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Anna S. E. Lundberg

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Ten-Day US Road Trip: Mount Rushmore, Little Bighorn, Yellowstone and Salt Lake City

22 July, 2016 By Anna S E Lundberg 1 Comment

You may remember my blog posts from last year about an epic road trip that I took with my aunt from Los Angeles up to San Francisco and Napa, across to Yosemite and Death Valley and down through the Grand Canyon. Well, once in a lifetime that may have been but we decided to do a second one this year. My cousin was getting married in Estes Park at the entrance to the Rocky Mountains, just outside of Denver, and so this was our anchor for planning the route.

Stanley Hotel
The Stanley Hotel was a beautiful location for the drinks reception the night before the wedding.

Now I can’t mention Estes Park without saying something about the Stanley Hotel. Opened in 1909, in 1971 it hosted Stephen King and his wife in Room 217. They were the only guests and his experience of the echoing halls inspired him to write The Shining. Though the hotel didn’t serve as the location for Kubrick’s iconic film, that film plays on continuous loop on all the guest room televisions. If you’re interested in seeing evidence of paranormal activity on site, you can join a ghost tour where you’ll be astounded by lollipops being knocked over by the various spirits who inhabit the building.

For the first time, I put together a little video of our trip – I almost get tears in my eyes each time I watch it as I remember everything we’ve seen in such a short space of time (reflected in the fact that I’m squeezing it all into one blog post!). Country roads, take me home!

 

“Like no place on earth”

Our trip started in Wyoming, driving north from Denver up through Cheyenne, the capital city. Although my post-trip online research has told me that Wyoming no longer officially has this slogan, the state motto ‘like no place on earth’ quite accurately summed up this part of the country. The area includes both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park but that’s not all its known for; Wyoming is also ‘the equality state’, having been the first to grant women the vote in 1869.

Another state that’s “like no place on earth” is Montana. For some reason I had imagined wide-open prairies and Native Americans, presumably thanks to films like Legends of the Fall and A River Runs Through It – and this is actually quite close to the reality, Montana being the fourth biggest state but ranking just 44th in population of the 50 states. What I did not expect, however, was the proliferation of crystal meth, of which I was informed by a lot of billboards with various messages along the lines of “one shot and you’re hooked”. Lovely. Seeing how differently people out here live, together with the conversations I overheard throughout the trip about guns in particular, I got an unexpected insight into the voting patterns of the country.

Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore
Have you ever noticed that Teddy Roosevelt (you know, Robin Williams – third one from the left) is wearing glasses? Amazing!

Now the reason for venturing into meth central was in fact this: ticking off #7 on my bucket list and visiting Mount Rushmore (“THERE IS NO COUNT RUSHMORE!”). It’s really not on the way to anything and as we’ve established the US is a very big country, so you can’t exactly just pop up to Mount Rushmore. Having come to Colorado for my cousin’s wedding, however, it felt like this was my big chance: the memorial is less than a six-hour drive from Denver. It was conceived precisely to bring tourists to the Black Hills region and it seems to have been successful!

Now, as is often the case, Mount Rushmore was smaller than I had expected (did you ever visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa?), at least from a distance. On the way there, I first saw the profile of a face carved into the mountain but it turned out in fact to be that of Crazy Horse. In an ambitious project that started in 1948, the intent has been to create a monument to represent a Native American hero; if it’s ever completed it will be the largest sculpture in the world. Over at the better funded Mount Rushmore, the four faces of the American presidents were chosen by sculptor Gutzon Borglum to represent the founding (George Washington, 1789-1797), growth (Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809), preservation (Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865) and development (Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909) of the United States.

And the name, Mount Rushmore? Read this letter. Random…

The unexpected highlight for me was coming back in the evening, when all the visitors joined in with the national anthem as the monument was lit, and all past and present military personnel were individually honoured on stage. If you’d like a taster of what this was like, I recorded a video on my phone – it’s very dark, but you get at least an idea of the atmosphere. Just click on the ‘X’ to remove the ad at the bottom.

