Samoa is hours away from making a quantum leap into the future, missing Friday December 30 as it switches timezones to be closer to major trading partners in Australia and New Zealand.
For 120 years Samoa has been 21 hours behind Australia. After the change, it will be three hours ahead of Sydney.
The plan to jump across the international dateline will take Samoa from being one of the last places to see the sun each day to being among the first.
The dateline - which runs through the middle of the Pacific - runs to the west of the island, meaning that it is 11 hours behind GMT and is one of the last places on Earth to see out the day.
A speech from Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi at 11pm on Thursday, with carols and prayers, will lead Samoa up to midnight and then jumping straight into Saturday, December 31.
The switch reverses a decision made 120 years ago to move to the east of the international dateline because most of Samoa's trade was with Europe and the US.
Tourists staying in Samoa's hotels won't pay for a day that doesn't exist, but bosses must still pay staff for the Friday that never was.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa switched driving in Samoa from the right side of the road to the left in 2009 to bring the country in line with New Zealand and Australia.
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