The Next List

As I noted early on in this blog, life should really be about creating an interesting novel of experiences. It's about having fun and living life to the fullest, whether that be jumping out of an airplane, traveling the world, enjoying the outdoors, or slowing down to spend time with loved ones. Too many of us lose ourselves in our corporate cubicles. Or in our daily lives. Too many of us lose spiritual balance in the pursuit of money and career endeavors. We lose track of how much we sometimes need to stoke the fire. We lose track sometimes of the small things in life.

I want to live such a full life that I can one day sit on the porch with my grandkids and tell fantastical stories of my adventures. I've been lucky in that sense. So far, I have some amazing stories to tell and I can truly say I have lived my life with no regrets whatsoever. However, before I retire to play bocce with the village elders in Italy or to my rocking chair on the porch telling adventurous stories to my grandkids, there are a few other adventures to undertake and life lessons to keep in mind.

So, as promised, here we go... my Life List... in random order (would you expect anything less?):

• Visit all 50 U.S. states
• Participate in the Antarctica Marathon (safer than the Ice Marathon)
• Which may lead to a desire to become part of the Seven Continents Club
• Visit all 7 continents
• Advance oneself with integrity: never seek to advance at the misfortune of others
• Learn to read music and play the piano comfortably (getting closer...)
• Remember that life is short: try to never hold a grudge
• Travel to Everest Base Camp via either Tibet or Nepal
• Write a book
• Continue to learn, grow and push oneself forward
• Maintain creativity: inspire and be inspired
• Participate in a triathlon
• Visit the Great Pyramids, Great Wall of China, Denali, Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu in Peru, Petra in Jordan, Angkor in Cambodia, Acropolis of Athens in Greece, Old City of Jerusalem and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe (and maybe swim in the Devil's Pool).
• Get a master's degree
• Go race car driving on a closed-circuit track
• Go on an African safari
• Keep one's hubris and ego in check, but maintain confidence to conquer all
• Party at least once for Mardi Gras in New Orleans
• Live abroad
• Enjoy the outdoors
• Forever in life: work hard and play hard
• Participate in other endurance races (100 mile bike ride?, 30+ mile trail run?, etc) before my knees go bad.
• Learn to speak another language near fluently (Hmm, I should really be farther along with French after all this time)
• Visit Rio de Janeiro, perhaps to attend Carnival.
• Read at least six books per year
• Find a woman to conquer the world and all these adventures with!
• Go to a place of worship or spirituality at least once a month
• Get an interesting and meaningful tattoo
• Take better care of the environment
• Exercise regularly
• Do a single day, rim-to-rim crossing of the Grand Canyon
• Save money in daily life
• Be better about remembering people's names
• Conquer the world!

This is my list for the moment. I'm lucky in that I've already done so much at a young age, but I think there are some key adventures, insights and life lessons to heed nonetheless. This list will serve as my new list moving forward now that most of my previous lists have been completed, especially with the Running of the Bulls that will be completed here in a matter of days.

The list may also be revised over time on this original post (as I'm prone to do) and perhaps even officially revised and re-posted.

I encourage everyone else to create and maintain some sort of list for yourselves. A reminder of what is important, the way in which you want to live your life, or a list of fun adventures to undertake.

Madrid Hostel Booked!

We booked our Madrid hotel. Ted and I will land early morning of July 5th and so we've at least got the first two days in Madrid covered. We have a hostel book so we can cover the rest as we go without overplanning, but we needed a landing spot and so we booked that today. I think we will also have to book Barcelona ahead of time because there will be 4-5 of us staying there. That's next on the list.

Final Itinerary

We have finalized our itinerary and added a few days to include Switzerland afterall! The map above is hard to view, but it will go like this:

Fly into Madrid. Head south to visit Granada, Seville (via Cordoba), San Sebastian, Pamplona, Barcelona, then fly to Zurich Switzerland. From Zurich, we will take some local trains to Lucerne, Interlaken, and a few mountains and nature/adventure areas near Interlaken. Then we go back to Zurich and fly home.

The cool, crisp alpine air of Switzerland will be a nice reprieve from the heat of Spain. I'm so excited to be taking such an incredible vacation. Personally, I will be away from work for about 20 days. It will be a truly amazing experience with some great friends.

Train Passes

Ted and I secured our Eurail passes for use throughout Spain. I'm also sitting here updating everyone at a pub in Indianapolis as another massive storm rocks the area. We have had four large storms in two weeks. All this rain and the flooded areas have not seen any reprieve. I feel bad for those that are dealing with it.

