Events

Eve’ll Urges

Welcoming 2013 with a Bang. And Llamas.

Germany found your Halloween costume off-putting. France scoffed at your pétanque game on Bastille Day. But now it’s time to talk New Year’s Eve—the one day when everyone on earth bonds over new beginnings, open bars and questionable judgments. With so many options, you’ll want a voice of guidance. This is that voice.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

A New Year’s Feast on the Great Wall

You Require: A pre-party dinner visible from space.
You’ll Receive: A privately guided hike across the Great Wall of China to your own cordoned-off section between two giant watchtowers, where you’ll be served a traditional Chinese dinner. You’re also hiking back, so... now would be a good time to splurge on dessert.

TSAR TREATMENT

Having a Ball on New Year’s. Literally.

You Require: A New Year’s Eve ball with a budget larger than the GDP of a small country.
You’ll Receive: A custom-tailored caviar-and-vodka tasting in St. Petersburg before dinner-cruising down the river to the several-centuries-old Tsar’s Ball at the royal palace. Making out on the throne gets you bonus points. Also: deportation.

COMO SE LLAMA

Becoming the Dick Clark of Machu Picchu

You Require: A crowd-dodging jaunt on horseback to somewhere epic.
You’ll Receive: An eight-day trek from Lima to Machu Picchu, where you’ll ring in 2013 with a bountiful spread of roast guinea pig, trout ceviche and suckling pig. Oh, about that horse—best we could do here is a llama. But dammit, he’s a good llama.

RULE ICELANDIA

A Long Night’s Journey into... Night

You Require: As much champagne-sabering, “Auld Lang Syne”–ing, New Year’s–ing time as nature can physically provide.
You’ll Receive: A 20-hour-long night courtesy of Iceland—not to mention a front-row seat for the world’s northernmost fireworks against the northern lights and a post-festivities soak in some geothermal hot springs.

TIME FOR DESERT

Fear and Loathing and Camels in Morocco

You Require: A quiet little slice of solitude to meditate and reflect upon the year that was.
You’ll Receive: A four-day camel expedition from Marrakech, where you’ll contemplate the meaning of life, the infinity of the universe and the value of a well-insulated water bottle in the world’s largest desert—or the world’s largest waterless beach, depending on your perspective.