I know everyone has one, whether we ever write it down or not.

Even though I’d of course love to try almost every possible thing out there, there are some things which are higher on the list than others. So, here is my bucket list, both the realistic and unrealistic wishes – brace yourself, because it is very long! I believe in living life to the fullest and, as they say: “aim for the Moon and at the very least you will end up amongst the stars”, so I think there’s no harm in wishing for the impossible. 🙂 The list will continue to grow and it is in no particular order.

“‘Cause every night I lie in bed, the brightest colors fill my head, a million dreams are keeping me awake. I think of what the world could be, a vision of the one I see, a million dreams is all it’s gonna take…”

B. Pasek/J. Paul

[as of 2024]

The big and random LIFE STUFF:

• get a mechanical engineering degree (got my BSc, MSc and currently wrapping up my PhD)
• make a major positive change in someone’s life
• design a submarine
• fall in love
• start my own company/research institute
• read all the books
• live abroad (twice, in the UK and in Sweden)
• publish a scientific paper (see my first one here)
• invent something and patent it
• write a book (does a self-published mini poetry ebook count?)
• present a submission at a scientific conference

• give a public travelogue lecture
• name a star
• meet Viggo Mortensen (I actually did that, kind of)
• work as an R&D engineer
• study psychology
• study philosophy
• get a poem published
• win a professional award/scientific prize
• have healthy children and raise them well (maybe, I am not a big kids person)
• invent a word
• DIY renovate and decorate a flat (all about our home renovation here)
• volunteer for a good cause
• read the entire primary school library (literally)
• share life wisdom with a homeless person
• get a tattoo
• have the kitchen ceiling covered in beer coasters (it’s kitchen tiles, but it still counts)
• build something by myself
• meet a shaman
• be a “roadie” helper for a metal band (them teenage years)
• teach students
• go to a restaurant by myself without feeling awkward
• pay a coffee for the next person
• attend a protest, sign a petition and get involved with social causes/activism
• meet up with a stranger
• stop being afraid of the dentist
• move out on my own
• have an herb garden (had a few small ones, I want a proper one someday)

• eat weird things (kangaroo, snake, cricket, crocodile, reindeer, moose, deep fried gummy bears, frog legs, Vegemite…)
• boudoir photography (see here)
• conquer burnout (it was not on my list, but I am proud of it)
• be an active citizen
• start reducing waste and living sustainably (continuously improving on this)
• donate money to organisations I believe in
• plant a tree
• adopt a pet
• retire, age well and live to 100
• have a lot of plants
• start a blog
• write a travel article for a magazine
• win the lottery (I once won about 5 euros 🙂 )
• grow a proper avocado plant that does not die within a few years

Travelling and experiences:

• visit all the countries in the world (33/195 so far)
• visit all the continents (3/7)
• witness a solar eclipse
• the Northern lights (in Sweden)
• watch a meteor shower
• the Pyramids (saw the pharaonic tombs in Egypt already, but not the Pyramids)
• the Rainbow mountains and Machu Picchu in Peru
• attend the Carnival in Brazil
• the Great wall and the Forbidden city in China
• the Eiffel tower and the catacombs in Paris
• Stonehenge in England (see here)
• walk the Camino de Santiago trail
• play the Carcassone board game in Carcassone, France
• the wilderness of Canada
• visit the undergrond: a grotto, a mine, catacombs
• go to a party in Iran
• Tara, the Giant’s causeway in Ireland
• cross the Arctic circle (done in Jokkmokk in Sweden)
• Svalbard (the northernmost inhabited area, see all my posts from the far north here)
• stand on the equator

• see a sequoia forest
• eat fancy seafood in France
• learn about the Native American culture
• whisky tasting in the UK (in Scotland)
• Antarctica
• see all the interesting things in Slovenia
• visit a cathedral, a mosque and a Buddhist temple (2/3)
• Tasmania
• the Dead Sea
• hike to Trolltunga, Norway (read about it here)
• go on a backpacking trip
• the Coral reef (in Australia)
• get a cheese plate delivered by room service in a fancy hotel (in Postojna, Slovenia)
• visit a concentration camp (Dachau)
• Glowworm caves in New Zealand
• scenic train journeys (some of them already checked off the list)
• the Transsiberian railway
• flower bath in Bali
• visit Waterloo while listening to the ABBA song
• s’Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands
• visit a chained library (in Zutphen)
• volunteer work abroad
• a full moon party in Asia
• meet Santa Claus (done in Finland)
• go to a secret bar (both in Finland and in the Czech Republic)
• hitch-hike from Slovenia to Denmark with my best friend
• cherry blossoms, weird festivals and Mt. Fiji in Japan
• black beaches and the Great geyser in Iceland (with my parents as a child)
• do a Balkan road trip
• cheese wheel pasta (see here)

