Number 2- NYE in London

New Year’s Eve (NYE). The most overrated party night of the year? This was my view for many years and that of many others I’m sure. Why would you want to spend triple the price for a ticket to a NYE event serving a mediocre set menu and overpriced drinks at the bar. Or have to actually pay an entry fee just to drink at your local bar in town. Plus not to mention, at the end of the night, when your feet are aching from dancing the night away (in those sparkly four and a half inch heels you’ve had your eye on all season and managed to get half price in the Boxing Day sales), all you want to do is get home. But either you can’t see an available cab in sight, or the one you finally get wants to charge you a fortune eventually costing you more than you saved on those shoes anyway. 

These are the reasons as to why most NYE nights I’ve chosen to spend either at home with my parents or round a cousins house, popping a bottle of bubbles to see in the new year whilst watching the London fireworks on the TV. And every year I would watch the thousands of people lined up on the Embankment in London ready to see in the new year, and every year I’d say to myself ‘I’d love to experience that one day.’ 

People travel the world to see in the new year in locations from Sydney to New York, and others travel from afar to do the same in London. We often take for granted what’s on our own doorstep. Recently I've come to the realisation that I’m one of the lucky ones who can say that I live in one of the most vibrant cities in the world, and when better to embrace that than on NYE, when London is transformed from the hustle and bustle of daily working life into a celebration of the dawn of a new year. 

So this year I decided like every other year that I was going to see in the new year by watching the London fireworks, but with a difference. This year I'd be right there and I'd experience it first hand and in person.

I managed to convince a few friends of mine to come along with me, but the thought of spending hours standing outside and enduring the great British weather with the risk of rain was not something that they were very keen on. So I found a compromise, and we opted for a boat party! 

Our night began with a cruise along the Thames, where we were able to take in and marvel at the iconic London sights all lit up on a winters night, from the historic Tower Bridge to the tallest building in Europe The Shard. We danced the night away before docking near the Southbank with a perfect view to the side of the London Eye. And when the clock struck midnight the London night sky was illuminated with a burst of vibrant colors of red, white, blue, green and gold, and for a full twelve minutes all you could hear around was the sound of joy, 'oohs' and 'ahhs', whilst the nation forgot their worries and woes and joined together to celebrate new beginnings. 

In a city of diversity no matter your race, culture, religion or gender, this is the one night of the year where across the city, the nation and the world when we are one, and we join together in the universal celebration, wishing farewell to the past and looking ahead to the future and the start of something new. And when in London, the tubes are free to ride and normal rules no longer apply, you can make eye contact and you can even talk to each other to wish one another ‘A happy new year!’

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