BUCKET LIST

Ireland “To Do” List:

1. Find a flat where I don’t end up sharing with a pack of weirdos
2. Find a career job that has me saying, “recession, what recession!”
3. Live in the Guinness Storehouse or close enough that it feels like I’m inside (not my idea but a friend’s dream and it’s been repeated to me often enough that it somehow belongs here)
4. Meet and marry a prince just so my buddy has a posh castle to stay at when he comes to visit
5. Check out the Dublin equivalent of Alcatraz – Kilmainham Gaol (maybe even learn how to pronounce it properly)
6. Do a roadtrip to Belfast and visit a friend whose love of vodka rivals my own
7. While in Belfast – visit the Titanic museum and find the most inappropriate time to scream, “I’m the king of the world!”…and do it
8. Give an impromptu tour of the Guinness Storehouse since I’ll practically be living there
9. Be a volunteer when doing the Jameson Distillery Tour and then remember what happens after that
10. Enjoy the culture and art scene in Cork
11. Get to know the city well enough to give an old Kiwi friend the St Paddy’s day of her life
12. Meet up with an old travel buddy while going through the Ring of Kerry
13. Don’t give in to the pressure of kissing the Blarney Stone…I know what locals do to it after all!
14. Make friends for life

New Zealand “To Do” List: 

1. Glacier Hike – Fox and Franz Josef. Tried but was denied due to my knee issues but went up on a helicopter but that’s about it.  Will have to try again one of these days.
2. Try the coffee in Wellington.  I’ve been told that it’s the best in the world and so I figure I’ll give it a go and then rate it myself.  Disclaimer – I’m not a coffee drinker but I figure one sip should convert me as its so highly regarded by a kiwi ex-pat!
3. Eat my way through Wellington.
4. Rugby.  Learn something about the game beyond you toss the ball behind you and there’s a position called hooker.  Worse case – I plan to just fake it and attend a handful of All Blacks games as the craziness leading up to the World Championships should make for a good time.  I also have to hunt down a baby version of an All Blacks jersey and ship it back to Canada for little Miss Anna Banana!
5. Find someone who owns a boat and a boat garage.  I don’t even know how I’m going to work this into a conversation but if I find someone then I’ll have to take a picture of the boat and boat garage and send it to the person who put this idea into my head.
6. Zorbing.  Zorbing originated in New Zealand and so it only makes sense that the first time I do it, it should be in New Zealand.
7. Eat enough meat pies to satisfy my cousin’s appetite.  I’m in for a treat as one of her nicknames is Hover…
8. Maori Culture.  I just want to learn more about it…no plans yet exactly how I plan to go about it yet so I’m open to ideas.
9. Wine.  I love wine and can’t wait to go on wine tours and visit all the wine regions in New Zealand.  As far as wine is concerned, I have to take the train to Wairarapa as its great wine country and head to Marlborough to check out the sav as I’ve been told that it’s the best in the world. 
10. Snowboarding in July.  I suck but when will I ever get the chance to do it on my birthday again.
11. Go on atleast 1 of the great walks.
12. Check out my Kiwi girlie contact’s local pub called the The Tasting Room in Wellington.
13. Attend Toast Martinborough one of these years soon.
14. Attend The Marlborough Wine Festival at some point.
15. Waiheke Island – want to check out the sandy beaches, visit some boutique wineries, and check out the Waiheke Arts Trail.
16. Check out Kelly Tariton’s Antarctic Encounter & Underwater World.
17. Stalk Jack Johnson in Raglan…after all, him and Ben Harper share a house there!
18. Go skydiving.
19. Attend Hawkes Bay 20s weekend and stroll around town in the best flapper costume ever!
20. Give the American Cup a whirl
21. Have solid plans for NYE…
22. Whitewater rafting
23. Settle into a routine in Auckland.  Start going to the gym…make friends with locals etc.
24. Go to a RWC game where Canada is playing – didn’t even know that we had a team but need to support them
25. Finding a way to handle being the “lone wolf” that doesn’t involve bursting into tears at random moments throughout the day
26. Keeping in touch with those that have mattered the most to me in New Zealand
27. Go horseback riding in Queenstown for a full day and live to tell about it.
28. Go to Great Barrier Island
29. Go to White Island

Rest of the World “To Do” List:

1. Backpack through Oz
2. Go to the Summer Olympics in London.  2012 Baby!
3. Go on a posh Cook Islands Vacation
4. Revisit Fiji
5. Get all my girls together for a whirlwind vacation somewhere in the world
6. Go to Malaysia to eat
7. Travel through Asia without my allergies getting in the way
8. Go on a sailing trip in the Whitsundays
9. Go home and explore Canada with friends that I’ve met along the way
10. Hit up Amsterdam in 2012 before all the rules change
11. Go on a safari in Africa
12. Go to Tassie in Oz
13. Check out Iceland when there’s 24 hours of daylight
14. Eat lots of pasta in Italy
15. Go on a shopping spree in Paris
16. Go to Scotland when the Fringe Festival is happening (and no, not to stalk Danny Bhoy in any shape or form!)
17. Find a way to work/travel through South America despite the fact that I’m Spanish impaired
18. Eat in Instanbul…been told that it’s the thing to do!
19. Pop in on a friend in Wales during Christmas with a mutual friend and drag her on our 2 week adventure
20. Enjoy lots of chocolate and beer on my 1st ever Belgium Birthday!
21. Go on a camel trek through the Sahara when in Morocco
22. Experience Nuit Blanche in the city it originated in (yes, I’m talking about Paris!)
23. Visit and travel in Oz when my partner in crime relocates (rumoured to be 2013/2014 at this point)
24. Take my Oz mate to see Polar Bears in Canada so I win the Bears vs Spiders argument
25. Do Ibiza in a way where there isn’t the fear of dropping dead
26. Put my Tour De Street Art into action

Personal “To Do” List:

1. Fall in love (again)
2. Figure out what I want to do with this “so-called” life
3. Deal with an awkward moment that doesn’t involve verbal diarrhea on my end
4. Volunteer with the SPCA
5. Buy a house (again)
6. Adopt a dog without becoming crazy dog lady
7. Find a way to permanently stay on the road (without #5 becoming an issue)
8. Stop letting the internal dialogue in my head take over during interviews
9. Find a job that I love
10. Learn to play the ukulele
11. Learn to cope with my broken filter so I stop making random serial killer comparisons…

If you have a suggest of a must do?  Send me your suggestions to help me fill out this list!