Things to Do, Places to See & Events to Attend Before I Die

So, despite the fact that I have recently been devising and confirming my summer plans, which, I am pleased to report, should keep me sufficiently busy, I have still been feeling slightly bored and a bit on the wistful side recently (maybe because I have been reading so much fiction lately- I always read a lot, but the last couple of months I have been reading A LOT). I find I always feel better when I have something to look forward to. For me, that something typically needs to be a trip or a death defying act to suitably subdue me for any decent amount of time. I have therefore concocted the below list of thing that I wish to do, places I wish to see, and events I wish to attend while there is life still in me. (Okay, so perhaps the fact that I just turned 28 may have prompted this. A bit.) After you see this list you may deem me fairly ambitious or possibly even unrealistic, but I say, it never hurt a girl to have a few aspirations. This list isn't of the practical, day-to-day, New Year's Resolution variety (get in shape, own a home, have babies, blah blah blah...), this is my just-for-the-fun-of-it, travel/adventure, obscure goal list.

TO DO:

-Tour the Holy Land (including a visit to Petra and a dip in the Red Sea)

-Take a Greece/Turkey Trip (I may need a full month for this one. So many ruins & islands, so much culture & history, such a lot of all around amazingness to behold)

-Go to Bora Bora, French Polynesia (Honeymoon?)
-Visit Angel Falls in Venezuela ('Paradise Falls' in the movie 'Up' were based off these)
-Visit the fjords in Norway during the Midnight Sun

-Visit Prince Edward Island to fullfill my Anne of Green Gables Childhood Fantasies (perhaps combine this with a Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket trip? While there, scout for a plot of land to retire as a dog lady)
-Travel a section of the Silk Road (The whole thing is ginormous and would take forever, but it would be fun to caravan a section as part of another trip or two)

-Hike to Machu Picchu, Peru

-Hike Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

-Go Kayaking in New Zealand

-Do the Canopy Tour Zip-Line, Costa Rica (I did a pretty great zip-line in South Africa, but this is the big original one and is supposed to be gorgeous- apparently there is now a bigger one in New Zealand, so maybe I will just do that?)

-Drive at Maximum Speed on the Autobahnen, Germany

-Raft/Hike Through the Grand Canyon

-Walk the Great Wall of China

-Participate in an Anthropological Dig (I still secretly want to be an archaeologist, but I want to be the one crawling through tunnels, not doing paperwork. Blast you Indiana Jones and Amelia Peabody! I didn't mean that. I love you.)

-Purchase a Hand-Painted Dish Set in San Gimignano, Italy (in person)

-Gondola Ride in Venice (Been to Venice, didn't want to ride, uncoupled as I was. What a waste of romance THAT would have been)

-Go Down in a Shark Cage

-Dive the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

-Go On a Real Submarine Ride

-Swim with Dolphins (I did at a hotel once, but I mean NOT in captivity)

-Go on a Hot Air Balloon Ride (I've been up in one anchored to the ground)

-Get up the Guts and Try Out for a Show (I get queasy just thinking about it)

-Attend an Opera at the Paris Opera House (been in the building but not to a performance)

-Attend an Opera at the Sydney Opera House

-Go Hang Gliding, Paragliding

-Take Lessons: Fencing, Martial Arts or Ballroom Dancing (I took Karate for like 2 months when I was 8 or 9; Doesn't count. I have no skills. Not even nunchuck skills.)

-Sleep in a Tent On a Branch of a Giant Redwood Tree or Hooked to Ropes Along a Cliff Face (Yes, you read that right- might sound crazy but I have seen both in articles in National Geographic. Both are probably better left to the hard core professionals, but, meh)

-Live on the East Coast for a While (NY, Boston, DC…)
-Stay a Night in the Cinderella Suite in Disneyland 

-Read 1,000 novels (I'm currently in the 350's (when I remember them I add them to my Goodreads list to keep track), though I am sure there are some I am forgetting- and I am not counting books like 'Clifford the Big Red Dog' or 'The Berenstain Bears,' (I'm a Belle, not a Gaston) I mean full-length novels
-Learn Italian (even though I know Spanish would be more practical and I know its a travesty that I don't already have a second language)

-Write/Publish Something Truly Timeless & Beautiful (Article? Novel? Memoir? Obituary?)

*The Below 3 Could be Done Simultaneously:

-Stay in the Ice Hotel in Sweden (December-April)

-See the Aurora Borealis, (If via Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, November-April)

-Ride on a Dog Sled

-Attend a Formal Ball/Gala (Political?)

-Attend The Oscars and/or the Cannes Film Festival Once My Brother Parker is a Big, Famous Writer/Director (Alright, so this one requires more effort from him, but I am sure I will still have to put some work in (pleading, groveling, guilt-tripping, blackmailing...) to be his date ;)

-Attend Summer Olympic Festivities

-Be in Boston (or Chicago. Or Ireland, for that matter) for St. Patrick's Day

-Visit DC (and/or East Asia) while the Cherry Blossoms are in Bloom

-Attend a Major Sporting Event (Super Bowl, Wimbledon, a Soccer World Cup...)

