in the travel world and there are still some things that should change.

Since we were such good boys and girls this year, please bring us these presents in 2009:

More green travel. It’s great that environmental travel is on the rise but too many people still leave big footprints where ever they go. They stay in big hotels, waste energy, and do high impact sightseeing tours.  It would be nice to see more people travel green and use local and environmentally friendly companies like Intrepid Travel or Gap Adventures.

Better airlines. Give those airlines coal for being bad. They keep raising fares and cutting services. Worse, they make it harder to use the miles we’ve been slowly accruing. Can we please have some good airlines in 2009? No more hidden fees, fuel surcharges, expensive food, costly pillows, and surly, underpaid staff. Just replicate the Singapore or Emirates Air model for everyone? Please?

Travel companies on the web. The internet is the future of travel yet so many companies have such a small web profile and fail to engage their consumers in an effective way. More than that, they ignore the robust online travel community. We reach their audience more effectively on the web than they do. It would be nice if many of the big travel companies had more of a Web 2.0 presence and made information available on the web. It’s good for them and good for consumers.

Peace on earth. Just thought we’d ask. It’s worth a try.

More cultural exchanges. Can schools and universities across the globe participate in more cultural exchanges? Meeting new people and learning about new cultures is the essence of travel and that can change the world. Cultural and study abroad programs enrich all those involved and everyone walks away learning something new. Maybe we’re optimistic but by learning that we all aren’t so different, we can get a little closer to peace on earth.

Better consumer protection. It’s not easy being a traveler. Airlines cancel fights, tours aren’t what they said they were, mistakes happen, scams occur, and there are a lot of accidents that can happen. Often, companies have a plethora of ways to say it’s our fault and then charge a fee to fix it. It would be nice if consumer advocate groups and travelers banded together to stop these practices.

Great travel deals. The economy is in recession and could go into a depression. Oil prices are down. Travel is down. It makes for a great time for businesses to slash prices and offer great deals. Make it happen. We want to travel more. And travel cheap.

Better environmental protection. It’s great that more people around the world around traveling overseas but that takes it’s toll on the environment as more people rush to places like the Great Barrier Reef, Patagonia, Africa, Hawaii, Brazil, and much more.  Many people and governments trade short term economic gains for long term environmental protection. It would be good if governments focused more sustainable tourism and educating the people about its benefits. Because once all the animals are gone, who will want to go to see Africa? When the coral reefs are gone, the dive business goes with it. It is lose-lose.

So Santa, that’s what we want for Christmas. A greener, better travel world. Is that too much to ask? Please. We’ll be good in 2009. Promise. No coal for us!

Signed,

Travelers of the world

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