I love bucket lists. I’m always looking for new things to add to mine or opportunities to cross something off the list. The number one item on my bucket list is to travel to as many countries as possible. I want to set foot on every single continent. In fact, I’ve already decided on my next trip. I want to go on a guided kayak tour around Antarctica. I’ve looked into it and found several organizations that go. That trip may be years down the road considering I am in tons of debt from grad school loans, I don’t have a job, and the trip is not cheap… But I will get there one day! Who knows, maybe we will get re-routed. Whales need Jesus too, right?!
Anyway, this mission trip is helping me cross off my number one item. I don’t want to travel as a tourist though. I want to travel as someone who is living the lives of people all around the world. I want to experience their way of life, eat their foods, wear the clothes they wear, live how they live. Fully immerse myself in every culture that I possibly can so I can have a better appreciation for all walks of life. While the sole purpose of the World Race is not to fill your passport with as many stamps as you can, it is still awesome to travel to 11 countries. God has found a way to combine my love of travel with helping people and spreading his word. I’d say that’s a win-win situation.
I’ve decided that the World Race is the perfect opportunity to create a new bucket list. This is a bucket list for the travel item on my already existing bucket list. A bucket list within a bucket list. Throughout the trip I will be crossing off as many items as I can. I’m sure I’ll be adding plenty of new items as we go along too. I am recruiting anyone on my team and/or squad that wants to join me. I thought this would be something fun we could do together to lighten those moments on the field that are tough, something that could help us push through, and something to bring us even closer together.
Some of the items are fun, some are for the adrenaline junkie in me, and some go hand in hand with the mission of the World Race. Some of them will be guaranteed to be crossed off while others may not be if the opportunity never arises.
Here’s my list:
1. Watch the sunrise and sunset in the same day in each country.
Haiti- check
2. Try the local cuisine in each country. (Even if that means eating a tarantula.)
3. Learn as much of the language in each country as possible.
4. Go bungee jumping. (I’m thinking Victoria Falls between Zambia and Zimbabwe!)
5. Go ziplining.
6. Get a patch from each country and sew them on my pack. (And by sew on my pack I mean have my mom sew them on my pack. I don’t even know how to turn on a sewing machine. Can you even use a sewing machine for that or do you have to do it by hand??)
7. Go on a safari.
8. Find a Bible verse that perfectly fits my experience in each country.
Haiti- Jeremiah 29:11
9. Run one mile for whatever month I’m in. (1 mile in month 1, 2 miles in month 2, etc.- all at one time)
Haiti- farthest distance: 3.5 miles
10. Have a feature story on my blog for each month. (This could be telling the complete story of one person, a group of people, the entire community, or a cause worth fighting for.)
Haiti- Mwen Kapab
11. Swim in every body of water.
12. Learn to play guitar. (Anyone bringing one??)
Learned a few chords in Haiti
13. Go surfing (maybe somewhere in South America?)
14. Go scuba diving
15. Add a bead from every country to my dreads
Haiti- orange bead
16. Picture of a handstand in every country
Haiti- at the beach
Each picture, blog post, facebook status update, or anything else that has to do with my bucket list will have the hashtag #livetheadventure. I want to come back next August knowing that I took chances and without having regrets that I didn’t try something. I want to come back knowing that I didn’t just go on this adventure of a lifetime but that I really lived the adventure.
Feel free to help me add to my list! I’m open to any and all suggestions. I can’t wait to start crossing some of these off the list and to watch it grow. Keep checking back as I travel to see how it’s coming!