 

Little Bighorn

National Cemetery
263 soldiers, including Custer, died at the Battle of Little Bighorn

Reading about Crazy Horse led us to the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where the combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho won a victory against Lieutenant Colonel Custer and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army (referred to in The Last Samurai, if you’ve seen that recently!). Although we hadn’t planned a stop there, I was happy to see that the site of ‘Custer’s Last Stand’ was on the way to our next stop, West Yellowstone.

Indian Memorial
A quote at the memorial reads, “Forty years ago I fought Custer till all were dead. I was then the enemy of the Whitemen. Now I am the friend and brother, living in peace together under the flag of our country.” – Two Moons, Northern Cheyenne.

Although that battle of 25th-26th June 1876 was a victory for the Native Americans, just a few years later they had surrendered. The site of the battlefield today includes a National Monument with the Custer National Cemetery as well as an Indian Memorial.

Yellowstone National Park

I’ve always loved Yosemite National Park but I have to say that I may well have a new favourite: Yellowstone. Its sheer scale and spectacular beauty was quite overwhelming, with every turn in the road offering a fresh perspective and a new type of landscape. The first national park in the US and possibly also the world, it encompasses sub-alpine forest, geothermal features including geysers (also ‘paint pots’ and ‘fumaroles’), mountains, lakes, rivers, canyons, waterfalls… and a range of wildlife including bears (we saw a black baby one), bison and elk (we saw several), deer (we saw many!). We saw most of it from our car so I’d definitely love to come back and have more of a natural experience of camping… but WOW, what we saw just took our breath away. We even timed our visit perfectly to the Old Faithful geyser just as it erupted (it does so approximately every 90 minutes – you can follow the latest estimates on its personal Twitter account!).

River in Yellowstone

Yellowstone view

Yellowstone bison

Yellowstone rocks

yellowstone-earth

Yellowstone geysers

Old Faithful, Yellowstone

Yellowstone rock formations

Yellowstone waterfall

Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City: another place that I’d been curious about but I would never travel to for its own sake. Of course I’ve always known it as the headquarters of the Mormons, something that has only been reinforced since watching Book of Mormon. Twice. As far as I can tell, everything portrayed in the musical is basically true (okay, except the actual story of Kevin, Arnold, and Uganda) and it was quite fascinating to learn more about their beliefs of Jesus coming to North America, Mormon and his son Moroni (“the all-American angel”) writing down their witness in the 4th century AD, Joseph Smith finding those golden plates, and Brigham Young founding the religion in Salt Lake City.

Sal Tlay Ka Siti, not just a story mama told
But a village in Ooh-tah, where the roofs are thatched with gold
If I could let myself believe, I know just where I’d be –
Right on the next bus to paradise: Sal Tlay Ka Siti

Mormon Temple
Mormons get baptised and married in their temples, which are not open to the public. You can see a scale model in the visitor’s centre: the inside is absolutely spectacular.

Now Salt Lake City is the location of the Mormon temple, and it does look exactly like it does in the musical set. I found it interesting, though, that only about half of the city’s population is Mormon and there is actually a strong counter-culture that means that it’s no problem at all to find places to drink coffee or alcohol… or do yoga! Since it was only a quick two-night stop, we did still focus our attention on Temple Square, which was the reason why I wanted to visit the city. We said, “Hello” to a lot of very friendly Mormon volunteers who were there to guide people around the area, all for free. Most in fact were women, both young students who were on their mission and older pensioners (rather hilariously, it was the latter who were tasked with showing us how the computers worked in the Family History Library).

 

The practical bit

I honestly wouldn’t recommend such a whirlwind tour of so many states, even though that’s often what I end up doing; but it did gave me a taster and I now know where I’d like to come back to (definitely Yellowstone for some proper camping as well as Jackson and, more surprisingly, Salt Lake City).

Driving distances, no stopping:

Denver – Mount Rushmore c. 370 miles (<6 hours)

Mount Rushmore – Little Bighorn c. 280 miles (<5 hours) – West Yellowstone c. 300 miles (4.5 hours)

West Yellowstone – Jackson Hole c. 130 miles (2.5 hours)

Jackson Hole – Salt Lake City c. 300 miles (4.5 hours)

Salt Lake City – Denver c. 530 miles (<8 hours)

 

A few of my favourite places to stay or eat:

Torrington, Wyoming: This was a ‘middle-of-a-nowhere’ petrol / lunch stop but I feel it deserves a mention because of the surprisingly modern coffee shop The Java Jar, where they served great coffee and very fresh salads and sandwiches. They even had Wi-Fi!

