Ever heard of the “30 before 30” list? It’s essentially a bucket list of things you want to complete or achieve before you turn thirty years old. It can be anything from 30 countries by 30, 30 things by 30, or even 30 random goals by 30. Make it fun!!
While putting a time limit sometimes isn’t a good thing, in this case I think it’s a fun thing! To see how much to can do and accomplish before you hit a certain age. And it definitely doesn’t have to thirty; if you’re 15, 30, 45, 50 years old, etc. Make time to do the things you want!
I personally, am very list and “bucket-list” oriented, there is something so satisfying about checking things off a list. I quite literally make lists for everything, I have dozens of notebooks, notes on my phone, and random scribbles throughout my home of things I want to remember or don’t want to forget. So when I seen someone share about their thirty before thirty list, my exact though was, “I need to do that.” So here I am, a few months later with somewhat of my list put together and it’s mainly things I want to get done sooner than later because truthfully, you never know what can happen and I want to still be somewhat limber for a few of these items!
I think the main reason I want to share this one here, is not only to encourage you to make your own list of some sort, but to put my goals out there for all to see – to hold me more accountable. Hopefully I am still writing these blogs by the time I’m 30 and hopefully I can come back and tell you all about these that I got to check off.
Long story short, this is my way of saying, “I’m going to do these things” and “I want you guys to help me along this journey”.
With all of that, here’s my list in no particular order of desire or convenience… Leave me a comment letting me know if there’s any of these you want to do also!
- Visit Munich Germany at Christmas Time – During the Holiday season, the streets of Munich light up with festive cheer and tons and tons of Christmas markets. I watched @adventuresofaplusk visit back in 2023 and knew I needed to visit. As a Christmas fanatic, it seems ideal. I will definitely be needing a parka for this trip though as Munich gets cold during Christmas time.
- Backpack Europe – I feel like this is something on everyone’s bucket-list! I would love to do the Tour Du Mont Blanc, a stunning 170 Kilometer (105 mile) trek that takes you through the alpine of France, Italy, and Switzerland.
- Cross the Drake Passage – This passage is a body of water between South America and Antarctica, it’s also one of the most dangerous bodies of water with 1,000 Kilometers (600 miles) of open sea. I’ve watched so many people travel through it and it looks incredible. Most do need to take some form of motion sickness medicine as even during calmer trips, you still move quite a bit.
- Skydive – I feel like this will be something I only do once, because the thought of it scares the heck out of me, but I know I will regret it if I never go! So it was mandatory for the before 30 list. 🙂
- Ride a train around Matterhorn in Switzerland; This was one of the first things I came across when my love for traveling developed. I had randomly seen a photo of a girl on a train going by the Matterhorn and it looked insane. I definitely hope I get to experience this sooner rather than later!
- All 63 National Parks. I have already visited 23/63 so I am about 36% through all of the parks in the United States, which is so exciting! Over the next two years, my plan is to tackle the harder to get to and more remote parks to get them out of the way first!
- All 50 states, Along with National Parks, I have visited 29/50 states as I’m writing this (Nov. 2024) so I’m over half way there which is so exciting and it feels like I’ve only scratched the surface!
- Live in a different/new state; If you know me personally, you know I love Oregon for the scenery, but not so much for the cost of living among other things. I hope to be living in Idaho by 2026 and then hopefully Tennessee shortly there after to be closer to my best friend and her family.
- See the “Big 5” in Africa. Now, this is something that can be looked at two different ways; Successfully hunting the Big 5 or simply just observing them. I am a hunter and enjoy providing food sources for myself and family, however I don’t much care for trophy hunting, so I would love to just see the Big 5. It consists of Lions, Leopards, Rhinoceros, Elephant, and African Buffalo. I hope to plan a trip to Namibia and do a safari tour to hopefully catch these beauties with my camera in tow!
- Travel by boat – This is a simple one, but something not very common in the U.S.. I will consider this checked off even if I travel from Washington’s ports to one of the outer islands by Ferry or B.C..
- Be a full time content creator; I think these speaks for itself, I want to support myself and family with my passion for travel and the outdoors.
- Do a motorbike tour through Vietnam; Again, @adventuresofaplusk visited Thailand in 2023 and did an incredible tour through Ha Giang Loop to Cao Bang Province and I hope to do that one in the next couple of years!
- Make 75k in a year; Self explanatory, but I’ll keep hustling to make it happen!
