Just days before my 26th birthday this year, I started devising a “300 by 30 List” that I would attempt to fulfill over the next 4 years. There are a few items that I’ve “[redacted]” because they’re either personal, medical, or related to gifts I plan to buy for people. Enjoy the read or grab ideas for your own massive bucket list. I’ve already started creating one for my 50th birthday as well!
- Travel to 100 countries
- Visit Bolivia
- Get my own health insurance
- Run a mile
- Visit Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Read 30 books
- Try Pilates
- Get engaged
- Live abroad
- See the Salar de Uyuni
- Clear out my notes app
- Make a brigadeiro at home
- Go to a Taylor Swift concert
- Take Italian lessons in Italy
- Find a white wine I love
- Take a sewing class
- Find go-to makeup products
- Go camping for 1 night
- Visit New Mexico
- Go to the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival
- Learn how to Dutch braid
- [Redacted]
- Ride in a sleeper train
- Go to Toronto
- Visit Niagara Falls
- Enjoy wine in Napa Valley
- Use my dip nail supplies
- Get status on an airline
- Go to 5 national parks
- Visit Alcatraz
- Compile Dan’s cooking and my baking recipes in a cookbook
- Do a different exercise each month for 1 year
- Make my own laundry detergent
- Throw a bachelorette party
- Visit Mallory and Shannon in California
- Move all my ski stuff to Winter Park
- Get ski boots
- Go to a murder mystery party (or host one)
- Detox from social media for a weekend
- Get Dan to teach me how to make guacamole
- Buy an album for my Polaroids
- Whiten my teeth
- [Redacted]
- Go to Ha Long Bay
- Return to Ireland
- Visit the Cliffs of Moher
- Visit Galway
- Stay at a bed and breakfast in Ireland
- Visit Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Write a book
- Visit Utah
- Visit Salt Lake City
- Visit Park City
- Visit Bonneville Salt Flats
- Get Marriott status
- Find out my ring size
- Try Botox for migraines
- Buy a ski helmet
- Attempt to sell my hair
- Visit Alaska
- Visit Boston and meet Eleni
- Visit Salem, Massachusetts
- Go to Graceland
- Go to Nashville
- Check off my remaining 18 U.S. States
- Visit Las Vegas and check off Nevada
- Visit Idaho
- Visit North Dakota
- Visit Montana
- Go to Glacier National Park
- Visit Yellowstone
- Visit Wyoming
- Visit Kansas
- Visit Oklahoma
- Visit Arkansas
- Visit Louisiana
- Go to New Orleans
- Visit Mississippi
- Visit Alabama
- Visit Missouri
- Visit Kentucky and go to a horse race
- Visit Tennessee
- Visit Guatemala
- Visit Poland
- Visit Lithuania
- Visit Latvia
- Visit Kosovo
- Visit Bulgaria
- Visit Norway
- Visit Albania
- Visit Greece
- Visit Romania
- Visit Slovenia
- Visit the Bahamas
- Visit the Dominican Republic
- Visit Israel
- Visit Palestine
- Visit Syria
- Visit Jordan
- Visit Egypt
- Redo my closet post-travel in a capsule wardrobe
- Understand my body’s hormones and natural menstrual cycle
- Eat Joe’s Pizza in NYC
- Go to the bookstore in the All Too Well Short Film
- Visit Japan for anniversary #4
- Visit London for Valentine’s Day in 2024
- Visit Mexico City
- Visit Paricutin (Natural Wonder) in Mexico
- Learn to poach an egg
- Buy SPF lip balm
- Own a Kitchen-Aid mixer
- Make homemade butter
- Use a salt I bought in Peru
- Eat at The French Laundry
- Go to a play as a date
- Go to a Broadway show as a date
- Visit the Redwoods
- Get a custom color consultation done
- Take ballroom dance lessons
- Visit Iceland
- Visit Monterey and Big Sur
- Drive the Pacific Coast Highway
- Watch Gossip Girl
- Watch Seinfeld
- Watch The Sopranos
- Go ice skating as a winter date
- Keep a plant alive
- Buy a spontaneous flight and travel with no luggage
- Enjoy July 4th
- Take a ski lesson
- Get my eyebrows threaded
- Visit Lake Tahoe
- Go to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard
- Fill a whole weekend without spending a dime
- Get a film camera
- Wake up at 7 AM for a month
- See the Northern Lights
- Find a takeout place I love wherever I settle
- Investigate a refill store wherever I settle
- Watch my best friend get married
- Do a weekend staycation at a cute place wherever I settle
- Go to a pumpkin patch in a different state each year
- Do a big road trip
- Change my last name
- Get a new passport
- Participate in Free National Park Day
- Stay at 3 Four Seasons properties
- Fly in lie-down first-class seats
- Try calligraphy
- Go on a cruise
- Take a class to develop the craft of film photography
- Get a library card in my next location
- Get Dan a library card in Iowa
- Get a flu shot every year
- Go to a dark restaurant
- Get new bras
- Create a will
- Make homemade ice cream
- Leave a 100 percent tip at a restaurant
- Have a white Christmas
- Try huckleberries
- Play around with eyeliner (pencil, white, etc.)
