My hopes and dreams in review

I talked in my first ever blog post about how I'd learned about far off places that ignited my desire to travel, but that at those tender ages, I could never imagine realising those goals of visiting such exotic and far flung places. When I thought about it then I couldn't imagine how I'd ever be able to travel to many of the places I dreamed of.

I was relaxing one evening in a hotel in Singapore last year, trying to get over a horrible cold after tramping the pavements in fervent sightseeing, checking my twitter when I came across a tweet about Singapore from Sea Salt Secrets. I referenced the post in my blog about my trip to Singapore and thought it was a happy coincidence at the time, but after having had a good nose around her site and feeling totally inspired by her 'leap list', it occurred to me that all these years later how many of my own 'leaps' or dreams I've managed to make a reality - and without actually always realising it at the time, often it's only been when I've looked back I've realised or remembered something was once a seemingly far off dream. Of course there's still plenty more on the list yet to be achieved but here it is - my own personal list of dreams that started in my own mind way back when and I'd never thought to record until Sea Salt Secrets inspired me to do so.

✓ Go to University.

✓ Live in London.
For over seven years I lived in the 'Big Smoke'. I loved it too - it's still one of the greatest cities in the world to me!

✓ Work in the media industry.
Since 1999 I've been doing this and though my job has changed several times across the years, I'm still working in media now. It's an interesting place to work, and if you've watched the TV show Mad Men you'll know it can be a pretty crazy place to work at times (even in this era!), but there's something about it. I've learned so much and had so many amazing opportunities across the years - media is in my heart. 

✓ Trek to Macchu Picchu, Peru.

✓ Become a writer. Not just to write stuff on my own blog, but to actually get paid for writing articles that get published.
I always wanted to be a writer - long, long before the days blogs even existed. If you'd like to know more about some of the stuff I've written, you can see just a few of the examples of this on my Work With Me page.

✓ Live in a country outside the UK.
Tick, tick. The United Arab Emirates and Australia.

✓ Explore the temples of Angkor Wat.

✓ Learn to Teach English as a Foreign Language.

Actually Teach English as a Foreign Language.
I've come very close twice now, but other things have always got in the way. Perhaps it's just not meant to be?

✓ Do a sky dive.

✓ Get married on a Sunday.
I don't know if it was whether I liked Sundays or because I was told that you can't have weddings on Sundays (depending on the church) that this goal stuck in my mind, but who'd have thought, years later in 2008 when living in Dubai that getting married on a Sunday would actually become an option. And get married on a Sunday we did :D

✓ Go places that James Bond has been.
I've given this one a big tick, but there are still many Bond inspired destinations that are still on my list. You can read about those and the ones I have visited in my James Bond Inspired Travel post here.

Visit Easter Island.

✓ See the Great Wall of China.
That bad boy is much steeper than it looks, let me tell you!

✓ Visit Tibet.

Climb Everest.
This one might have been a bit ambitious perhaps. But I did get to visit Everest Base Camp when I travelled in Tibet.

Go on Safari in Africa.
Giraffes. Mainly for the Giraffes. I LOVE Giraffes.

Practice Ashtanga Yoga regularly.
Well, I have done this in the past but I'm not going to tick it since I'm not doing it anymore. I love Ashtanga Yoga and it's something I'd like to start doing again.

Take an Ashtanga Yoga teacher training course in India.

Learn Arabic
This has been something I've long since said I wanted to do, especially while living in the UAE but for one reason or another (and the fact it took one of the best local Arabic language specialists here in the UAE over 6 months to get back to my enquiry), I've never managed to find the time for it yet.

Learn the more complicated aspects of Wordpress and how to code (even just a little bit).
I should say that this is something that has been in progress ever since I started my blog and I'm not sure it will ever have a tick next to it! Those who have blogs of their own or experience in coding will know it's a work in progress and something that presents a black hole of endless (but enjoyable) learning.

Learn to play the saxophone.
I've always loved the look and sound of the saxophone. I remember being very adamant at the age of 18 with my sixth form tutor that this was a goal I was serious about and was going to make it happen. I'm slightly ashamed to admit that this is one of the few goals that I've really let slip for no real reason at all. It's all too easy to let other things get in the way... Not enough time, not enough money...

Ride on a double decker train.
I suppose this is the big kid in me. Ever since I learned that there was such a thing as double decker trains I've always wanted to ride on one. Maybe later this year I'll be able to tick that off when we visit Sydney?!

I do think that dreams are something that evolve across the years and my list now is probably quite different to the list above that started when I was much younger, but it's quite encouraging to me to see that I have been able to achieve a good number of the things I wanted to - some of them, things that once seemed so impossible. So whatever it is you're dreaming of - no matter how hard it might feel at the time, and it might take time, but there is always a way to make it happen.