If you are a regular reader, you know that I’m a compulsive list-maker. I can’t take action on anything without a clear plan.
And this list? It’s the most important one of my life. It’s existed in various incarnations since I was 12 years old. This specific one I compiled at my biggest “Holy shit, time is flying and I need to make the most of it!” moment in 2013, around the time I started this blog.
I regularly add to it, and I look at it every time I need a kick in the ass to start taking action. It reminds me there is still so much to do and see in this world, and I can’t allow myself to become complacent or comfortable.
UPDATES 5/5/19: Crossed off the things I did in 2018, which was more than I thought I’d done but not nearly as much as I wish I had!
Non-Location Specific
- Sky Dive
- Bungee jump over water
- Run a marathon
- Swim with a humpback whale
- Surf a wave on my own
- Stay in an ashram for 2 weeks.
- For at least 2 weeks, stay with a family in a remote village somewhere in the world where no speaks English.
- Visit all 7 continents. (have been to 4 of the 7)
- See all 7 wonders of the world. (seen 3 so far)
- Become fluent in Spanish.
- Learn to speak a third language.
- Stay in an underwater hotel room.
- Go skiing or snowboarding
- Go on a backpacking trip at least 7 days/6 nights long.
- Learn how to rock climb
- Take a backcountry skills course
- Take a Krav Maga course
- Learn to mountain climb
- See the Northern Lights
Live on a tropical island paradise for at least 1 month(Fiji in May/June of 2016)- Ride a dog sled
- Learn how to sail a boat
- Learn to scuba dive (October 2014 in Utila)
Get my PADI Advanced Open Water scuba certification(Playa del Carmen October 2015)- Become a dive master
- Stay in a treehouse (April 2014 in Thailand)
- Spend 6 full months abroad
Ride in a hot air ballloon(February 2016 in Myanmar)- Go zorbing
- Attend a World Cup match where the US is playing
- Attend an Olympic event in which the US is competing
- Attend a game at every NFL stadium in America
- Go to the Superbowl
- Visit all 50 States
- Visit over 100 countries
- Work on an organic farm in exchange for free room & board
- House sit for at least a week in a gorgeous location
- Write a book
- Go to a music festival abroad
- Learn how to kite surf
- Bathe an elephant (April 2014 in Laos)
Go paragliding(December 2015 in Guatemala)- Go hangliding
- Finish an adventure race that is 3 days long or more.
- Go blo-karting.
- Learn a cultural dance in a foreign country and perform it!
- Learn a musical instrument (enough to play a song that I really like perfectly)
- Spend 72 hours alone in the wilderness
- Bike across an entire country.
Ride a jet ski(Lake of the Ozarks 2018)- Try wakeboarding
- Milk a cow
- See bioluminescent water (and paddle/SUP/boat through it).
- Go windwalking.
- Sleep in an igloo.
Ride in a helicopter.(March 2017 in Charleston, SC)
Diving Want-to-Sees
- Whale Shark
- Great Whites (from a cage!)
- Mola Mola
- Manta Ray
- Hammerhead
Bull shark(May 2016 in Pacific Harbour, Fiji)- See 10 turtles on one dive
Dive in a cenote(October 2015 in Playa del Carmen)- Go diving for treasure
- Thresher Sharks
- Dolphins
Asia
- Visit Angkor Wat (May 2014)
- Learn to make Sushi in Japan
- Go nightclubbing at neon Japanese nightclubs in Tokyo
- Climb Mount Fuji in Japan
- See the Xi’an warriors in China
- Go to the Philippines and see the Banuae rice fields
- See at least 5 beautiful islands in Philippines
- Visit Tibet
- Yangtze river cruise
Let go of a floating lantern in Thailand(New Years 2015-2016 in Koh Lanta)- See Mount Everest (March 2014)
Bike around all the temples in Bagan, Burma(February 2016)- Lounge on the beach in Phuket, Thailand (May 2014)
- Cycle down the coast of Vietnam
- Explore Hang Son Doong cave in Quang Binh Province, Vietnam
- Scuba dive on the underwater city of Shi Cheng in China
- Dive in Raja Ampat in Indonesia
- Do a week of daily yoga classes in Bali
- Climb Mount Kinabalu
- Dive in Sipidan Island, Malaysia