- Have a stargazing night and find the North Star
- Try Australian ferry bread
- Go on an annual trip with Jake every year
- Learn to drive stick shift
- Go to Mongolia
- Get Dan to every continent
- Go back to Rome
- Go to Georgetown homecoming
- Get a sweater in Ireland
- Get a facial
- Go back to The Tombs
- Create a travel gallery wall in my house
- Take a vintage boat ride around Lake Como
- Visit Carlo’s Bakery
- Visit Transylvania (Bran Castle)
- Visit Auschwitz
- See the pyramids in Giza
- Go on a honeymoon to Madagascar, Mauritius, and Comoros
- Visit Petra in Jordan (6th New World Wonder)
- Check off Chichén Itza
- Buy a house
- Get pregnant/have a baby
- Learn how to rollerblade backward
- Learn how to make 5 breakfasts confidently
- Learn how to make 5 lunches confidently
- Learn how to make 5 dinners confidently
- Learn how to make 5 desserts confidently
- Stay at The Plaza at/around Christmas
- Ice skate at Rockefeller Center
- Perfect 3 cocktails and 3 mocktails for parties
- Move my storage out of my parents’ house
- Sell my childhood bedroom set
- Repack everything stored at my parents’ house into as few bins as possible
- Clear out and organize iPhone photos
- Make a memory book of Hawaii photos
- [Redacted]
- Find an organization in my community to volunteer with
- Go to Antarctica
- Go on a babymoon
- [Redacted]
- Visit Bangladesh
- Visit Laos
- Visit Pamukkale in Turkey
- Go cliff jumping
- Read How to Win Friends and Influence People
- Come up with a signature hot chocolate recipe
- Learn to swing a golf club
- Visit Shaylon and Emily in Austin
- Be able to confidently do the Wednesday crossword
- Take black and white portraits
- Fly in a helicopter
- Meet Dan’s aunt, uncle, and cousins
- [Redacted]
- Plan a trip to Patagonia
- Visit Argentina
- Visit Chile
- Learn to use chopsticks well
- Learn to play chess
- Read a banned book
- Write a poem
- Fly Emirates
- Ride on a tandem bike
- Sleep on a houseboat
- Sleep in a treehouse
- Take a cross-country train
- See/participate in a Japanese tea ceremony
- Go back to Myanmar
- Drive Route 66
- Visit 21 additional UNESCO World Heritage Sites to make a total of 100
- Visit the Alamo
- Time travel and experience New Year’s Eve twice
- Drink beer at Oktoberfest in Munich
- Float in the Dead Sea
- Go volcano boarding in Nicaragua
- Do a redemption trip in the Philippines
- Go to Hong Kong
- Go to the lantern festival in Thailand
- Visit Greece
- Go to Lake Como in Italy
- Write blogs about every country I’ve been to
- Take a basic hair-cutting class or learn how to cut hair at home
- Eat in a dark restaurant
- Hike Mount Nyiragongo in the DRC
- See silverback gorillas in Rwanda
- See an epic sunrise and sunset in 1 day
- Go paragliding
- Find a daily moisturizer I love and make putting on sunscreen a habit
- Go to a dermatologist
- Develop a skincare routine
- Buy a car
- Have a FICO Credit Score over 800
- Have a European Christmas
- Support Dan on a big bucket list item of his
- [Redacted]
- Learn to make rice
- [Redacted]
- Visit the Taylor Swift Education Center
- Buy a steamer
- Register to vote in a new state
- Get a new license in a new state
- Register my LLC in a new state (if necessary)
- Visit Neuschwanstein Castle
- Do a special sunrise breakfast in Cappadocia
- Go to an island for every anniversary
- Visit Bryce National Park
- Visit Arches National Park
- Visit Zion National Park
- See Monument Valley
- Go to Horseshoe Bend
- Visit Antelope Canyon
- Watch Dan run a marathon
- Read Meme’s (my grandmother’s) books
- Visit Queens
- Recreate the V-J photo in Times Square on Polaroid
- Buy a meal in a drive-thru for someone else
- Visit Atlanta
- Be able to do 20 push-ups
- Master the world map
- Start a coin collection with all my change from foreign countries
- Create a pretty postcard display
- [Redacted]
- Come up with an environmental swap for all the travel I do
- Rewear the dirndl I buy for Oktoberfest
- Get a Christmas ornament for every year of our relationship
- Go to a Michelin Star restaurant
- Get blog pricing up to $100 for 500 words
- Get a gold version of my North Star necklace
- Read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- Wear my pink Hunter rain boots
- Read something related to every country I’ve been to
- Memorize three poems that I intend to know well enough to recite them to my grandchildren
- Make a dress for Meme’s babydoll
- Catalog every flight I’ve taken
- Wear my expensive suit
- Make the perfect blueberry muffins from the Smitten Kitchen
- Go to a concert at Red Rocks
- Stay in an over-the-water bungalow
- Go big celebrating 30
For the next several years, I’ll be detailing my progress on my 300 by 30 list. You’ll probably see this mentioned in future blogs. Feel free to refer back here in the future.