Broadus, Montana: Should you ever find yourself driving through Broadus, then keep on driving. Should you for some reason have to stop, then make your way to the bowling alley (you’ll know it by the naked baby doll tied to a post outside) where you can get a really yummy quesadilla.

Keystone, North Dakota: Our hotel recommended the Powder House Lodge Restaurant and we weren’t disappointed. I had the most delicious elk medallions sautéed with apples and my aunt had the one of the best (buffalo) filets she’d ever tasted. I also had a very tasty Moscow Mule in the Red Garter Saloon where there was live music and even a bit of dancing.

Jackson, Wyoming: Try Bin 22 for dinner and drinks (the restaurant is next door to the grocer’s where you can pick up a bottle of wine with no corkage), and The Bunnery, a popular breakfast spot for tourists and locals alike.

Salt Lake City, Utah: The Melting Point was a pretty amusing insight into what Americans think of fondue. Bearing little resemblance to what we do in Switzerland, this was a massive four-course extravaganza that nonetheless was worth it for the experience!

Filed Under: North America, Travel, United States Tagged With: bucket list, north america, road trip, travel, United States, USA

100 Things to Do Before You Die: How to write your own bucket list

3 July, 2015 By Anna S E Lundberg 1 Comment

It’s exactly two years since I wrote my bucket list while travelling in South America; I had been watching the film with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman and felt inspired to create my own list of things I want to do before I die. Since then, I’ve been working on ticking things off, while the list itself has also evolved over time. I almost feel like I don’t need it anymore, since doing random fun things is becoming more of a habit, but I still enjoy doing things on this list!

So here’s what I’ve done since I wrote the list two years ago:

Northern lights
Magic in the Arctic Circle: seeing the aurora borealis in Swedish Lapland

5. Visit Iguazú Falls *DONE July 2013*
6. Fly over the Grand Canyon *DONE June 2015*
11. Witness the Northern Lights *DONE March 2015*
16. Go to Hobbiton and visit Weta in New Zealand *DONE November 2014*
17. Do a Thelma-and-Louise style US road trip. Without the suicidal ending. *DONE November 2014 – sort of! In New Zealand… and DONE again June 2015 in California/Nevada/Arizona*
38. Visit the glowworm caves in Waitomo *DONE November 2014*
41. Sing Evita songs in Buenos Aires *DONE July 2013*
53. Go paragliding *DONE August 2013*

Hot air balloon ride
Early morning balloon ride over Napa Valley, California

54. Fly in a hot air balloon *DONE June 2015*
55. Gallop across a field (on a horse. Not with coconuts à la Monty Python) *DONE July 2013*
83. Reach 1,000 Twitter followers *DONE May 2015*
95. Have a lead role in a musical *DONE directed and starred in Starlight Express in Geneva October 2013*
97. Find a snow globe of St Paul’s Cathedral like the one Mary Poppins has *DONE October 2014*

Only 87 more to go!

It’s actually surprisingly difficult to write your own list. Try it! I bet you’ll get stuck around 30 or 40 – at that point it requires a bit of creativity to keep going beyond the more obvious, often travel-inspired, goals.

I think a good list should have a mix of things that you can do quite easily, such as reading that book you’ve always wanted to read, and things that take more effort or time, like running a marathon or visiting every country in the world. So what have you always wanted to do? What would you wish you had done if you were to die tomorrow? Here are some ideas and categories to get you started…

Travel

An obvious one but an area that a lot of us want to do more of. Try being specific, rather than just listing countries you want to visit: What do you want to do there? When do you want to go? Who do you want to go with? Something particular you want to eat? What about the wonders of the world (Wikipedia has all sorts of different lists, including the original ancient wonders as well as the natural wonders, industrial wonders, etc.). Want to join Oktoberfest in Germany, National Cherry Festival in Japan, the Rio Carnival in Berlin? You might be able to fill the whole list just with travel!