In any case, we have our train passes and now have to secure a few hostels and then get a hostel book so we can wing the rest of the journey. Can't wait!

Going to the Alps!!

I've added some days to the end of vacation and extended it with Keith. Instead of going from Barcelona to Madrid, we are going to fly from Barcelona to Zurich Switzerland. From there, we will take some trains to a few small towns for some fun hiking, mountain biking and more. I will fly home from Zurich rather than Madrid.

It will be a cool and refreshing reprieve from the heat of Spain. Next up is to book our Eurail tickets for the journey through Spain, and get a sense of the hostel situation.

Swiss Adventures

I wanted to give a sense of the adventures that I undertook several years ago in Interlaken, Switzerland. At the top is a photograph of a paraglider landing in an open field. You start higher in the Alps and basically run down a sloping meadow and straight off a cliff with towering pine trees 100ft tall seemingly reaching for your your ankles. In reality, even they are hundreds of feet below you by the time the wind has filled the chute and you glide over the town. Interlaken literally means "between two lakes." It is a small Swiss town nestled in a valley within the Alps and surrounded by two glacial lakes. The site from above is beyond awe inspiring!

Next, you see some pics of people participating in canyoning. (Please note: none of these are my pics. I have some, but you know I can get lazy with the details. One day I'll scan and post them, but for now, you'll have to view others I yanked from the ol' Internet). In any case, canyoning involved repelling, cliff jumping, zip lines, bouldering and rafting without a whitewater raft. While fairly safe, there was a party of some 20 people that were killed in a flash flood several weeks after I left the last time.

The last pic is of a guy doing some sheer face ice climbing off a glacier. They basically take 150ft of rope, throw it over the edge, and you repel down to the end of it. Then you climb back up over the edge. Looks like he is close.

If we do make it to Switzerland, we will spend more of a relaxing time. Probably do some mountain biking, hiking and taking in the beauty and crisp clean air.

Swiss Alps

So, we're trying to squeeze a short trip to Switzerland in at the end of the journey. It will be a tough one, but you can see from the photo above how exquisitely beautiful it is. I'm a long time removed from such amazing mountains and you know, they call out to you perhaps with more of a quiet serenity, but with equal verve as the oceans.

It's an amazing place. We are quickly trying to see if we can take a flight from Barcelona to Zurich and then a series of trains to Interlaken, Switzerland. It's an adventure town that affords you some amazing opportunities to truly enjoy the Alps. Several of my more thrilling adventures took place here during my last journey to Switzerland.

Blow Your House Down

He will huff and puff and blow your house down! Those of you that know Keith, will understand the reference and my excitement that this crazed, wrecking ball of a pharmacist/scientist has just announced that he is joining the Spain expedition. Truly an amazing journey has become even better. I'll update the initial Blog entry to reflect the new addition!

We now have six adventure seekers in our ranks to enjoy the spices of Spain!

Itinerary

So, we've mapped out a rough itinerary for Spain, and it looks like we will have to firm up more of the details than I would have desired. Ted and I will take the first leg of the journey, while Shawn will join only for Pamplona. Rob and John (and possibly still Keith) will join in Pamplona and follow the rest of the trip. Here is our rough itinerary:

• Madrid
• Granada
• Cordoba
• Seville
• San Sebastian
• Pamplona
• Barcelona
• Madrid

We will arrive in Madrid and stay for a couple of days. Then take a train to Granada. From there, we will go to Seville via Cordoba (since there is no direct way to get from Granada to Seville). From Seville a long train north directly to San Sebastian for a short stay before Pamplona. From Pamplona we will travel to Barcelona for another several days before taking the bullet train to Madrid to depart.

(Of course, this is somewhat subject to change.)

Next up is to purchase a six day Spain Eurail pass.

Then to book a couple of the hostels in advance, such as for our arrival and departure nights in Madrid. Our stay in Barcelona. Possibly a few of the others. Naturally, we will wing some of it. Of course, we booked Pamplona some time in advance, so we are covered for the San Fermin (Running of the Bulls) festival.

World Phone

Purchased our Spain SIM cards today for use abroad. Fortunately, I already own a global (GSM) unlocked Sony Ericsson phone that I purchased last year. So, I can just pop this baby in once in Spain and I'm good to go. I figure it will help us out in case we lose track of one another, especially in Pamplona.