Tip Sheet.

Travel: New Year, New Adventure

By Malcolm Beith

Each year, we vow to do something special for New Year's Eve. But by the time most of us get around to calling the travel agent, flights and hotel prices are through the roof, the in-laws have arrived and a mid- holiday food coma has set in. So, rather than nodding off in front of the TV with a single sparkler in hand, Tip Sheet encourages you to plan ahead. Consult sites like whatsonwhen.com or timeout.com for listings of global happenings. Or try one of these destinations:

Rio de Janeiro: Join 2 million revelers to bask in the moonlight on Copacabana Beach. What more could you want: sand and samba, four stages of live bands, fireworks, the warm waves beckoning... paraiso. Tip: do as they do--throw a flower into the Atlantic on Dec. 31 as an offering to Yemanja, the deity of the seas. Bonus tip: if you can't afford a hotel room on the beachfront itself, get there early. When we said 2 million people, we meant it.

Tokyo: Celebrate the Japanese way outside a local Buddhist temple: put the past behind you as you eat toshikoshi soba (buckwheat noodles that symbolize lasting life), drink sake by the bonfire and await the 108 bells at midnight. The reverberations should dispel those 108 human vices from your soul, leaving it sinless for another year.

Beirut: During 16 years of civil war, Beirut never took off its party hat. And now, with the city center rebuilt and U.S. visa policies turning off jet-setting Arabs by the planeload, it's attracting more tourists than ever. Bop away at the superhip club B018, court danger at Atlantis, where live piranhas swim beneath the dance floor, or head to the mountain resort of Faraya-Mzaar and mingle with the Mideast apres- ski set.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti: Vibrant, tropical and oh-so-unpredictable, the capital of the world's first black republic will be one big party in the buildup to the 200th anniversary of the country's independence on Jan. 1, 2004. Boogie down in the main square opposite the presidential palace, where live bands will have hundreds of thousands of Haitians hopping all night. Book a room at the enchanting gingerbread-style Hotel Oloffson (rooms start at $68; reserve at oloffson.com) of Graham Greene's "The Comedians" fame.