Sometimes I forget how awesome my life is. I wish I was kidding. When I run into people that I haven’t seen since high school or college and they introduce me to their significant others or whoever they happen to be out with, they’ll say such nice things about me and how they live vicariously through my Instagram posts or Snaps. It’s always so interesting to me how everybody else views my life. On days that I’m sitting at home bored and wishing I had something to do, I get into that toxic Facebook mode where I scroll through my feed and look at all of the adventures my friends are currently on when in reality, I had a lot of those adventures of my own, and I have so many more to come.
I am huge lover of lists and have them for every single aspect of my life, but my bucket list is something I’ve been keeping up with since middle school. Instead of sharing my bucket list, I want to share my reverse bucket list, aka a list of the things I’ve already checked off of it. I’m 28-years-old, and I’ve actually lived a pretty cool life, and I forget that sometimes. I have such an adventurous heart and a never-ending thirst for adventure, and I can’t wait to add even more to this list in the future.
SWIM WITH DOLPHINS
I’m pretty sure this is almost every girl’s dream at some point in their lives. My love for dolphins can be traced back to Lisa Frank and Mary-Kate and Ashley. On my very last cruise while working on the Carnival Elation, I was blessed to be able to get a free excursion to go swim with dolphins on a private island. The entire experience was so neat, and I would 100% do it again.
RIDE HORSES ON THE BEACH
When I was younger, I was weirdly obsessed with The Saddle Club. I had never ridden a horse by myself before, but I had this huge desire to ride them, not on a regular trail, but on the beach. I finally got the chance to ride a horse on the beach when I was working on the Carnival Elation. I actually did the excursion by myself, and I had the best time. One of my friends was the photographer for the excursion, so I got to hang out with him for a bit too.
VISIT THE WB STUDIO LONDON: THE MAKING OF HARRY POTTER
Anyone who knows me knows that my obsession with Harry Potter runs deep. So much so that when my boyfriend was in England, he was going to go to the Harry Potter Studio Tour, but he called me to make sure that it was okay that he went without me (he ended up not going). I know this makes me sound like a super controlling girlfriend, which I’m 100% not (95%?), but that just goes to show how serious my love for Harry Potter is. Luckily, I had already gone on the tour before, so he was off the hook, but I digress.
The Harry Potter Studio Tour was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I would totally go again and hope to in the future. They’re always changing things up, and they have seasonal displays. I’m so bummed that I can’t go to the Yule Ball or go on a Valentine’s Day date at Hogwarts. One day, my friend. One day. My sister and I spent nearly four hours exploring everything, and I easily could have spent even more time in there. It was amazing, y’all.
PICNIC BY THE EIFFEL TOWER
There’s a reason people say that Paris is always a good idea. Going to the Eiffel Tower is easily a priority for everyone visiting this iconic city. When we first got there, we walked over to a little grocery store, bought some snacks and wine and then went straight to the Eiffel Tower. Even with tons of people around, the experience was absolutely magical.
Going up the Eiffel Tower itself is also an incredible experience. I love looking at cities from great heights, and this was an amazing way to see Paris. After going back down the Eiffel Tower, we got to see it light up from across the street, and it was even more gorgeous. Overall, the Eiffel Tower is just a must, and I can’t believe I was able to cross it off of my bucket list.
PUT A LOCK ON THE LOCK BRIDGE IN PARIS
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you can no longer do this anymore because the fence got so heavy that it became a danger to people on the boats below. Before this became null and void, I got to put locks on the lock bridge, including one for my sister and me since we were traveling there together.
GO TO VERSAILLES
The Palace of Versailles is seriously one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited in my life.
VISIT THE VATICAN
Honestly, the Vatican should be and needs to be on everyone’s bucket list. I took a bunch of crappy photos, but even if you take the most beautiful photos, no picture could ever do it justice.
GO THE ROMAN COLOSSEUM
Even if you’re not a history buff (*ahem* like me), the Roman Colosseum is still a fascinating place to go. There’s so much history there, and it’s honestly just a cool experience to be able to walk through and learn about everything that happened there so long ago.
GO ON A PUB CRAWL IN ENGLAND
Call me a drunkie, but I always thought this would be such a fun experience, and I was right. We all had the best time enjoying shots and drink specials at different pubs throughout the night. We started dance parties everywhere we went and met people from all over the world. It was an absolute blast.
