The reason I wanted to write this blog today is due to a few programmes that I've been watching recently, namely the second season of An Idiot Abroad, and Ewan McGreggor and Charlie Boorman's Long Way Round, and Long Way Down. I don't want to go into to much detail about the programmes, but they're both essentially travel based programmes, with the Idiot Abroad programme, actually being about what things you would like to do before you die.
Having watched these both recently, and also a few videos by someone I follow on YouTube, it's started to make me think about what things I want to do either just in my lifetime or when I grow up. Now I'm not talking about getting a nice house, and good job, more like that I want to go to Egypt, to see the pyramids, that I want to climb a glacier, or go up a mountain, more life changing, eye opening experiences.
I wrote a few months back, about traveling and how some of my friends in between sixth form and university took a gap year to go abroad and help in out reach programmes and things like that, which sounded brilliant, but even though I too took a gap year, I'm glad I didn't go away or start traveling then. Everyone says that that's the best time in your life to do things like that, because you don't have anything yet to tie you down, your out of compulsory education and so on, however I tend to disagree. I'm hoping that in just under three years I'll come out of university, with a degree, a great group of friends, I'll have more of an idea of what I want to do and basically i'll have the whole world open to me. What I'm trying to say is, if your planning to go to university, go,why take that gap, and set getting into real life back by another year. My ideal scenario is that having gotten a few years experience of being in a city, being part of a more adult world, gaining friends that I'd want to share a house with and have fun with, then or anytime after that, would be the best time to go out and experience life.
The best thing that I like about the Long Way Round and Long Way Down programmes, is that its two friends who decided they wanted to do something together, because it would be fun and an awesome thing to be able to do. During it they were often told, either certain things couldn't be done, or they should go this way or that way because it was easier, but throughout they did their own thing, they did stuff because it was what they wanted, they didn't want to just take the easy route, they'd rather take the more difficult route and experience things then the easy route, and leave with no experiences at all.
I know that I might be starting to rant now, its just, the thing is that throughout school, and even my short time at university, how you live your life seems like this thing you have to plan out; you go to school, you go to uni, you get a job, you get a house, you get married....... Due to everything that's happened over this last year with my parents and how its not gone to plan, its mucked up that schedule but in a bad way, I feel that I still want to muck it up but in a good way, to counteract things, so I can do things the way I want, to take things as they come but on my terms. Basically I'm just trying to say that, I think things like traveling the world, visiting foreign places, experiencing the world, shouldn't have to be just on summer holidays, that your only able to take at a certain time of the year because of work, or even in a short year between school, because that's what everyone else does.
Before I die I want to get out there, not just to as many places as I can, but to see as much as I can, and so from now on, I'm starting my own Bucket list, which will have anything I want on it, from visiting somewhere, to trying to learn something, to doing something I've never done before.
Even now in my short life, I'm able to sit here with friends, and reminisce about old times, and I enjoy it and all were talking about is school and days out that we went on. Just imagine though how amazing it would be, if you were able to do all the things you dreamed of doing, awesome and amazing things that take you far away from that normal life of 9 to 5 jobs, and doing your weekly shop, if you were able to look back over your life and say you witnessed things and went places other people won't ever be able to imagine, and you don't for one second, regret a thing.
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