Lucas Dié takes on a magical journey to five Christmas Islands and places to vacation during the holidays. Whether you stay close to home, or travel to the far reaches of the world to experience a new culture, Christmas is the time to do it.

The Australian territory is the one we normally think of when hearing Christmas Island. Geographically, the volcanic Island in the Indian Ocean lies much nearer to the Indonesian island of Java than to Australia. Together with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands it constitutes the Australian Indian Ocean Territories. William Mynors named the island when he arrived there on Christmas Day 1643, but he and his men were too craven to disembark. In 1688, the pirates of the Cygnet under William Dampier were the first to go on land and find it uninhabited.

Read more about the Christmas Islands

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