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, it is very long! I believe in living life to the fullest and, you know what 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. 🙂 It will of course continue to grow, but this is as much as I managed to think of right now, 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 2023]

THE BIG LIFE STUFF AND TRAVEL EXPERIENCES:

• visit all the countries in the world (33/195 so far)
• get a PhD in mechanical engineering (finished my Masters)
• study philosophy
• visit all the continents (3/7)
• witness a solar eclipse
• the Northern lights (in Sweden)

• design a submarine
• make a major positive change in someone’s life
• study psychology
• publish a scientific paper (see my first one here)
• get married
• read all the books
• live in a different country (twice, in the UK and in Sweden)
• name a star
• meet Viggo Mortensen (I actually did that, kind of)
• invent something and patent it
• watch a meteor shower
• write a book
• have healthy children and raise them well
• the Pyramids (saw the pharaonic tombs in Egypt already, but not the Pyramids)
• the Rainbow mountains in Peru
• the Great wall and the Forbidden city in China
• the Eiffel tower and the catacombs in Paris
• Stonehenge in England (see here)
• Tara, the Giant’s causeway in Ireland
• cross the Arctic circle (done in Jokkmokk in Sweden)
• Svalbard (the northernmost inhabited area, see 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
• 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
• visit a cathedral, a mosque and a Buddhist temple (2/3)
• Tasmania
• the Dead Sea
• hike to Trolltunga, Norway
• go on a backpacking trip
• the Coral reef (in Australia)

• take a flamenco class in Spain
• Isle of Skye (magical landscape and the friendliest people)
• 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
• 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
• visit J.R.R Tolkien’s grave (in Oxford, UK)
• 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
• 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
• hitchhike
• volunteer work abroad
• a full moon party in Asia
• meet Santa Claus (done in Finland)
• the Transsiberian railway
• 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

ADVENTURE:

• go into space
• dog sledding (in Sweden)
• skydiving (did it in Australia, it was amazing)

• scuba 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 exploring
• 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
• swim in all the oceans (2/5)
• go on a camping trip (Corsica)
• 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
• walk on a glacier (in Iceland)
• go to a pirate LARP on an old boat
• 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 safari in Africa
• meet a reindeer and a moose (done in Sweden, seen a few in the wild)
• cat cafe
• hold a snake (done a few times, most recently in Australia)

• see the marmots at Grossglöckner
• pet a Norwegian forest cat
• see a wild rhino
• 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 (4/10 so far)
• juggling
• get a skydiving, scuba diving and piloting license
• aerial silks and pole dancing (done both in Slovenia for a short while, hoping to come back to it)
• dancing (flamenco and swing so far, but should improve, as well as tango and salsa someday)
• windsurfing
• skiing
• learn how to style my hair in anything other than a braid
• try sailing again
• target practice shooting with air rifles
• hand and machine sewing, knitting, lace making
• learn some traditional Slovenian cooking (doing pretty good on this front thanks to my grandmother)
• 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
• rock climbing
• learn to make clothes myself (I can already do some things in that direction)
• more programming (Matlab, Python, CSS…)

RANDOM PERSONAL LIFE STUFF:

• have a dog or a cat or both
• invent a word
• DIY renovate and decorate a flat
• have another guinea pig
• read the entire primary school library (literally)
• share life wisdom with a homeless person
• have the kitchen ceiling covered by beer coasters (it’s kitchen tiles, but it still counts)
• build something by myself
• sneak into abandoned buildings
• meet a shaman
• become friends with a nun
• have tea with a Jehovah’s witness
• make a storm cloud with Arduino
• go to a medieval fair
• LARP festival (Drachenfest)
• “roadie” for a metal band (them teenage years)
• teach students
• meet up with a stranger
• started reducing my waste
• donate clothes and money to organisations I believe in
• plant a tree
• have as zero waste kitchen as possible
• have an herb garden (had a few small ones, want a proper one someday)

• eat weird things (kangaroo, snake, cricket, crocodile, reindeer, moose, deep fried gummy bears, frog legs, Vegemite…)
• mushroom picking
• dance in the streets
• give a travel presentation
• wood chopping
• skinny dipping
• boudoir photography
• go to a music festival
• go to a restaurant by myself without feeling awkward
• pay a coffee for the next person
• adopt an animal in need
• start a travel blog
• write a travel article for a magazine
• go to a secret bar (both in Finland and in the Czech Republic)
• win the lottery (I once won about 5 euros 🙂 )
• grow a proper avocado plant that does not die within a few years

It is all well and good to work hard to achieve your dream, whatever it may be, and to try and cross as many items as you can off your bucket list. However, always remember to take the time to enjoy your everyday life too and spend some quality time with your friends and family, because time is the only thing you cannot buy more of or get back if you waste it. So, plan well, but live in the moment and never be afraid to look stupid.

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

A. Dumbledore (J. K. Rowling)