Bucket Lists

You must give everything to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination. Roman Payne

Bucket list – a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.

Neither George, nor I, have bucket lists, but we are very much a part of Mum’s. It mainly involves travelling and over the last ten years, we’ve ticked off quite a few countries. We had so many plans for 2020 only to be stopped in our tracks by the pandemic lockdown. All travels were cancelled.

So we changed courses and began to look at enjoying what we have around us. Together we discovered more of London through all our staycations. And to be honest, we discovered England – places that we had not thought to visit. And this was how we discovered St. Michael’s Mount by accident.

Sometimes we make lists and sometimes we discover things we add to lists.

To creating more memories and not just dreaming about doing things.

What’s on your list?

May’s comments: I had a pre-dogs bucket list. Today, my revised list has things I’d still like to do but it also includes creating new memories with Darcy and George at places that have been special to me and where I had lived – Paris, New York, Dusseldorf, Milan. (Hong Kong is a country too far!)

Travelling is about the journey together, and to share the experiences at the destination.

Travelling with two dogs is by all means not an easy task, and sometimes when I look back at some of our adventures, I think I am a certified crazy dog lady! What was I thinking?

Like an eight-hour train journey from Amsterdam to Berlin (there was a train strike) with a newly rescued dog aka George who finally couldn’t hold and let out the longest pee onto the “magic” carpet that absorbed everything – as I looked on in horror! Thankfully we were the only ones in the compartment. LOL!

Or the journey from London to Vienna for Christmas and then a train journey from there, traversing all of Austria, Switzerland and Germany to Sylt, a remote island in the very northern part of Germany for New Year’s!

Or the convoluted train journey from London to Belgrade, Serbia.

As if that wasn’t enough, we drove all day from there to Skopje, North Macedonia and back in one day. In hindsight, it was crazy! LOL!

And there was the crazy train journey from London all the way to Bergen, Norway and onto the Hurtigruten cruise all the way up the Norwegian coastline to the very northern point, Kirkenes. That was a very big tick on my bucket list – crossing the North Pole’s 90° latitude and finally seeing the Northern Lights on Christmas Eve after the second attempt.

Crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary was made so much special with Darcy.

We had a blast – literally! But it was much more momentous than that. It was a significant day – I was leaving New York for the second time, this time, it was an end to an important chapter and I wanted to share it with Darcy.

There are other things on the bucket list besides travelling – like writing a book. I had once thought about running a marathon – yes, I did think about it. But now I can say I have walked a marathon distance! Hooray! I know my limits. And “sleeping rough” was also a bucket list experience. Tick!

There are a few more things to do with the doggies and there are others that would not be possible or dogs not allowed – and that’s ok. I just want to do as much as we can because I do not want to wait till there is a looming deadline before I tick off things on our bucket list. I am very aware that Darcy is now ten and in time to come, she may not want to or not able to make long journeys with me. There will come a time when we will be making memories together closer to home.

One day, you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now. Paulo Coelho

What is on your bucket list? How many have you ticked off?

Stop dreaming about your bucket list and start living it.