- Get lost in the jungles of Borneo (and see an orangutang)
- Hike the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal
- Climb Island Peak in Nepal
- Visit Chitwan Park in Nepal
- Visit Phraya Nakhon Cave in Thailand
Visit the Taj Mahal at sunrise or sunset in India(did both! March 2016)Take an Indian cooking class(March 2016 in Udaipur)- Take a Thai cooking class (April 2014 in Chiang Mai)
- Do the Rickshaw Run in India
Attend Holi in India(March 2016 in Jaipur)Learn about Hinduism in Varanasi(March 2016)- Do yoga in Rishikesh
- Attend the Kumbh Mela in India (world’s largest spiritual festival)
- Attend an Indian wedding in India
- Ride the Trans-Siberian Railway
- Horse trek in Mongolia
- Visit Bibi-Khanym Mosque in Samarkand, Uzbekistan
- Visit the Door to Hell in Turkmenistan
- Visit the Maldives
- Climb to the Tiger’s Nest in Bhutan
- Hike in the Rainbow Mountains in China
Europe
- Hike the Tour du Mont Blanc
- Hike the Grande Randonnée Cinq (GR 5)
- Dive in Green Lake (Grüner See) in Tragöss, Austria
- Explore the Craco ghost medieval village in Italy
- Hike the Haute Route
Hike the Cinqueterre in Italy(April 2018)- Swim in the blue grotto in Capri
- Visit Pompeii
- Visit Auschwitz in Poland
- Take an Italian cooking class in Italy
- Kayak the Amalfi Coast
- Kayak the Dalmation Coast, Croatia
- See the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia
- Visit Lake Bled in Slovenia
- Kayak in Bohuslän archipelago in Sweden
- Go reindeer sledding in Sweden
- Oktoberfest in Germany
- Cycle the castle trail in Germany
- Visit the Christmas markets in Cologne, Germany
- Attend La Tomatino festival in Valencia, Spain
- Visit Alcazar of Segovia in Spain
- Visit St. Petersburg and go on a vodka tour
- Celebrate Hogmonay in Scotland
- Hike the West Highland Way in Scotland
- Hike across England
- Lock myself in a cabin and write for one week in the English Lake District
Party in Amsterdam(October 2016)- Go to Transylvania and sleep in a creepy castle
Visit Meteora, Greece(April 2018)- Track Polar Bears in Svalbard
- Kayak in the Fjords in Norway
- Stand on the Troll’s Tongue in Norway (and try not freak out)
- Hike the Karhunkierros (week long hike) in Oulangan Kansallispuisto park in Finland.
- Hike and bike all the way around Iceland
- Dive between techtonic plates in Silfra, Iceland.
- Do a cheese tour in France
- Bike the Route de Cidre in Normandy
- See the famous horse races in Siena
- Go Hang-Gliding in Interlaken, Switzerland
- Verzasca Dam Bungee Jump, Switzerland
- Visit Blagaj in Boznia and Herzegovina
- Visit Procida, Italy
- Visit the Popeye Village in Malta
- Rave in Ibiza
Central America & Caribbean
See the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza and Tikal(Chichen in October 2015, Tikal in November 2015)Dive the Blue Hole in Belize(November 2015)- Hike to a volcano in Costa Rica
- 160. Hike the Uran Chirripo Loop in Costa Rica.
- Go diving at the Islas de Coco from Costa Rica (liveaboard necessary!)
Attend Day of the Dead in Mexico(October 2015)- Visit Ometepe, Nicaragua
- Go volcano boarding in Nicaragua
- Spend 2 weeks in Bocas del Toro
- Sail between island countries in the Caribbean (on an actual sail boat, not a cruise ship)
Spend one week drinking rum every day in the Caribbean and lounging on a beach. (AKA be a pirate for a week)(Royal Caribbean cruise October 2017)Listen to St. Lucia on St. Lucia (October 2017)- Visit Cuba
- Sail the BVIs
South America
- Trek the Inca Trail to see Machu Picchu at sunrise.
- Trek the Torres del Paine W circuit.
- See the Perito Moreno Glacier
- Hike in the Monte Fitz Roy region in Argentina
- Visit the Atacama Desert in Chile
- Check out the street art in Valaparaiso, Chile
- Learn to Tango in Buenos Aires
- Take a wine tour in Mendoza
- Do a boat tour down the Amazon
- Hike the Cordillera Real near Huaraz, Peru
- Attend a San Pedro or Ayuhuasca Ceremony in Peru
- Visit Rio and complete a hike to the top of the Christ the Redeemer statue.
