I'm going to Bangkok for New Year! Originally I wanted to go home, but prices will be quite high and I just can't face the 14 hour flight coupled with the inevitable bitch of a jet lag. My friend (who teaches English in Korea) wanted to try Thailand and hotels.com had some really cheap rooms available. It's only a short flight so the prices aren't too high, even though they spike a little that close to holidays, and I get to try a new country! I want to visit more of Asia while I'm here, it's too expensive to do from the UK but really cheap from Japan!

With the public holidays around that time it means that if we leave the 23rd then I only have to take 4 days of my nenkyuu (vacation time - I get 20 a year) and then fly back on the 1st.

Start the year as you intend to continue I suppose, remembering that all a good life needs is a passport and a corkscrew.