Wednesday 4 January 2012

100 Hints to 1 Lady Traveller

or Eithne finally gets round to making her Life List.


Inspired by this site, I decided to make my own list of 100 things to do.  I'm a great believer in the to-do list.  The act of writing down an aim makes it more real - and then, of course, you have the great joy of being able to tick things off.


The list is also there to encourage me to stay true to the things I have been learning as a Lady Traveller: the importance of being open to new things, of being brave, of accepting that not knowing what lies around the corner is good - but that, conversely, it is important to plan joyful things to make your life better.


The list is fluid - I'm sure there will be things to add and few to subtract when I realise that I don't, after all, want to do that thing I added under the influence of a few glasses of red wine.


And with that, here's the list:



1. Stay overnight in a lighthouse
2. Take drawing lessons
3. Paint a room in my house yellow
4. Write a novel
5. Go to Siena and see the allegories of good and bad government and Padua to see the Giotto frescoes in the Arena chapel
6. Go to St Kilda in the Outer Outer Hebrides
7. Buy, collect or otherwise acquire one piece of art every year
8. Read every book in Granny’s bookshelf
9. Drink champagne in the Derry & Tom roof garden
10. Learn (properly) five new cooking skills: 1. Chopping vegetables 2. Jointing meat 3. Filleting fish 3. Tempering chocolate 5. Icing
11. Look at the view from the verandah of Isak Dinesen’s house in Kenya
12. Try indoor rock-climbing
13. Have a dress made for me
14. Buy a leather bag in Buenos Aires
15. Learn to identify 12 constellations
16. Walk some of the pilgrim’s route to Santiago de Compostela
17. See a camera obscura
18. Spend a week every year doing a volunteer project
19. Take dance classes
20. Go on a road trip with my sisters
21. Visit all of Ireland’s inhabited off-shore islands
22. Read a book by every Nobel laureate for literature
23. Learn conversational Greek.  Spanish.  Japanese.  Latin.
24. Go back to Japan and go to a hot spring/bath
25. Visit Santorini (preferably with a lover.)
26. Have fresh flowers in my home every week
27. Learn to identify 100 flowers
28. Watch all of Hitchcock’s films
29. Post a parcel to someone every month
30. Curate an exhibition about a pet topic
31. Ski a black run with perfect confidence (and a little style would be nice too.)
32. Write a children’s book
33. Start managing my money like a grown up
34. Go on an archaeological dig
35. See all of Shakespeare’s plays
36. Take a trip on a flying boat
37. Learn how to do my hair
38. Learn how to apply liquid eyeliner
39. Visit a South Pacific island and sing songs from the musical on the beach
40. Improve my knowledge of Geography by learning to identify countries in South America, Asia and Africa
41. Learn Adobe Illustrator (properly)
42. Go to a music festival
43. Go to Rome
44. Live in Paris for at least a month
45. Live in NYC for at least a month
46. Buy a house
47. Become a runner
48. Walk on the Great Wall
49. Visit a new country every year
50. Have a travel piece published
51. Do a residency
52. Facilitate someone else’s dream of becoming a (lady) traveller
53. Attend the New Year’s Day Concert in Vienna
54. Spend a night in a mountain hut
55. Donate platelets
56. Have lunch at La Colombe D’Or
57. Stay in a super-deluxe, fancy pants, 5 star plus hotel – and drink champagne in the bath
58. Relearn sewing and sew something for my home
59. Learn how to change a tyre.  Jump start a car.  Other car things.
60. Drive a convertible by the sea, top down, scarf in my hair
61. Create a family recipe collection
62. Print and frame my favourite HTLT photos
63. Go to the Venice Biennale
64. Go on an epic, continent-crossing train journey
65. Go on a yoga retreat (not as the cook!)
66. Stay in a Landmark Trust property
67. Do more reading/research/writing about my family history
68. Plant paperwhites in time for Christmas
69. Read the Odyssey travelling around Greek islands
70. Visit Istanbul (not Constantinople)
71. Attend religious services of other faiths than my own (respectfully)
72. Learn to play poker
73. Go glamping
74. Go to Port Eliot and Flat Lake
75. Dance till dawn in Rio
76. Finish the Observer cryptic crossword by myself
77. Finish the Alexandria Quartet
78. Do some further study
79. Learn five great ways to tie a scarf
80. Fly first class
81. Persuade Leon to open in Ireland
82. Welcome fellow travellers, whether friends or friends of friends or even strangers to my city and my home
83. Tithe
84. Cook one thing from a cookbook every week
85. Resurrect Jericho Tarts
86. Go to a U2 concert
87. Take singing lessons
88. Become better informed about science
89. Institute a regular weekend brunch party
90. Attend TED
91. Learn how to do a two-finger whistle
92. Master the art of packing a suitcase so I can always travel stylishly
93. Make croissants from scratch
94. Set up my own business and write a five year plan
95. Do a headstand in yoga
96. Go on an internet date
97. Volunteer to teach English
98. Go to an Olympic event
99. Make something special for each of my godchildren and nephews (+ any more I may acquire!)
100. One day, completely spontaneously, pack my bags, go to the airport and fly somewhere on a whim.

That should keep me busy for a while.

1 comment:

  1. If you would like to base your 27. on southern African flora and contribute to my PhD I'll let you do 34. and you will also be doing 88 on the way. Also, last night I dreamt you gave me a return ticket to Chile for Christmas but I didn't like it so I came back after two hours.

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