30 before 30

It’s November. Halloween has been and gone, the shops are plastered from wall to wall, floor to ceiling with all things Christmas, and this month, it’s my birthday. If I’m honest, I didn’t accept my 21st birthday very well, or my 22nd, and certainly not my 25th. This year, I am once again face with a slight feeling of getting older with nothing to show for it, so, this year, I am going to try and make it my mission to change that. So, I decided to make a motivational list of things that I want to do between now and my next milestone birthday. Here’s my 30 before 30 list:

1. Visit/Do 10 new places/things in Liverpool
   • I am super lucky that I live in a city that I love, a city with a rich history, and a city with lots of things to do. I’ve lived here (almost) all of my life, and there is so much that I have never done, and even more that I don’t know I haven’t done. I want to visit new places and do new things in my own city, and experience a little more of what it has to offer.
2. Visit 5 new places in the UK
   • I’ve barely seen much of what the UK has to offer, and would like to see some of the finer places I’ve not visited. There are cities like Edinburgh and Oxford, stately homes like Chatworth and Hampton Court, castles, national parks, and countless more places I’d like to go to.
3. Visit 5 new places in Europe
   • OK, so I know that the UK is in Europe, so I’m qualifying this by saying outside of the UK. I’ve not visited most of what Europe has to offer. I want to see Ireland, and more of Italy. I want to visit Scandanavia, and Russia, and just see more of the countries on our doorstep.
4. Visit South America
   • My parents are going to visit South America next year, and I’m not going to lie, I am super jealous as I want to go to South America more than anywhere in the world. Peru is at the top of my list, but I also want to go to Brazil, Iguassu Falls, Argentina to name a few. I plan to make this my next big trip, at some point before I turn 30.
5. Take a well known road trip
   • I’ve driven in some great places, and I enjoy the thrill of driving and seeing new things, so why not combine the two? I would really like to drive one of the great driving routes, like Big Sur, or the Garden Route, or along Route 66, and complete a great road trip.
6. Take a well known train ride
   • I’ve also taken trains all over the place, in almost everything continent, for a multitude of reasons, but never really for the enjoyment of the actual train journey. I like trains, and would therefore like to ride on one of the great trains, or one of the great train routes; y’know, like The Orient Express or The Flying Scotsman or the Trans Siberian Railway.
7. Visit an active volcano
   • The Geographer in me has dictated any of the places that I have been before. I have visited volcanoes in both New Zealand and Iceland, but they’ve never been active when I have been to see them. I’d like to see the craters, and see the lava flows, and experience the raw power of an active volcano.
8. Fly first class
   • I am super lucky that I have experienced flying long haul in business class. I love to travel, I work in the travel industry, and have seen and heard all about flying in first class, but never experienced it myself. I’d like to be able to sit in a first class seat for a flight myself.
9. Lose a 3rd of my bodyweight before my 30th birthday
   • I think it’s no secret that I am overweight and could do with shifting some weight. I have set myself on the right path with Fat Friday, but I have a long way to go. I want a long term goal, a date in my mind to have as the end point and the finish line, and that is going to be my 30th birthday. Latest.
10. Complete couch to 5K
    • Fat Friday is a post thread that keeps me accountable for my weight loss and fitness journey. I really want to try and get fit as much as I want to try and lose weight, and want to be able to run properly, for a proper distance. Couch to 5k is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and do properly.
11. Run a 5k or 10k race
    • I’ve done Santa Dashes and cross country races in the past, and every time I have had to walk for a considerable portion because I am not a good runner and I am too big to run the distance. I want to put that to bed and actually take part and run the whole way around a 5k or 10k race.
12. Do an open water swim
    • I love swimming. I love swimming in the pool. I love swimming in the sea. I love swimming in a lake. I just love being in the water. There are lots of charity based open water swims in the UK, and one year, I’d really like to take part and complete one, and actually use the thing I love for some good.
13. Do a triathlon
    • I don’t really know why I look at a triathlon as something that I’d really want to do, because the bit I like is at the beginning and is the shortest element involved. I just love the idea of being able to complete a triathlon from start to finish and be able to finish all of the constituent parts.
14. Learn a ballroom dance
    • I am a big lover of watching Strictly Come Dancing, and love watching the journey of the pros teaching the celebs to dance. Every year I think how much I would like to find someone or somewhere that would teach me at least one ballroom dance, but as yet I’ve never taken it further than I thought.
15. Read a Jane Austen novel
    • A few years ago, back when I first started my blog, I read Pride and Prejudice and really didn’t appreciate or like it in any way. I am collecting word cloud editions of the classics, and would really like to give another Austen novel a go to see if I appreciate them now I am a little older and more versed in classic literature.