Sports and fitness

Always wanted to learn to play a particular sport, like tennis, football, basketball? Are there sporting events you want to compete in, like a marathon or an ultra-marathon, a triathlon or Ironman…? Think beyond the obvious sports as well: what about rowing, cross-country skiing, archery? Want to get your sailing or diving licence? Or maybe do 50 push-ups, hold a plank for five minutes, or reach your goal weight?

Adventure

What about “extreme” sports and activities like skydiving, bungee jumping, kite surfing? Dog sledging in the Arctic Circle? Want to go rafting down the Colorado River? Swimming with dolphins? Hiking to Mount Everest?

Food

Ever tried snails or oysters? How about taking a cooking class in Tuscany? Going wine tasting in Napa? Catching your own fish and eating it? Eating at a three-starred Michelin restaurant? Having afternoon tea at a posh London hotel?

Transportation

Want to drive that Formula 1 car, or why not a Harley Davidson? What about riding on the Orient Express or the Trans-Siberian Railway? Or flying in a hot-air balloon or in a private jet? Have you ridden in a Tuk-tuk in Asia or in a gondola in Venice?

Books and films

Do you want to read every one of Jane Austen’s books or William Shakespeare’s plays? What about religious texts like the Bible and the Quran? Maybe you want to watch every one of the James Bond films or watch a series back-to-back? Or visit the location of your favourite film?

Music

Did you always want to learn to play the piano, or the alto sax? Again, be specific, for example is there a particular song you want to be able to play (I want to learn to play Somewhere over the Rainbow on the ukulele)? Do you want to perform in front of a certain number of people? Try karaoke for the first time?

Entertainment

Want to watch a Wimbledon game or attend the Superbowl live? See a West End or Broadway musical or see an iconic band live before they retire? How about being a member of a TV studio audience or even a game show contestant? Going to a drive-in movie?

General knowledge and education

Ever had the ambition to learn all the world’s countries and their capitals or perhaps the US states and their capitals? What about the world’s flags? The 88 official constellations? How about memorising the periodic table? Want to be able to count to ten, or say hello, in 100 languages? What about learning to code?

Family and relationships

It’s easy to forget this one but if you have goals in this area then why not include them! Want a big wedding? Five children? Think of smaller goals to: want to call your mum once a week? Get back in touch with an old school friend? Want a dog?

Giving and volunteering

Want to do a charity walk? Build a house with Habitat for Humanity? Volunteer in a soup kitchen? Be a mentor for someone? Donate £1,000 to a special cause?

Creativity

Want to knit a scarf, sew a dress? How about doing a sketching or a watercolour course? Taking a life drawing class? Fancy writing a novel? Starting a blog?

Career

Want to start your own business? Become CEO of a big corporation? Get a PhD? Be invited to speak at Ted? Have an article published?

Random

Ever wanted to get a tattoo? Ride a unicycle? Meet a childhood hero? Solve a Rubik’s Cube? Learn to juggle? Get married in Vegas? For some more imaginative ideas like delivering a baby, playing rugby naked and kissing a celebrity, have a look at Seb’s 100 things.

I hope that’s enough to get you started! Please share your own crazy ideas in the comments below…

Filed Under: Bucket List, Life Tagged With: 100 things to do before you die, bucket list

So you like to travel?

1 May, 2015 By Anna S E Lundberg 1 Comment

When asked to list our interests – whether at the bottom of a CV or in a dating profile – we might mention reading, going for walks, playing a sport… and most of us will probably add, “I like to travel.” But what exactly does that mean? In the last few years I’ve come across countless bloggers who live for travel, solo travellers or couples who build their whole lives around moving from place to place, celebrating the joys of the nomadic life and pumping out articles about how you, too, can afford to live this kind of rootless existence. Now I’m no travel blogger, but travel has been a conspicuous part of the experiences that I’ve been sharing on this blog, and whenever I have time off between projects my natural impulse is to book a trip…

So why is that we travel? What is it about travelling that we find so appealing? If we dig a little deeper, we’ll probably find that there are all sorts of underlying forces creating that urge to pack our suitcase and head out of the door…

Travel as a holiday

In its most common, and simple, form, travel is something you do when you have time off work. You might go to your house in the south of France, lie on a beach in Barbados, or visit your family who live abroad. You may even choose to go to the same place each year, so you know exactly what you’re getting and you can focus on relaxing and enjoying yourself. This is time with your loved ones, time away from the office… a holiday, basically. A holiday is a wonderful thing and brings lots of benefits; but if “I like to travel” means “I like a holiday” then, yes, duh, we all do darling.

