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.