Last year I realised how miserable I was. And the realisation hit me doubly hard as I contemplated the past, and how I seem to have always been, to some extent, just that. Miserable. Sad, unhappy, discontent.

Stuck in the infamous rut.

After reading a heap of brilliant blog posts by my brilliant colleagues, and another heap of brilliant books, I started to see the big picture. My big picture. My vision, even. And ever so slowly (and way too slowly for my impatience) I began my quest for change.

I decided to unsubscribe from this life of ‘supposed to’.

As part of the project, I made a list. This seems to be a general idea across the Interweb of unconventional, location-independent, guerilla-influencing, happiness-reclaiming ninja bloggers.

Here’s a list of other cool lists (how very meta-ish).

Coming up – list of future adventures and challenges:

Languages

• Become biligual (Danish and English)
• Speak three languages fluently (Portuguese, studied at Uni for 2 years, lived in Rio)
• Spanish
• German
• Dutch (beginner, on hold)
• French (intermediate, work in progress)

Sports

• Run a 5K
• Run a 10K
• Halfmarathon
• Marathon
• Bike 100K (summer of 2009, across Sealand, DK)
• Complete a duathlon (on 13. April 2008, 2K-12K-2K – I even won the short distance)
• Complete a triathlon (on 29. May 2011, 300m-20K-4K, time 1:21:53)
• Sprint triathlon (750 m swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run)
• Olympic distance triathlon (1.5 km swim, 40 km ride, 10 km run)
• Half Ironman
• Ironman
• Complete a 100K Adventure Race (on 31. July 2010, Thy LVL, 135K total)
• Complete a multiple day Adventure Race
• Kayak Stockholm-Helsinki
• Climb a mountain 5000+ meters

Skills

• Become a telemark skiing instructor
• Learn water skiing
• Learn wakeboarding
• Learn to sail
• Learn kitesurfing
• Salsa
• Tango
• Capoeira (used to, ten years ago – needs a brush-up!)
• Get a driver’s license
• Get a motorcycle license
• Get paddy certified (diving) (in Oz, ’06)
• Learn to do a handstand
• Learn to play an instrument

Achievements

• Get a photo in National Geographic
• Get an article in National Geographic
• Get featured on the cover of Times
• Publish children’s book series about Tiny Travel Teddy (in progress, 2-3 chapters done)
• Write and publish a book
• Make an exhibition of own work
• Get interviewed on TV
• Speak in front of a 1000+ people
• Blog consistently for a year (March 18, 2011 – www.wysiwit.dk – in Danish)

Travel and sights

• Visit every continent (4/7 – Europe, North America, South America, Australia, Asia, Africa, Antarctica)
• Cross the Atlantic Ocean sailing
• Cross the Pacific sailing
• Celebrate New Year’s Eve on a boat in Sydney Harbour (’06, ’07, ’09)
• Celebrate New Year’s Eve on Copacabana Beach
• See a platypus
  
• Take the train across Canada
• Take the Trans-Siberian Railway
• Roadtrip from the western tip of Kenai, Alaska to Cape Horn
• Drive a dog-sleigh (March 2010, Kiruna)
• Stand on each of the Poles
• Visit the island of Funafuti – a childhood dream

Sights to see:

• Acropolis, Athens, Greece (’93, ’99, ’07)
• The Ice Hotel, Kiruna, Sweden (March 2010)
• Sct. Peter’s Cathedral, Rome, Italy
  
• Eiffel tower, Paris, France (’09)
• La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
• Tower of Pisa, Italy
• Sydney Opera House, Australia (’06, ’07, ’09)
• Taj Mahal, Agra, India
• Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Sahara Desert
  
  New Seven Wonders:

• Colloseum, Italy
• Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
• Macchu Picchu, Peru
• Corcovado, Brazil
• Great Wall of China
• Petra, Jordan
• Chichen Itza, Mexico
  
  Natural Wonders of the world

• Grand Canyon
• Great Barrier Reef
• Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
• Mount Everest
• Aurora
• Parícutin volcano
• Victoria Falls

Rivers:

• Nile River
• Amazon River
• Congo River
• Colorado River
• Yangtze River, China
• Niger River
• Orinoco River, Venezuela
• Rio Coco, Nicaragua

Summit the highest peak of each continent:

• Africa – Kilamanjaro – 19,340 ft.
• Antarctica – Vinson Massif – 16,050 ft.
• Asia – Everest – 29,029 ft.
• Austrailia – Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya) - 16,024 ft.
• Europe – Elbrus – 18,510 ft.
• N. America – McKinley (Denali) – 20,320 ft.
• S. America – Aconcagua – 22,841 ft.

Boyhood dreams (and yes, I am a girl)

• Drive a Ferrari (’07 in San Fransisco)
• Tesla roadster
• Maserati
• Lamborghini
• Lotus Elise or Exige
• Aston Martin
• Bugatti Veyron
• Drive a rally
• Drive the Dakar Rally
• Fly a fighter jet
• Fly a glider plane (summer of 2009)
• Fly a helicopter
• Pilot a boat

Life

• Live abroad (Manchester ’98, Rio de Janeiro ’00 and Sydney ’07-’08)
• Live as a nomad / no fixed address for a year (in progress – since 1. June 2011)
• Have children
• Get a degree (BA ’04 and MA ’06)
• Work as a cowboy (-girl!)
• See the Northern Lights
• Ride a camel
• Ride an elephant
• Save somebody’s life
• Go three days without speaking (March ’11)
• Star in a film
• Get a meaningful and visible tattoo (Sept. ’10)
• Sleep in an iglo or snow cave
• Join a Circus
• Sing in public
• Swim with dolphins
• Fly First Class (’06)
• Eat at five of the top50 restaurants in the world (1/5: Tetsuya’s ’07, ’09)