See the Northern Lights– Check!! I was lucky enough to capture and view the Northern Lights earlier this year right here in Oregon, which I never thought would be possible! I still hope to see them in another country like Finland, Switzerland, or Iceland in the future, but it feels pretty neat to have gotten to check it off in 2024!- Remodel a camper/travel trailer/van – As I’m writing this, I live in a travel trailer full time and love it. When I settle down eventually, I’d love to buy an older used travel trailer or van of some sort and completely reno it just how I want it. I cannot wait!
- Start a stationary business – I have tapped into this a little bit at the beginning of the year. Stationary has always been something I’ve loved from a young age and writing is most definitely my thing and I’ve dreamed of making a paper products line. At the beginning of this year (2024) I launched two types of notebooks and had a good turnover rate and thoroughly enjoyed making them and I hope to continue that with calendars, planners, wrapping paper, and more – with a hopefully easier making and purchasing procedure.
- Drive the Alaskan Highway; There is so much remoteness to Alaska and this section of the North and my goal is to take a few weeks and drive up while checking out National Parks and epic Alaskan towns with Maverick and Alex in tow.
- Summit Mt. Kilimanjaro; I was originally supposed to summit Kilimanjaro this year and simply could not make it happen. But I will make it happen before 30! 😉
- See the cherry blossom trees in bloom in Japan; Tokyo more specifically has been on my bucket-list for years simply for the food, culture, and atmosphere – However I specifically want to visit in the Spring time when the Cherry Blossom trees are in bloom (if you’ve never seen pictures, google it right now!!).
- Watch the bears catch Salmon at Brook Falls – While on that Alaskan road-trip I mentioned above, I hope to get permits to camp near Brook Falls and be able to see the bears foraging in the falls and river.
- Write 300 blog posts… In order to do this, starting this year (I’ve only written 25 this year, with a goal of 2 a month), I would need to write an average of 38 blog posts a year, which I think is pretty doable as long as I write 1-2 blog posts a week… Check back in, in a few months to see if the burn out has happened yet… Let’s hope it doesn’t and I continue thinking this is fun! Lol.
- Do a Thru hike, the thought of taking up all my vacation time to spend it in the wilderness is absolutely thrilling, yet terrifying! I’m not quite sure what trail I want to conquer yet, all I know is that I for sure want to do one!
- Explore Ireland – I’ve always had a special love for Ireland and I simply cannot wait to visit. We were supposed to go for my senior trip back in 2020, however due to reasons we all know to well, it got cancelled.
- Base-jump in Moab – If you’ve never seen people jumping with a guide strapped to the back of them from stunning and rugged red rock formations and cliffs, google it! It looks like such a blast.
- Spend a Fall in Quebec, CA; I’ve seen so many Instagram creators go here for the Fall months and the whole area lights up with colors, I cannot wait to visit!
- See at least 2 of the Wonders of the World – There are 7 wonders of the world and if I had to pick the ones I want to see the soonest, it would be Machu Picchu and Petra! The 7 Wonders;
- The Colosseum – Rome, Italy
- The Great Wall of China
- The Taj Mahal, India
- Christ the Redeemer, Brazil
- Machu Picchu, Peru
- Chichen Itza, Mexico
- Petra, Jordan
- See and Photograph Polar Bears!! This would be an absolute dream come true. Bears are my favorite animal, but a polar bear would be literally insane. I cannot wait to see them and hopefully I can check it off before 30!
- Run a marathon – I feel like everyone is or will soon be going through this phase in life. I’ve always been a runner and a good one until an injury my senior season of soccer. However I hope to get back into training this year and run a marathon soon!
- Summit 5 State Highpoints – I have 1/5 already as I’ve hiked Clingman’s Dome in Tennessee. As far as the others, I am not particular one which ones I decide to do, however some that I think would be epic are:
- Mount Borah, Idaho
- Mt. Hood, Oregon
- Guadalupe Peak, Texas
- Black Elk Peak, South Dakota
- Mount Elbert, Colorado
- Hit 10,000 Subscribers on a platform – Preferably YouTube because I enjoy making those videos and hope to continue growing and making videos that inspire others to get outdoors!
And there it is folks! I hope you enjoyed taking a glimpse into my hopes and dreams and things that I darn sure will complete before I turn thirty. I also hope this encourages you to make your own dreams a reality and prioritize things you want to do while you’re able!
My favorite thing to tell people, “I fear the regret of not doing the things that I want more than the fear of going alone.”
Do. The. Darn. Things.
Let’s Get Adventuring!
Mariah
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