Write a blog....

Well, here goes!

Years ago I began a blog, mainly because it was the thing to do, the new craze, the moving on of the current technological and information sharing era and also because friends have them. For all of two weeks it lasted! So, over the next 5 years I shall blog about how my 40before40 list is progressing. I aim to learn about blogs, how to include links, add photos and videos and also how to publicise it, if only amongst my closest friends.

It would be too easy to just cross off this challenge, but in order for it to be challenging I shall aim to maintain the blog for 5 years and shall update this post with my new learning and challenges along the way.

1 almost down, 39 to go!

Doing the sums...

After publishing my blog I realised that I had better actually check how many countries I had visited!

Criteria for visiting a country:

Either at least 1 overnight stay or a long layover where I have managed to visit the major tourist attractions. Just changing planes in the airport does not count!

So.....

Andorra
Australia
Austria
Balearic islands
Belgium
Bolivia
Bulgaria
Canary islands
Cambodia
Channel islands

Costa Rica
Cuba 

Denmark
Egypt
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Holland
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Jordan

Mexico
Morocco

Nepal

Northern Ireland
Norway
Oman
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Scotland
Serbia
Slovenia

Sweden
Switzerland
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
USA
Vietnam
Wales
Zambia

As of August 2014: 37 and counting!
As of February 2015: 38 and counting!
As of April 2015: 39 and almost there!
As of August 2015: 40. Done!

As of August 2016: 41....

As of September 2017: 45....

As of October 2017: 46....

A link to my travel map

40 before 40: A change of direction or the direction to change?

Like many of my previous, often mad, different and weird ideas, this blog came about after a conversation at a pub. With a friendship group containing many friends in their mid to late 30s I often find myself contemplating different areas of my life as I approach 40. Whether or not I am lucky enough to find my lifelong partner, or indeed am blessed with a child or two, there are still things that I yearn to do. These achievements, experiences and adventures are things that I am loathe to title my bucket list as the connotations of kicking one do not sit easily with me at a time when I keep convincing myself and others that we are 'in our prime'!  So, what follows I have entitled 40before40. Forty 'things' that I want to do and experience, forty events that I would like to see happen over the next 5 years.  As things get completed I shall be updating and blogging about them, sharing my thoughts on my journey and, best of all, crossing them off my list!

I would like to say 'wish me luck' but instead I ask that you support me, help me, accompany me on anything that you might also wish to do and most of all think about joining me on a similar journey towards fulfilling your dreams.

Before I am 40 I want to...

1. Go in a hot air balloon
2. Get two more tattoos – a quote on my ribs and flowers on my stomach. I have a dear friend who is helping to design these.
3. Go husky sledding
4. Snowboard down a blue run without falling!
5. Try microdermabrasion  - to see if it is as good as others say!
6. Go busking and make enough money for a meal - bearing in mind I am tone deaf, this one could be tricky!
7. Wild camp and watch the sunrise
8. Visit Jerusalem as it is one place that features so prominently in my religion.
9. Go rally driving
10. Do the three peaks challenge
11. Camp at a festival
12. Zip wire in Snowdonia
13. See the Northern Lights
14. Stand under a waterfall
15. Feed a penguin
16. Do a triathlon
17. Give blood - something I always mean to do but have never got round to it.
18. Try mushrooms ;)
19. Camp in a tipi
20. Go up the shard.
21. Sit in a hot tub, looking out at snowy mountains whilst drinking cocktails!
22. Go to Vegas
23. Create a piece of artwork that I am proud to have on display in my house
24. Visit a psychic - a definite skeptic, I just want to see what happens!
25. Go zorbing
26. Write a blog
27. Eat at Dans le Noir - a massive challenge for me, the World's fussiest eater.
28. Fly first/business class - even better if I get an upgrade!
29. Visit Venice
30. Buy a DSLR camera and learn how to use it
31. Learn to knit - and actually produce something useful!
32. Go punting
33. Drive a jet ski
34. Cycle in the Velodrome at the Olympic Park
35. See baby turtles on a golden sand beach
36. See a film at the rooftop cinema
37. Visit the Great Wall of China
38. Visit Auschwitz
39. Gatecrash an extravagant wedding
40. Have visited 40 countries by the time I’m 40 - currently on 36, 37, 38, 39 I believe, so achievable in 5 years!

And one additional one that is not a 'fun' one, but a necessity!

41.  To not smoke another cigarette from summer 2014 onwards -  especially when out drinking or stressed at work. 5 years smoke-free is certainly achievable if I stick at it from now :)

Let the challenge begin!