Slam Dunks from the Bucket List

Jul 25

Is there anything more satisfying than marking something off of your bucket list? Half the time I don’t realize something was even on my bucket list until after I do it! And it’s certainly not always giant, monumental experience. Although, the photo above of me paragliding in Austria was pretty huge. This was my second round to Salzburg and my best friend and I were wanting to do something different than our first time there. Next thing we knew, we were running off of the side of a mountaintop having one of the most invigorating and peaceful moments of our lives.

However big or small your travel goals are, I highly recommend physically making the list. Typing it out in your Notes, making a vision board, etc. will help remind you that where you want to go and what you want to do is achievable. Try organizing the list by deciding what can be obtained within the next year. Then 2 years and so on and so forth. Next: work your ass off for it. I’m often asked how I’m able to travel and do the things I do. In short, having a salary and figuring out the best travel credit card option for me has been the foundation of it all. It’s made navigating the finances easier, but I didn’t always have a salary or an awesome travel card to pave the way. It took time and truthfully, getting it wrong sometimes, to get where I’m at. But, I let determination and ambition take the driver’s seat and the results have been always always always been rewarding. We’ll dive into credit cards + traveling soon! In the meantime, can we just take a moment and appreciate the most beautiful sunset in Santorini? Whew, baby.

Paris in springtime. Talk about magic. Even Ella and Louis sang about it. We ended our study abroad semester by spending a few days in Paris and it was… unexpected. Finding our Airbnb was a roller coaster, our fashion choices for 2014 were painful, and we were fully embodying broke college students by the end of it all. But all of that couldn’t take away the romance of this city in bloom. It was one of the many experiences I had at that point of learning that the unexpected + wonderful actually made a perfect recipe for a bucket list item. The cookie cutter moment can be boring sometimes! Releasing control and allowing the circumstances mold on its own during travel can end up being quite fabulous. Practicing this on a smaller scale can help forge a wider path for bigger trips. Try it next time you’re traveling!

Sailing around Puerto Rico with a group of strangers is one of the biggest leaps I’ve ever taken and let’s be real… it’s a nice flex too. I’ve talked all about that leap here and how I ended up being published for it here (alright, alright the flex is over!). All this to say, if something happened to me tomorrow, I would feel like I did enough because of experiences like this one. It was so fulfilling and it helped shape me as a traveler and writer. Find out what your “enough” looks like in a travel lense. If you were gone tomorrow, would you feel like you accomplished your enough? If not, get to it baby! Make the plans, but also let the unexpected have a role too. I can’t stress enough how much making the bucket list and working to get there will fill your soul. If you need more convincing, check out more of my blog posts here and my own bucket list here!