After deciding my new life approach, I got around to the hard part… Deciding what I actually wanted to put on MY list. It’s very easy to put things on that you think you ‘should’ want to do, or things that other’s perceive as important, and why not I guess? However, I wanted my list to really be a true reflection of the things that I wanted to do. I got married and had my first child far too young with hindsight. I was 20 when I got married, and just 21 when I had my son-I was still at university… I still remember breaking the news of my pregnancy to my father, terrified of his reaction to an unplanned pregnancy.
Actually the folks were pretty cool, considering. My step-father had no particular opinion to share, my Mum accepted it and wanted to support me, though I think she was sad, and my biological father told me that ‘as long as I graduated, with at least a 2:1, then it was ok with him (anything less, he told me, was just not worth having). Well, that stayed with me, and I did get a 2:1 with honours! So there.
The marriage didn’t last of course, I think even I knew it was doomed from the start to be honest. I have no idea why I married him. Still, I have 2 beautiful sons, and some worthwhile lessons that shaped me as a person as a result… I did though, miss out on a lot of the wonderful experiences and travel opportunities that my peers had after they graduated. I was too busy working and paying for mortgages and was weighed down with responsibility.
A part of me does regret it, but at the same time, I was lucky to get on the property ladder at a time when it was still relatively affordable to do so, and I having children young does have it’s benefits. I did of course meet a lovely new man, who I am still very much in love with and who gave me a beautiful daughter. His career as an airline pilot has opened doors to some wonderful opportunities to travel and also some challenging personal-growth opportunities.
This gives you a little background to who I am as a person and what will be on my list… So his is how my list looked at the point after my father passed away. The ones that are crossed through have already been achieved at the time of my fathers’ passing:
- Do a wing-walk – I have wanted to do this ever since I first saw the Crunchie team many years ago.
- Do a Sky Dive – just because it’s one of those things that most people want to do, and I’d like to experience free fall
- Climb/scramble/trek up more mountains (because I found it a buzz when my partner first took me to Snowdonia, North Wales and we summited 3 mountains in a long weekend break
- Go Skiing
Go Snowboarding (I snow boarded in Andorra back in February 2005)- Cycle in the London to Brighton bike ride
- Run a Marathon
- Fly in a sea plane (preferably somewhere like the Maldives-we did go once before, but the island we stayed at was only a speed boat transfer away).
- Fly in First or Upper class (my partner’s airline do not have this-so the closest I have ever come is premium economy, I haven’t even been in Business class).
- Go to a camping music Festival (having had my children at a young age, this had somehow escaped me until this year)
- See the Great Pyramids of Egypt
- Go extreme zip lining through the tree tops in the Brazilian rain forest
- Go extreme zip lining from the top of a mountain
- Fly in a Hot Air Balloon
- Fly in an aeroplane that is performing aerobatics.
- See the tombs at Petra
- Travel around Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos
- Visit Thailand
- Visit Bora Bora (it looks staggeringly beautiful in all of the pictures I’ve ever seen of the island and it’s Atoll.
- See the Heads at Easter Island
- Visit Las Vegas
- Ride the rides at the Top of the Stratosphere
- Dine in the revolving restaurant (Top of The World) at the top of the Stratosphere
- Go to Disney World
- Take all three of my children to Disney
- Go to Sea World
- Visit Discovery Cove in Florida
- Go hover-rafting in the Everglades
- Go to the Universal Studios in America
- Visit Bush Gardens in Florida
- See the Florida Keys
- Visit Florida
- See the Grand Canyon
- See the Hoover Dam
- Go on a cruise
- have drinks in an ice bar
- Visit Iceland
- Take my children to visit Santa at Lapland
- Have a Husky-sled ride
- Go snow-mobiling
- See the Northern Lights
- Go ice fishing
Invest in my children’s education financially (private schooling, university tuition fees or both)Give my children the opportunity to learn a musical instrumentTravel in a helicopterVisit New YorkVisit the Maldives- Swim with a dolphin
- Go diving and see sea turtles
- Travel around Australia
- Travel around New Zealand
- Trek the Inca trail, especially in Peru
- Visit Machu Picchu
Go Skinny dipping!- Go to Glastonbury Festival
- Go to V Festival
- Go to Lounge on the Farm Festival (a local one in the area where I grew up)
- Go to Latitude Festival
Go on a drivingsafari in AfricaGraduate from university with a degree- Go on a camping safari in Africa
Swim under a giant waterfallVisit India- Travel around India
- Ride on an elephant
- Have Grandchildren
- Get re-married (we are currently ‘living in sin’)
- Take flying lessons
- Go Zorbing (sphering)
- Complete the renovation work on our house (it’s been unfinished for 4 and a half years)
Go go-kart racingVisit Paris, and go up the Eiffel Tower- Ride in a dune buggy through a desert
- Go for a long horse ride along a deserted beach at full gallop
- Have a professional photo shoot of all of my children together
- Join the Mile High club-haha!
- Go on a zero gravity flight and experience weightlessness
- This is ambitious, but I would like to travel in space on a Virgin Galactic flight.
- Take up yoga
- Try Hot Yoga or Bikram Yoga
- Make time to mediate more often (daily)
Attend a mindful meditation silent day retreat- Attend a weekend retreat
- Read more about each religion – Discover my true beliefs (I have been raised a Christian, but have suffered a bit of a crisis of faith since I lost both of my fathers, I know I do feel spiritual, but I struggle to believe in any particular faith or religion and would like to educate myself and have the chance to become enlightened).
- Visit Monaco
Watch Derren Brown on tour (I have done this twice now, both Enigma and Swengali)
Emma's Bucket List 
Great List!
There’s a lot of things on there that I want to do too