Sunday, March 1, 2009

35 Things To Do Before You Turn 35

Why 35?... Because I think you should do the entire list all over again after you turn 35! Try everything once, and then twice!

1. Take a bike tour or a road trip through a country. Think of the joys of taking a roadtrip through your native country and now multiple this by 20! Getting lost, driving on the wrong side of the road, asking fun 20-somethings for directions-- that's what the open road is all about.

2. Ride on the back of a motorcycle through Delhi. Or through any major metropolitan city with a driver that is young, handsome and trying to impress you with his speed.

3. Experience Holi in India. Holi, for those of you who don't know, is an Indian excuse to celebrate color and have a huge national water fight. If you've ever seen the Sony Bravia commercials, it's like that but it's real!

4. Follow the World Cup. You might think you love your team, but if you can make it to a final match, you'll learn what love really means! The next one will be in Cape Town, South Africa.

5. Go to Guatemala and inhale the breathtaking beauty of Panajachel.

6. Ride something besides a car and a bike, like an elephant or a camel for instance. Believe me it's the best way to travel!

7. Visit the Greek Isles. Not once, but twice and preferably spend a summer there working as a bartender so you can island hop. Watch The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants before you go. If you're a guy watch it too.



8. Attend the Olympics. There's no event that brings the world together more than this one, and if there's anything we could use more of, it's peace.

9. Brazil. Reason enough, but even better go at the beginning of the year to Rio de Janeiro, the world's biggest party. Beads, beaches, beauty, booty... it's all there!

10. Do an Italian cross-country food tour. Compare the pizza and gelato in every city. As a matter of fact, compare it multiple times a day.

11. All we need is love. So in July, make your way to Germany for The Love Parade, where the entire city of Berlin shares their love of electronic music and love too.

12. Experience one of the holiest cities in the world, Jerusalem, before you may not get a chance to. Perhaps you don't practice Christianity, Judaism or Islam, but it's quite difficult not to be phased by history that dates back to 4th millennium BCE.

13. Plan a trip to the Galápagos Isalnds to see tortoises, really really cool tortoises.

14. Climb a mountain. Ironically enough Forbes has written an article about the 10 best mountains to climb, and it is titled, "The Best Mountains to Climb Before You Die." I guess do this one right before you turn 35. :)

15. Visit the Taj Mahal in India. Walk to the back and sit down on the cool marble while overlooking the serene waters; I guarantee you, if you need to find peace you can find it here.



16. Couchsurf. I've said it once, i'll say it twice and a thousand more times... this is hands down one of the best ways to get the local experience while traveling.

17. Go to London if you're American to experience what it feels like for someone else to love your accent, the one you didn't know you had. If you're from any other country come to America.

18. Embark on a journey to The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and try to fathom how they could have possible built these structure in 2600 B.C. By the way, this is the only "old" wonder of the world still standing.

19, Attend an event at the Sydney Opera House in Australia because it's one of the coolest buildings in the world.

20. Another cool show? Broadway, if there's anything you're going to do in New York, get some good seats to a Broadway show. I personally recommend Avenue Q.

21. Date someone who's from another country so you have a free place to stay in another country. :)

22. Zip line through the Costa Rican rainforest. What better way to see a jungle than from a bird's point of view.

23. Wing suit flying is the new skydiving. Be one of the first humans to fly! If you'd prefer regular old skydiving, then do it in New Zealand, the country that invented it.

24. Take a trip around the Hawaiian Islands. Imagine living here and maybe live here for awhile. While you're at it, learn how to surf.



25. Go to Bali and get your fortune read. Why? Read Eat, Pray, Love.

26. Teach English abroad. Or if you can manage to get another job, do that! I recommend Thailand because it's in the heart of Southeast Asia, a good jumping off point to visit nearby countries, is called "The Land of Smiles", has beautiful weather and beaches, is home to gorgeous Buddhist temples and has amazing food.

27. Visit North Korea. If you can! Apparently they do let some U.S. visitors come in, but only to a restricted area. But who cares, you can still say you went to North Korea and how many people can say that? Or better yet, harvest giant rabbits, and then you might get to really see the country.

28. Drink vodka in Russia, while watching the ballet and admiring the Willy Wonkaesque architecture of The Cathedral of St.Basil.

29. Volunteer abroad in Santiago, Chile because it's one of the few places I've found where you don't have to pay to volunteer, however if you have the wealth, by all means volunteer everywhere! You can embrace the nightlife, learn a little Spanish and roadtrip to nearby South American hot spots.

30. Head to Buenos Aires, Argentina from Chile so that you can learn how to really dance. I mean realllllllly dance.

31. Preferably, become a dj and tour the world while making music. If not possible, I would say head to Ibiza when you have a bit of money, stay there for a month, beach bumm, dance all night for many nights in a row and experience pure ecstasy.

32. Travel with your friends and find out which friends are worth keeping around, then go with those friends to Australia, rent a house.... and live there together for a summer, and do everything they mention in this contest.

33. If you're sad because you don't have culture, or because you want another one or some more, then head to Istanbul, Turkey.

34. Explore the underwater world in one of the best snorkeling spots... We were all fishies at one point and we should know where we came from.

35. Take a trip to Iceland because it's called Iceland for goodness sake and because you can kayak, sled, skidoo ride, view the Northern Lights and experience one of the world's most electrifying new year's eve celebrations in Reykjavík.

3 comments:

cloudplum said...

is this your personal list?

anu said...

i've done maybe a third, but definitely all things i want to do and think other people should too!

Anonymous said...

How much money do you think I have? What a middle class article.