16. Read a Brontë novel
    • As mentioned above, I have begun to collect classics, and the Brontë sisters have written some of the better known classics in this country. I’ve never (finished) reading anything by them, but would like to try and finish a book by each of them so I can see what all of the fuss is about.
17. Read a French classic
    • I own two french classics at the moment and they are both books that I really want to read and that people have told me in the past that I would really like. I don’t read enough classics literature, especially non-English classics, so I’d like to delve into my Dumas and actually see if I like it as much as the film/TV adaptations suggest I would.
18. Read a Russian Classic
    • This is largely on here because my friend is struggling through War and Peace at the moment and I would one day like the achievement of being able to say I have completed something of that ilk. Who knows, these books my be right up my street, but if not, I will at least be able to say that they’re not for myself.
19. Host a readathon
    • I take part in quite a few readathons over the course of the year (House Cup Reading Challenge, Reading Quest, Bout of Books, Tome Topple to name a few) and I get involved with helping with Bout of Books, but never hosting. I would like to host, or help host, a twitter or blog run readathon at some point before I am 30.
20. Complete NaNoWriMo
    • I tried to complete NaNo for the first time last year, and failed spectacularly. I thought about it this year, but forgot to prep entirely, and that is a big no no when it comes to writing anything. I have lots of ideas of stories I would love to tell, and think NaNo would be the perfect aid. One year, I’ll do preptober and be able to smash NaNo and write something.
21. Save £10,000
    • We all like to have a bit of money stored a way for a rainy day. I am not bad at saving, all in all, but I don’t save efficiently if I don’t have a goal or a total in mind. I want to have a decent amount so I can travel, or get a mortgage, or be able to treat myself, and £10,000 (no including my pension input) seems like a good, if random, figure.
22. Finish knitting my patchwork blanket
    • I started knitting squares for a patchwork blanket way back before I went to university. I carried on while I was there. I carried on after I left. It’s still not even close to be done, and each time I think of a finish date, it’s a milestone further in the future. I’d like to get it finished before I turn 30.
23. Complete a piece of cross-stitch art
    • I used to love doing cross stitch, and my cousin has recently completed an amazing picture of their dog, so I would like to take that inspiration and reignite my love for cross stitch to create a book or travel inspired piece that I can eventually frame on my gallery wall in my bedroom.
24. Progress at work
    • I think we all want to do this, and as I really like the company I work for and the people I work with, I would really like to progress there. I would like to learn more things, help more people, and take on more responsibility, and stay on the path of progression that I am currently on to the end, whatever the end may be.
25. Make and master Scouse
    • My Gran used to make the best scouse in the whole world, and my Mum doesn’t make a half bad scouse either. As a born and bred Liverpudlian, I want to be able to master this local dish and be able to make when ever it takes me fancy. In the future, I’d like it to be as good as my Gran’s, but best start small and learn how to make it first, right?
26. Watch all of the best picture Oscar winners
    • By the very nature of annual awards, this list is only going to get longer and the films on there are only going to get older, so, before I find this bucket list challenge too difficult, I want to crack on with the list and say that I have watched all these recognisably reputable films.
27. Complete a 30 day challenge
    • The purpose of this is to set a challenge and do it for 30 days. In December 2017, I decided to complete the blogging challenge ‘Blogmas’ which for me was to blog everyday in December. Not only did I do it, but I enjoyed it!
28. Complete a skydive/parachute jump
    • Both skydiving and bungee jumping are on my bucket list, to be completed at some point before I die, but this one, I think I can try and get done before I turn 30. I might even be able to combine it with the next one on the list to make a big event out of it? Hmmm, the plans and decisions.
29. Do a charity event/day once a year
    • Over the years, I’ve done bits and bobs to raise money for different charities. Some things have been big, and some have been small, but one thing they have all been is good things to do. I want to make more of an effort to actively support charities I like and utilise the charity days I get at work a little more usefully.
30. Embrace my age and celebrate my 30th birthday
    • As I mentioned at the very beginning of this post, I haven’t taken some of my birthdays very well. So, the end of this post, the very last thing on here, is to feel like I have done something before I turn 30, to embrace my age, and celebrate my next milestone birthday.

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So there it is, a list of goals and motivations to drive me for the next four years. Have you made a 30 before 30 list? Do you have a bucket list of things to do?

Comment below and let me know!