-Attend the Kentucky Derby & Wear a Big Hat (May)

-Attend Comic-Con in San Diego, California (July)

-Attend Bonneville Salt Flat Races, near Salt Lake City, Utah (September)

-Attend Marti Gras, New Orleans, Louisiana (February-March)

-Attend the International Kite Festival in Adelaide, Australia (March)

-Attend Carnival in Venice, Italy (February)

-Attend a Palio Race in Siena, Italy (July & August)
- Attend the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain

-Find a Way to Survive After LOST Has Ended (I'm not kidding)

-Join the Mile High Club (Haha! I AM kidding! (PS, Mom, I'll explain it to you later))

The following list is items that I have already had the pleasure of doing, but would have been on the To-Do list otherwise. Basically my checked-off section of the list. I hope I don't sound braggy, believe me, I know perfectly well how lucky and blessed I am to have been able to do all of these things by the age of, ahem, 28, and I don't have any idea how they all came to pass or how I will fund all of the above items. I basically wrote this section to make myself feel better about the long way I have to go to accomplish the above section. If anything, you should pity me for having no personal life and compensating by aiming for outrageous things like these.

DONE:

-Live Abroad: Zimbabwe

-Get Scuba Certified

-Go Bungee Jumping: Victoria Falls (over the Zambezi River, the border between Zimbabwe & Zambia)

-Raft the Zambezi River (saw a dead floating hippo and a couple of live crocodiles. Just little ones ;)

-Ride an Elephant: Zimbabwe

-Go on an African Safari: Kenya

-Go Sky Diving: Oahu, Hawaii

-Go Parasailing: On an Eastern Caribbean Cruise

-Tour Italy, from Lake Como down to Sicily

-See 'The Last Supper' in Milan, Italy

-See 'The David,' in Florence, Italy

-Go to Monte Carlo, Monaco and See Grace Kelly's Tomb

-Go to Angkor Wat in Cambodia

-Rock Climb in Krabi, Thailand

-Visit Stonehenge

-Visit Egypt: Rode a Camel, Saw Old Cairo, Giza, Philae & Karnak, Bought Lotus Flower Perfume and a Papyrus Painting, Sailed the Nile (it was a brief and beautiful week, and there is so much more I would love to go back and see)

-Join a Cause: Tsunami Relief in Thailand

-Go Deep Sea Fishing: Caught a 30 lb Halibut Off the Coast of British Columbia

-Take a True Sailing Trip (where you live on the boat): Belize

-Ride in a Helicopter: Hawaii, Big Island

-Sleep in a Bunk on an Overnight Train ((between Mombasa & Nairobi, Kenya)

-See the Penguins in Cape Town, South Africa

-Visit a Renaissance Fair: Boise, Idaho

-Hike Goblin Valley, Arches, Canyonlands & Zions National/State Parks, Southern Utah

-Attend the Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah (seeing movies, not just strolling)

-Attend Winter Olympics Festivities, Salt Lake City 2002 (By accident because I happened to be at College there at the time, but I'm counting it)

-Attend a Wedding in Las Vegas, Nevada (Thanks Tawns!)

-Bike the Haleakala Volcano, Maui, Hawaii (The Sunrise Tour)

-Become a Season Ticket Holder of Something (This year for the first time, Hale Center Theatre)

-Go to Disney Land and Disney World

-Cut Down Our Own Christmas Tree

-Drive Across the United States (Okay, so we didn't go ALL the way, but from Raleigh, North Carolina to Boise, Idaho is pretty good, so I'm counting it since I have been the rest of the way on separate occasions ;)

-Become a Pirate (Okay, it may just be my Halloween default, but in my head its real. I would have been an awesome pirate. I have the Captain Jack Sparrow hat to prove it.)

By City:

New York: Go to an Original Broadway Cast Production, New York City (I have done this on more than one occasion as it is a bit of an obsession of mine); Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Metropolitan Museum, American History Museum, Walk the Entirety of Central Park, Eat in China Town, Eat in Little Italy, Dance on the Giant Floor Keyboard at FAO Schwartz, View the Rockafeller Center Christmas Tree and the Windows on Fifth Avenue at Christmas, Watch the Ball Drop in Times Square, Hail a Cab, Eat at Serendipity

London: Go to a Show in The West End (London's equivalent of Broadway); British Museum, Tower of London; Ride a Double Decker Bus; Make a Call in a Red Phone Booth (er, took a pic pretending to make a call, but whatev); Buckingham Palace; Globe Theatre; Tate Museum; Millenium Bridge

Paris: Ride Up the Eiffel Tower; Climp up Notre Dame Cathedral; Go Down Into the Catacombs; See the 'Mona Lisa' at the Louvre; Devour Crepes Galore

Rome: Tour the Vatican; See the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel; Toss a coin into the Trevi Fountain; Stick My Hand in the Mouth of Truth; Stand on the Spanish Steps; See the Colosseum and the Roman Forum; Devour Gelato Galore

I am sure that I am leaving some things out, possibly in both sections of the list, and I'm also quite certain that I will be coming back and adding things periodically. Can anyone think of other things that I have mentioned or that I am forgetting? Any suggestions for knocking some of these off the list? Anyone want to tag along?