About Sarah
My introduction to bucket listing started when I was 18 months away from turning 40 and feeling that I wanted to do something to mark this milestone. I've always been someone with an adventurous spirit and one of the first things I ticked off from my list was to sit in a police car. It was a balmy summer evening in London's Leicester Square when I saw a police car turn up and I just explained to the officer that I was doing this '40 things to do before I turn 40' list. I asked whether I could sit in the car, kinda expecting him to say "no" - which would be more than reasonable. But instead, he invited me to come and sit in the front seat....and asked if I'd like the blue lights switched on. Oh...yes please!! And then word got out amongst family and friends how I was looking for experiences and it was extraordinary how people could make things happen.
Soon after I completed my 40 list, I did a quick Christmas bucket list where I identified 10 things I'd never done before. Many of these were shared with my husband and included going to our first Christmas market (in Winchester, Hampshire), building and decorating a gingerbread house, trying mulled wine, doing a snow angel and going carol singing as adults.
And then there's the bucket list that I completed to celebrate having turned 50 where I set myself the challenge to visit 25 countries in one year that I'd never been to before. Thankfully, I live near London Gatwick Airport so I did lots of budget airline day trips (i.e., first flight there and last flight back) to places like Switzerland, Malta, Rome, the Vatican City and Albania which avoided the cost of hotels. I could sometimes tick off 2 or 3 countries in a single trip like Denmark-Sweden and Croatia-Montenegro-Bosnia. My passion for travel has taken me on long-haul trips as well to south east Asia, USA and the Caribbean. My favourite destinations so far? Definitely Krakow (Poland), Kotor (Montenegro) and Ljubljana (Slovenia) though I loved the people in Thailand. Check out the countries I've been to and which are currently on my wish list HERE.
And now I'm thinking ahead to non-travel ideas too like selling something I've made, joining an online choir, giving blood, having a tarantula placed in my hand, etc.... and no doubt I'll still be bucket listing when I'm much older as you never know when the next idea is going to come along. Am I always an extremely upbeat person who's feeling proactive? No, not at all...but this way of life reminds me during the hardest times that I can put things in place to 'unstick' myself and regain that sense of moving forwards to happier days.
Sarah xx
