There are lists all over the blogosphere of things people want to do before turning 30 years old – it seems to be the magic (or rather opposite of magic) number that makes people panic and suddenly realise they’re getting old.
Since I’m turning 30 in only a little over 6 months (eeeeek!) and I’m already doing my 30 German towns before 30 challenge, I decided to leap straight onto the 35 before 35 bandwagon. Anything to help me feel like I’ve achieved something in my life!
I haven’t managed to complete my list yet – thinking of 35 things is actually pretty difficult! But here’s what I have so far. You may notice that some of them were taken from my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days, which I failed to finish. Hopefully I’ll have better luck with this challenge!
- Visit the Ukraine
- Eat fondue in Switzerland
- Learn Spanish
- See another musical (possibly Phantom of the Opera)
- Get over my fear of sewing machines and learn to use one
- Travel round Britain again
A hot air balloon in flight (Photo credit: Wikipedia) - Complete a cross stitch picture for myself
- Do 3 OU courses
- Make cheesecake
- Go whale watching
- Spend a night in a 5 star hotel and order room service
- Ride in a hot air balloon
- Read (or re-read) 50 non-fiction books
- Go back to Austria and finally try Marillenknödel
- Read 20 books in German
- Spend New Year on Madeira and see the fireworks display (it previously held the record for the world’s largest!)
- See a Shakespeare play (not performed by Oddsocks)
- Bake 10 different kinds of biscuits
- Find a recipe for garlic soup and make it
- Attend a world cup rugby match
So there you have it. I need 15 more. Ideas anyone? NOT bungee jumping – I will never, ever do that! I’m willing to consider most other things though. Once I have all 35 I’ll make a page where I can cross things off.
Oh, and immediately after starting to make my list, I remembered that the amazing Thoughtsy from Thoughts Appear is doing her very own 35 before 35 challenge (having previously completed 30 before 30 – I told you she was amazing!). I swear, I didn’t steal this idea from you, Thoughtsy 😉
Confuzzledom 
Lovely choices I look forward to seeing photo evidence 🙂
There will be photos once I get started 😀
🙂 and instructions for the cheese cake too pls 🙂 never made one
I want to get my grandma’s recipe from her then see if I can make it using German ingredients 🙂
Well, I could definitely try to help – badly – with number 3 and would be more than happy to accompany you round any northern towns that make your tour of Britain! I like this idea, I’m going to steal it too (and top of the list is going to be the also-stolen idea of a 5 star hotel with room service! haha!)! I’ll have a think about your last 15 things to do…
Yay! Last time I did a tour of Britain we didn’t do much in the North (other than a few days in Northumberland – seeing the parents was obviously a must!). I’ve never even been to Manchester would you believe, so that will definitely be on the list next time.
Can’t wait to see your version!
An idea for another thing to do before you turn 35 is to make a friend from another country and visit their homeland. Or at least maintain an intercontinental friendship!
That’s actually a good idea. I do have friends in America who I could think about visiting. I’ll definitely bear it in mind!
Some great challenges. Good luck with them.
Thank you!
Biscuits are the same as cookies, right? Yum!
I’d like to learn Spanish, too. I just bought Learn Greek CDs, so I guess I’ll see how that goes first.
Yep, biscuits are cookies (although to us only certain kinds of biscuits are cookies. Complicated!).
Ooh, Greek! Ambitious!
16. pet a moose
17. pet a polar bear
18. pet a yak
your owl dress is super cute, for the record!
I think petting a polar bear is more suitable for the list of unique ways to commit suicide 😉
I SO want to do a hot air balloon ride, too
I really need to look into how/where to do it!
Sí, español! I’m in the final year of my language degree and I’m really worried about forgetting it all when I finish. So feel free to pop over for a chat when you get started 🙂 Also have you seen this site? http://www.fluentin3months.com/ I know you’re a linguist already, but this guy has some interesting articles occasionally.
I have seen that before, but I’d forgotten about it so thanks for reminding me!
I started learning Spanish before but didn’t get very far. And now I’ve forgotten most of what I learned. Hopefully I’ll do better this time!