I have been meaning to compile a bucket list forever…but my one worst trait after procrastination (I am the queen of procrastinating), is indecisiveness. I cannot seem to narrow my list down.

I am blaming it on being a Gemini. How can you make a decision when these twins in my head are always coming up with alternatives? If you had to ask me what my favourite song is, something will pop in my head, like Your Song from Elton John and then immediately I will think “Oh, but what about Stuck In The Middle With You from Stealers Wheel, or Money For Nothing or Bohemian Rhapsody” and then my head gets in a spin, and something dumb like, “I don’t know” will come out.

I have many favourites! I listen to such a wide range of music, read a very wide range of books, and eat a wide range of food too! So, I guess it is no surprise that there are so many things I want to constantly add to my bucket list… I am hoping that I will live to a ripe old age to be able to fit in everything. One of the people I look up to is Kate Turkington. Kate did a tandem parasail in Mauritius last year, at the age of 77! Now, that impresses me much :-). She just came back from la Cruezette, a chateau in France, after returning from India, a houseboat on the lakes of Kashmir, followed by Mt Katchenjunga and Everest. What a way to celebrate your 78th year! I am in awe.

I think that is what I want to do when I grow up. I want to travel the world and do amazing things like that and blog my experiences. But, since I have no formal writing experience or education, I am not a journalist or photographer, I don’t think anybody will jump over hoops to sponsor these trips for me, so I will have to save up some money so I can pay my way. It is also a good motivator when I struggle to get out of bed at 5am in the morning to go for a run or walk. Who cares about whether my skinny jeans fit, if I don’t do some exercise, I will never be able to walk along the Great Wall of China when I am 70 years old!

The great wall of china panorama, stretching throughout the mountains (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So, I have started a list with a qualification…
This list is not intended to be a comprehensive list and can be amended at any time and without prior notice. (My best attempt at sounding as legal minded as possible…)

My Bucket List

• A culinary tour of Italy, just going to these little small towns and finding the ‘Best pizza in town’ or whatever the best thing in that town is…(or maybe I will ask Rick Stein, I loved the Mediterranean Odyssey series!)
• Doing a walking tour. Something like the Otter Trail along the Garden Route, although I cannot imagine my fitness levels ever allowing that. Maybe something shorter?
• Doing a hot air balloon ride over the Sossusvlei, Namibia.
• Visiting the Okavango Delta during flooding time.
• Living in a foreign country for at least a year….I used to say working in a foreign country, but maybe I should revise that to ‘living’. Ooh, preferably somewhere steeped in history, like somewhere in Europe or NYC. (The latter after they cleaned up after that Sandy chick.)
• Learning to speak French. I am not very good with languages so even just learning the basics like “Where can I find the best food in this place” should suffice (btw, I LOVE food).
• While we are onto learning, I would love to learn how to play a musical instrument. And as I bought a piano for the kids, maybe I should learn to play Chopsticks? There are even clips on YouTube showing you how to do this!
• Still on the learning thing, I would love to do an English Literature course of some sorts. This provided much amusement to some colleagues (all CAs) at work one day. They were talking about furthering their studies, doing a Masters in Accounting and that sort of stuff, when I blurbed out this one. “That sort of killed the conversation” was the response.
• Meeting Heston Blumenthal. I will watch re-runs of Heston’s feasts for days. I first saw him in A Search of Perfection and have been a fan ever since. Who says science and cooking doesn’t mix. Recently he visited Jozi and apparently hosted a charity evening at R1 500 per head. A friend said if I could get tickets, he’d pay for them….sweet, hey? Of course, by the time I found out it was much too late for that.
• And while I am onto chefs, I want to eat in one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants. (Now if he can cook for me, even better). Did I mention that I love food?
• A road trip on Route 66. Visiting all these little towns and cities along the way and meeting people who has never travelled out of their state. How cool is that?
• Visiting India, and the Taj Mahal and Delhi and Mumbai and just soaking up so many people in such a small space. And I love Indian food….
• Going to Prague. A friend of mine eloped to Prague (well, pretty much) and it just looks like the most romantic city in Europe.
• Touring Southern America, Brazil, Argentina, maybe a trip to Mayan country?
• I want to do a tandem skydive. Don’t laugh, I even googled it and got a quote. They do it in Harties and as soon as I find another person who feel brave enough to join me, I am gonna do it!
• And of course going to China…and see the Great Wall of China, hopefully before I am 70!

And this is where the problem comes in…this is already quite a list and now my mind is running away with me thinking of all the fantastic places I still want to see and visit and things I want to do…

Let me go and eat some salad leaves, will have to eat healthy to live long enough to do everything!

What is at the top of your bucket list?

A few hours later….I am really clueless and don’t know how to get my Facebook comments onto WordPress, but thought I would add that since I published this post I have found out that 3 friends would also like to go skydiving….so watch this space!!