Those of you that know me in person will know that I harbor very much an adventurous and competitive nature. I'm never happy being stuck in one place too long without some form of activity to keep me occupied, and although I'm far from a sore loser, I am rather fond of the feeling of pride that goes hand in hand with succeeding in a personal goal. As such, I present to you a list of things I hope to accomplish before my inevitable demise. It is by no means a complete list, I will no doubt be regularly adding the odd bullet point here and there when something triggers an inspiration for me to accomplish a new goal, but as it stands here it is in no particular order of importance:
England
Visit Land's end, Cornwall (done)
Visit Clovelly, Devon (done)
Visit the Lake District, Cumbria (done)
Visit the nation's Capital (done)
Attend a West Bromwich Albion game at the Hawthorns (done)
Attend a West Bromwich Albion away game (done)
Take a long walk in the Cotswolds (done)
Visit Warwick Castle (done)
Visit the Eden Project, Cornwall
Take a dip at the Thermae Spa in Bath, the only natural hot spring in the country
See the crown jewels, London
Attend the Chelsea Flower Show
Ride a motorcycle from Land's End to John O'Groats in a day
Attend the Isle of White TT race
Eat at one of Heston Blumenthal's Restaurants
Scotland
Climb Ben Nevis
Visit Edinburgh Castle
Attend the Edinburgh Festival
Search for the Loch Ness Monster
Wales
Climb Snowdon
Ireland
Visit Cork
Visit the giant's Causeway, Antrim
Drink a pint of Guiness in Dublin
France
Visit the Dordoigne (done)
Eat a continental breakfast which was freshly baked at a local Patisserie (done)
Ascend the Eiffel Tower, Paris
Visit the Louvre, Paris
Drink /coffee on the Champs Elysees, Paris
Visit Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
See the Arc De Triomphe, Paris
Visit Monaco
Germany
Partake in Oktoberfest, Munich
Italy
Visit the coliseum, Rome
Take a gondola ride in Venice
Visit the Amalfi Coast
Visit Vesuvius and Pompeii
Visit Vatican City
See the Sistine Chapel, Rome
Climb the Spanish Steps, Rome
Visit the Pantheon, Rome
See the leaning tower of Pisa
See the Trevi Fountain, Rome
Spain
Visit the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
See La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
Visit the Catalan National Art Museum & Museu Picasso, Barcelona
Eat at El Cellar de Can Rocha, Girona
Eat at Mugaritz, San Sebastian
Eat at Arzak, San Sebastian
Portugal
Eat real traditional piri-piri chicken (done)
Belgium
Visit Mary Chocolatier, Brussels
Switzerland
Have a skiing/snowboarding holiday in a log cabin
Attend the Winter Alpine Balloon Festival
Norway
See the Northern Lights in Tromso
Visit the North Pole
See the Geirangerfjord, Oye
Visit the Noth Cape, Bergen
Sweden
Stay a night at the Ice Hotel, Jukkasjarvi
Visit the Stockholm Archipelago
Visit the Vasamuseet, Stickholm
Eat at Frantzen/Lindeberg, Stockholm
Greece
Visit Santorini (done)
Visit the Accropolis, Athens
Breathe the air atop mount Olympus
Visit Rhodes
Egypt
See the great pyramids of Giza, Cairo
Visit the bazaars of Khan El-Khalili, Cairo
Visit the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Cairo
Snorkel/dive in the Red Sea, Sinai
Take a Nile Cruise
Morocco
Eat at Riad Yakout, Marakech
Visit the Sahara Desert
Seychelles
Visit Ste. Anne Marine National Park
See Aldabra Island
Dubai
Visit the Gold Souk
Visit the Burj Al Arab (the big sail hotel)
Ascend the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on Earth
Kenya
Climb Kilimanjaro
Take a hot air balloon ride over the Masai Mara
Visit the wildlife reserve, Isiolo
China
See the Great Wall
Visit the Forbidden /City, Beijing
Drink real tea in Hong Kong
See Victoria Harboutr, Hong Kong
Visit Lhasa, Tibet
Visit Mount Kailas, Tibet
Japan
Attend the Sapporo Snow Festival
Climb Mount Fuji, Shizuoka
See the Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo
Eat sushi at a street stall in Tokyo
India
Take a ride on an Elephant
Visit the Taj Mahal, Agra
Visit the Golden Temple, Amritsar
Thailand
Experience Bangkok
Visit Phangnga Bay
Visit Phuket
Australia
Visit Ayers Rock, Northern Territories
Visit the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor, Sydney
Swim/snorkel/dive on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland
Visit Fraser Island, Queensland
Visit Lizard Island, Queensland
Ride the Great Ocean Road, Victoria
French Polynesia
Stay a night in Bora Bora
Take in the surrounding atolls of Rangiroa
Visit the Society Islands
North America
Ascend the sears Tower in Chicago (done)
Visit the original Hard Rock cafe in Chicago (done)
Hail a cab in a big American city (done)
Bungee into the Grand Canyon, Arizona
Visit Yellowstone Park, Wyoming
Ride the Pacific Highway, California
Visit Death Valley National Park, California
Visit Los Angeles, California
Stake a bet in Las Vegas, Nevada
Visit Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Visit the Everglades, Florida
Take an eating challenge in Texas
Stroll down South Beach, Miami
Go back to Iowa and visit old friends
Ride Route 66
Visit Roswell, New Mexico
Attend the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, New Mexico
Spend Christmas and New Year in New York
Visit the Natural History Museum, New York
Stroll through Central Park, New York
Ascend the Empire State Building
Visit the site of 9/11 and the memorial
Visit the Rockerfella Center at Christmas, New York
Visit Times Square, New York
Visit Grand Central station, New York
Attend an NBA game
Attend a Major League Baseball game
Attend an NFL game
Have breakfast at Tiffany's, New York
Visit San Francisco, California
Go dog sledding in Alaska
See Niagara Falls, New York
Eat at Per Se, New York
Visit Chichen Itza, Mexico
Visit Acapulco Bay, Mexico
South America
Visit Machu Picchu, Peru
See the Nazca Lines, Peru
Visit Angel Falls, Venezuala
See the Amazon basin, Peru/Brasil
Visit the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Visit Easter Island, Chile
Attend the carnival in Rio, Brasil
Visit Antigua, Guatemala
See the barrier reef in Belize
General To-Do's
Go Jetskiing (done)
Go Parasailing (done)
Take a Microlite flight (done)
Take a hot air balloon flight (done)
Sky dive (done)
Learn to juggle (done)
Learn to ride a motorcycle (done)
Have something I wrote published (done)
Represent the country at something in competition (done)
Fire a real gun (done)
Be mentioned by name in a local newspaper (done)
Own my own motorcycle (done)
Learn to Ski/Snowboard
Learn to Drive
Own a Harley Davidson
Be responsible for ticking an entry off someone else's bucket list
Go Canyoning
Go cliff jumping
Swim with Dolphins
Learn to scuba dive
Own my own home
Get married
Have children
Move to a small village in the countryside
Well, that's it for now. No doubt I'll be dropping back to update the list regularly as I see or hear of more places that capture my imagination, and discover more things that I long to attempt!