- Visit Lençóis Maranhenses, Brazil
- Hike to Roraima in Venezuela
- Visit the Galapagos
- Go diving at Darwin and Wolf in the Galapagos
- Visit the Salt Flats in Bolivia
- Attend Carnival in Rio
- Visit Lake Titicaca
- Visit Colombia (Cartagena & Medellin)
Antarctica
- Go kite skiing in Antarctica
- Visit a penguin colony on South Georgia Island
Oceania
- Volunteer in Tonga (my step-father is Tongan and I grew up around this culture, and I’ve always dreamed of visiting)
- Diving with humpback whales in Tonga
Visit Fiji(worked there for 2 months in April-June 2016)- Stay in a cabana/hut over the water in Bora Bora.
- Scuba Dive in Palau
- Snorkel in the jellyfish lake in Palau
- Hike and camp in the outback in Australia
- Visit New Zealand and spend a month doing all things active and adventurous!
- Visit “Middle Earth” in New Zealand: Mount Sunday, Mount Aspiring National Park, Matamata, Glenorchy
- Heli-hike in Franz Josef New Zealand
- Visit the Waitomo Caves and see the Glowworm Grotto
- Hike the Tongariro Crossing in NZ
- Get on a boat out into Milford Sound
- Visit Papua New Guinea and see a remote village
- Scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef
- Climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge
- Rent a camper van in Perth and drive up the coast of Western Australia, visiting all the gorgeous beaches there.
- Dive on Ningaloo Reef
Africa
Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro(October 2016)- Volunteer in marine/wildlife conservation in Madagascar
- Walking safari in Zambia
- Volunteer in an orphanage (at least 6 months)
- Volunteer in a school for young women.
Go on a camel safari in Morocco.(March 2018)Visit the blue city of Chefchaouen, Morocco.(March 2018)- Visit Timbuktu, Mali
- Visit Zanzibar
- Climb Table Mountain in South Africa
- Tour Ethiopia
- Go Gorilla tracking in Rwanda or Uganda.
- Bungee Jump at Victoria Falls
- See the Great Whites in Cape Town
- Visit Mauritius – the furthest place on earth from Bedford, Texas (my home town)
- Visit the skeleton coast in Namibia
- Climb Konigstein (King’s Stone) mountin in Namibia
US & Canada
- Sea Kayak with Killer Whales in the Pacific Northwest
- Climb Mt. Whitney
- Go on a multi-day backpacking trip in Yosemite
- Go fishing in a remote part of Yellowstone
- Visit Acadia National Park in Maine
- Thru-hike the PCT
- Visit Whistler, Canada
- Hike and camp in Denali National Park
- Complete the Seven Sisters Hike in Oregon
- Hike the Wonderland Loop in Washington
- Hike the Grand Loop in the Rocky Mountains
- Visit villages in Nova Scotia with beautiful lighthouses
- Kayak around the Channel Islands
- Kayak in Prince William Sound, Alaska
- Fly in a seaplane in Alaska
- Attend Mardi Gras in New Orleans
- Visit Big Sur
- Visit Zion, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks in Utah. (Visited Arches in 2018)
- Attend Burning Man
- Float the entire Grand Canyon
- Hike the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim
- Hike and Camp in Jasper and Banff National Parks in Canada
- Climb Half Dome in Yosemite
- Night dive with manta rays in Kona, Hawaii
Middle East
- Visit Petra in Jordan
- Camel safari in Wadi Rum desert
- Float in the dead sea
- See the Dome of the Rock in Israel
- Go diving in the Red Sea
- Visit the great pyramids and Luxor/Aswan in Egypt.
- Visit Istanbul, Turkey.
- Visit the hot springs on terraces in Pamukkale, Turkey
- Ride in a hot air balloon in Cappadocia.
5 Comments
[…] The Life List […]
Having read the thing to the end i now understand why you plan your list over 50 years lol. I didn’t see Tunisia on your list, it’s a fantastic country that you can tour in 1 week, it’s very small it yet it has a great variety of landscapes (beach, mountains, desert, oasis, salt flats…) and a rich culture. Think about it for your next list
Ha! Yes it’s definitely a very ambitious list, but I’m excited by the challenge.
I just came across your blog and I love your list. What amazing goals! We’re in the Netherlands now so if you find yourself conquering Europe in the next four years and need a place to rest your head, I’d be more than happy to open our home to you!
Tara, thanks so much for your kind words! I will definitely look you up if I head to the Netherlands. I’m dying to go there because of all the great Dutch travelers I’ve met. Sounds like a great place!