Passengers 'go back in time' as flight took off in 2026 and landed in 2025
It is now solidly 2026 everywhere in the world, at least for the majority of countries which are working off the same calendar and can agree on what year it is.
In all of those places it is now New Year's Day at the very least, while some other spots in the globe are already steaming ahead with 2 January.
However, some people spent their New Year's Day travelling back in time to a place where it was still 2025, and it's all possible without the use of a time machine.
The first places in the world to celebrate each new year are in the Pacific Ocean, as the people of Kiribati are officially the first to usher in each new year.
Advert
If they wanted to celebrate twice, all they'd need to do is hop over the date line to somewhere it was still going to be 2025 for a while.
According to ABC, there was a flight from Guam at 7:40am on New Year's Day which touched down in Hawaii at 6:55pm on New Year's Eve, so passengers on board it were able to celebrate twice if they really wanted to.
There was also a flight from Tokyo at 1am on New Year's Day which made it to Los Angeles at 6pm the previous day, though if you were planning a double celebration there you'd be ushering in your first moments of 2026 in an airport lounge waiting to be called for boarding.
Not exactly the epitome of a party atmosphere.
For those who don't have Doctor Who on speed dial and also don't wish to use a plane for their time travel, there is an event on the border between Sweden and Finland which lets people celebrate the new year twice.
The Finnish town of Tornio is an hour ahead of its Swedish neighbour Haparanda, so you can welcome the new year in one spot and then rush over to do it all over again an hour later.
You can do the same thing in Finland's Karesuvanto and Sweden's Karesuando, which are right next to each other, though it's not quite as impressive as going from one place in the world, which is several hours into 2026, and arriving at another, which still has several hours of 2025 to go.
Given how New Year's Day is supposed to be particularly well known for... you know, perhaps this could be a bold new venture in time travel sex tourism.
Anyhow, that's how a handful of people managed to make it to 2026 only to journey back to 2025 for a little while longer, but time marches onwards and now it's 2026 everywhere that's counting the same.
Joe Harker