Bargain Bucket List
Grand canyon or campervanning?
Do you have a Bucket List? Like an actual list of things you want to do or achieve before you kick it?
I, like most people, had a rough idea of places I'd like to visit or things I'd like to try but I never sat and wrote it all down, applied any time scales or pinned it to the wall as inspiration.
So I never really had a grand life plan but I also didn't expect to be diagnosed with a degenerative neurological condition in my 40s. You can read all about that here. Whatever vague plans I may have had for the rest of my life are now being somewhat revised.
A google search for the most common items on a bucket list returned many lists of ideas for a bucket list which kind of defeats the point if you ask me. Surely these are personal things, based on an individual’s desires, values and motivations? Can they be copied from a magazine article or influenced by a social media personality?
A quick glance at the suggestions shows that I have actually done some of them already.
Live in another country
Learn a new language
See the Northern Lights
Visit Paris
Go camping
Ride a horse (that one is surprisingly common, presumably these lists were compiled by city dwellers)
Form a band
Go to a festival
Go to the Olympics (Paralympics) (as a spectator)
Most of the suggestions require extensive travel and seemingly unlimited funds. Perhaps number one on everyone's Bucket List should be “become a millionaire” then accomplishing the rest is a breeze. Constrained by lack of ready funds, kids, job etc I think mine should be more of a bargain bucket list.
There are, of course, things I want to do in my life. Mainly travel - Budapest, Barcelona, Italy again (you can never have too much Italy), New York, in fact the States in general, San Francisco etc. I don't have a burning desire to do a bungee jump or parachute out of an aeroplane. I'm not much of a thrill seeker. I feel no compulsion to take up pottery or swim with dolphins, mainly because I’m awful at crafts and I would most likely drown, however I’ll give anything a try given half a chance.
I have always been a bit of a compulsive volunteer. I have found myself leading scout groups, taking kids on adventure camps, joining committees and volunteering at conferences and events. All of these gave me opportunities to go places, do things and meet people that wouldn't otherwise have had. I don’t see that changing so I may not be able to make specific plans, but if opportunities pop up I will seize them if I can, you never know where they might lead.
One thing I have always wanted to do is own a campervan. When I was going up we always went on holidays around Scotland and even as an adult I find myself returning to the highlands or islands. We usually book a self-catering holiday cottage or lodge which have been great, especially when the kids were small. However I was always slightly envious of people I saw in campervans who had the freedom to travel around and pitch up anywhere they fancied.
One silver lining of my diagnosis was that I was able to claim on an insurance policy I had taken out years ago. I highly recommend getting yourself some critical illness cover. Once certain necessary financial arrangements had been made there was some money left over with which I was able to buy a second hand camper van.
I bought it just before the winter so haven't been able to get out much in it so far but I did one night as a trial run to make sure everything worked and I'm planning to go away with one of the kids in the Easter holidays. I now have a list of places I'd like to explore in it, throughout Scotland and beyond.
Other than that I'm not making too many plans for the future at this point but would like to continue to have as many new experiences as possible, say yes to as many opportunities as possible. Even if I don't have an actual bucket list to tick off as I go, I hope that come kicking time, I will be able to look back and see that the sum total of my life experiences amounts to a decent tally, all things considered.