What is New Years Eve all about?? Celebration? Time with friends and family and loved ones? Finding that one person to be your midnight kiss? Not when you celebrate at Copacabana Beach in Rio!

The tradition for NYE in Rio and in Brazil includes dressing in all white to purge all the bad from the past year.

The color underwear you wear signifies what you are wishing for in the new year. Pink means love, red means passion, yellow means money, white means peace and so on and so on. I wanted a color that meant travel but that does not exist. I settled for my pink bikini bottoms with sea horses on them.

At midnight instead of people searching for a kiss, there is a spectacular fireworks display that is one for the record books! Once the fireworks are over, everyone jumps in the ocean and jumps 7 waves and makes 7 wishes. You can see where the underwear comes into play since everyone is soaking wet and wearing white.

I was lucky enough to share this experience with friends from home and 2 million strangers!