• take a flamenco class in Spain
• Isle of Skye (magical landscape and the friendliest people – all posts here)
• fly in fancy first class
• Cappadocia and Pamukkale in Turkey
• a trip to Andalusia
• Sicily, Etna in Italy
• visit a castle
• experience the midnight sun in Scandinavia
• couchsurf through Australia for a month
• go to an Irish and Scottish trad session (traditional music in a pub)
• live with the locals in Ireland for 3 weeks (take me drunk, I’m home)
• learn salsa in Cuba
• see an ancient Greek temple
• try Couchsurfing (I love it)
• night tour of the rainforest (in Australia)
• go on a cruise (in Egypt with my family)
• see the jungle
• second hand shopping abroad
• visit J.R.R Tolkien’s grave (in Oxford, UK)
• see a sex show in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• solo travel (many times and with great success)
• experience a top 5 star hotel
• Hobbiton in New Zealand
• mud volcanoes and Transylvania in Romania
• visit Petra, Jordan
• Madagascar
• tea drinking ceremony in China

ADVENTURE:

• go into space
• dog sledding (in Sweden)
• skydive (did it in Australia, it was amazing)
• hitchhike
• go to a music festival
• diving
• fly a plane (got to try flying an ultralight plane as a child)
• walk on the frozen sea (in Sweden)
• hot air balloon ride
• a trip in a nuclear submarine
• visit an ice cave (in Svalbard)
• urban exploration (see examples here and here)
• rollercoasters!
• shoot a cannon

• cross a scary suspension bridge
• cross a frozen river (in Sweden)
• walk in the desert (in Egypt)
• experience extreme winter (-37°C during northern Swedish winter so far)
• stand under a big waterfall
• go to a medieval fair
• LARP festival (Drachenfest)
• swim in all the oceans (2/5)
• go on a camping trip (Corsica)
• go to a sci-fi & fantasy convention
• visit a trade fair
• skinny dipping
• dance in the streets
• see a lightening strike up close
• jump off a cliff (in Australia)
• fly in a helicopter
• go to a Harry Potter LARP
• go to the orc battle of Helm’s Deep LARP in the Czech republic
• go to an Elder Scrolls LARP (see review here)
• go to a pirate LARP on a boat
• walk on a glacier (in Iceland)
• try ayahuasca
• see an active volcano up close (Vesuvius, Italy)
• chase a tornado

ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS:

• meet a wild wombat (in Australia, see here)
• swim with the sharks or whales
• swim with the manatees
• swim with the sea turtles and manta rays (in Australia)
• see a walrus in the wild (on Svalbard)
• whale and puffin watching (done in Iceland, Svalbard and Ireland)
• see an elephant in the wild
• penguins in Antarctica
• see seals in the wild (both in Iceland and in Scotland)
• ride a donkey
• go on a photo safari in Africa
• meet a reindeer and a moose (done in Sweden, seen a few in the wild)
• cat cafe
• meet a snake (done a few times, most recently in Australia)

• see the marmots at Grossglöckner
• pet a Norwegian forest cat
• see a wild rhino
• follow a hedgehog around
• see a crocodile in the wild (in Australia)
• see a wild polar bear (got really lucky in Svalbard)
• go brown bear watching
• visit a big cat sanctuary

SKILLS:

• speak 10 languages fluently (4.5/10 so far)
• juggling
• get a skydiving, scuba diving and piloting license
• aerial silks, aerial yoga and pole dancing (even though I am clumsy, I love aerial sports for some reason)
• dancing (flamenco, lindy hop swing and a bit of salsa so far, tango someday)
• windsurfing
• skiing
• learn how to style my hair in anything other than a braid
• try sailing again
• project management and mad organizational skills
• beat procrastination
• target practice shooting with air rifles
• hand and machine sewing
• knitting
• crocheting
• embroidery (my little project here)
• learn traditional Slovenian cooking (doing pretty good on this front thanks to my grandmothers)
• fire poi spinning (started in Sweden, I plan to keep improving)

• become a better car driver
• learn to play an instrument at least half decently, preferably drums (will probably never happen)
• rock climbing
• wood chopping
• 3D CAD modelling
• learn to do electrical wiring and installations
• mushroom and wild food foraging (working on it)
• meditation
• make a storm cloud lamp with Arduino
• find inner peace
• learn to make clothes by myself (I can already do some things in that direction)
• more programming (Matlab, Python, CSS…)

…

So, how many of these are also on your bucket list? While it is good to work hard to achieve your dreams, our lives actually consist of the journey and not meeting the end goal. I say plan well, but live in the moment, and never be afraid to look stupid, to ask for what you want or to step out of your comfort zone.

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

A. Dumbledore (J. K. Rowling)