GO TO ATLANTIS
This has been on my bucket list ever since I saw Holiday in the Sun. Mary-Kate and Ashley are my favorite, in case that hasn’t been made obvious by the fact that this is the second time I’ve mentioned them in this blog post alone. I was such a weirdo fangirl when I went to the aquarium at Atlantis. “They filmed a scene here!!” (*crickets* cause no one cared.)
Mary-Kate and Ashley aside, Atlantis was easily the most awesome water park I’ve ever been to in my life. We got a crew discount, but it was still $99 and worth every penny. We went on all of the slides multiple times. Hung out in the pools. It was seriously a blast. I would totally go again.
GO TO A MUSIC FESTIVAL
I love seeing live music, so going to a music festival was definitely a dream of mine. Now I’ve gone to three musical festivals. My first was Austin City Limits with my sister, and I’ve gone to Hangout Music Festival twice with different groups of friends. Hangout is the best because it takes place on the beach. I fully plan on going to more. I’d love to go to EDC and some international music festivals.
SWIM WITH STINGRAYS
This technically wasn’t even on my bucket list, but after doing this, I feel like it should have been. I was able to snorkel with stingrays and feed them while I was in Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, and it was equally frightening and fascinating.
GO SPEED DATING
This is a strange thing that I’ve wanted to do since high school. I couldn’t tell you why. I thought I had lost my chance because there was a speed dating event that happened when I was in college that I didn’t go to, so I figured I’d never have the opportunity to do it again because it’s not something that happens a lot in Louisiana.
My friends and I actually decided to plan our own speed dating event, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I knew some of the guys that came through, and I guess technically my first date with my current boyfriend was through this speed dating event even though we were already friends by then.
GO TO THE SKYDECK IN CHICAGO
Two of my roommates from college, Mandy and Anamaria, and I have a tradition now of going to see Taylor Swift together. When we went to see her 1989 concert, I pretty much made that an excuse for me to go to Chicago because I had never been there before and Anamaria was living in that area at the time. We had so much fun exploring and eating our way through the city. I’m so afraid of heights, but the Skydeck was such a neat experience, and I got some pretty awesome pictures out of it.
SEE A BROADWAY PLAY
I went to NYC for the first time when I was in eighth grade for an advanced art field trip, and going to see Mamma Mia on Broadway was easily one of the highlights from that trip. I have a laundry list of Broadway shows I’d like to see if I ever get the chance.
GO SKYDIVING
Again, scared of heights, but skydiving was one of the first things I ever put on my bucket list. A few years ago, my friend, Jimi, and I decided that we wanted to use some of the money we got back from filing our taxes to go skydiving. I got the worst headache of my life partially from not eating a proper meal beforehand and partially from my guy getting super excited and spinning just a little too much for my little head to handle. Overall, it was an awesome experience. I don’t know if I’ll ever do it again though.
GO PADDLEBOARDING
Paddleboarding was just a fun thing that I really wanted to do, and I finally got the chance to do it on a random outing with some friends in the Bahamas at Junkanoo Beach when I was working on the Carnival Elation. I was weirdly good at it, and didn’t fall at all, unlike my friend, Tyler, who couldn’t seem to stay up. He was pretty resilient though. That day, we also did some snorkeling and kayaking.
GO TO MILE 0
I know I’m one of the tons of people who have been to Key West, but honestly it’s such a beautiful port that I don’t even mind playing tourist there. It’s so tragic what happened to the island and its people in the hurricane, but I’m hoping they’ll be back up on their feet soon.
Key West was one of my favorite ports I visited while working on cruise ships, and being able to say that I went to Mile 0 aka the southernmost point in the continental US is pretty cool. I actually rented a bike and rode around the island and took a selfie at the infamous site.
GO PARAGLIDING
I actually did this on the first cruise I ever went on. I was a junior in high school, and we went on a cruise together as a family to Cozumel in Mexico, Ocho Rios in Jamaica and Grand Cayman. I went paragliding in Mexico, and I loved it, but again, scared of heights. I’m pretty sure this was a one and done thing. I wish GoPros existed back then.
GO TO A HORSE RACE
The only reason this was added to my bucket list was because I felt like I was the only person living in north Louisiana who had never been to a horse race before. We have a track here, and I went went to see a horse race for the first time this past 4th of July.
RIDE IN A HELICOPTER
I randomly did this at the State Fair of Louisiana one year. I just always thought it would be fun to ride in a helicopter, but the way that this ride went, it kind of gave me a headache. The next time I go on a helicopter ride, I’d like it to be longer and over a more beautiful land area.
What are some things that you’ve crossed off of your bucket list?