Travel as an escape

Taking the idea of a holiday or a break from work to the extreme gives you travel as an escape from the drudgery of your everyday life. Every week from Monday morning you’re counting down the days until the weekend, and all year long you’re counting down the weeks until your next holiday. If that’s you, then as the saying goes you need to find a life that you don’t want to escape from! A few days or weeks of holiday a year can never make up for the rest of the year that you live in soul-destroying wretchedness in a job you hate or in a relationship that makes you miserable. Enjoy your time away, by all means – just make sure you hand in that resignation letter or dump your cheating boyfriend when you get back.

Travel as a ‘tick the box’

Ah that most terrible of all sins, to travel simply to say that you’ve been there. These are the Americans who “do Europe” in a fortnight, tourists who barely leave the airport or the hotel, who want to see the Mona Lisa – tick! – and be done with it. They’ll do a bus tour so as to cover as much as they can in a day, they’ll see the main sights, they’ll take lots of photos. It’s crossing off destinations for the sake of it, without any attempt at getting to know the real heart of a place. These tourists – ouch, what an insult! – leave with a few selfies and souvenirs… oh and plenty of bragging rights, supported by all the photos filling up our Facebook newsfeeds. But, then, part of the joy of having an experience is being able to share it with your friends, isn’t it!?

“Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation.”
– Elizabeth Drew

Travel as a cultural experience

There are also the more highbrow among the travellers, those who enjoy discovering different cultures, going to museums, learning languages. These are the travel snobs, the ones who would never dream of lying on a beach all day, feeling virtuous as they get up early to go to that great little exhibition. Cultural experiences, though, are much broader than that and it’s impossible not to live a richer life as a result of being exposed to different ways of living and seeing how small you are in the grand scheme of things.

“Travel broadens our perspectives. Suddenly, the palette with which we paint the story of our lives has more colours.”
– Rick Steves

Travel as an exploration of the unknown

Travel can also be an adventure. It’s arriving in places you know little about, being open to whatever experience comes long, getting to know the locals you happen to meet. True adventurers – travellers, not tourists – don’t like to plan and tend to be looking for a more authentic experience, meaning staying with the locals, going to bars and restaurants away from the main touristy areas, spending more time there to really get to know a place. Another type of travel snob, looking down on those of us foolish enough to visit the standard tourist attractions, the restaurant rip-offs, paying full price at the market…

“Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.”
– Dalai Lama

Travel for travel’s sake

And, finally, why not travel simply for travel’s sake? The idea of Wanderlust has become prevalent in the English language, along with another loanword from German, Fernweh – literally , ‘far-sicknesss’, as opposed to Heimweh or homesickness – and a great one from my own language, resfeber, which is Swedish for ‘travel fever’. The internet is full of travel bloggers who have packed up their bags and spend all year, every year, moving around from place to place with no permanent home.

“Not all those who wander are lost.”
– J. R. R. Tolkien

Personally, I think I travel for a mixture of all these reasons: for a break from sitting at a desk all day, for quality time with friends and family, to have new experiences and meet new people and, yes, to tick off amazing ‘bucket list’ sights like witnessing the Northern Lights (last month) and seeing the Grand Canyon (next month!). The world is vast and beautiful and I want to see as much as I can in the time that I’ve been given.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
– Mark Twain

So what type of traveller are you? Let me know in the comments below!

Filed Under: Life, Travel Tagged With: bucket list, fernweh, resfeber, travel, wanderlust, why travel

Travel Maps and Travel Lists: Why this urge to visit more countries?

5 December, 2014 By Anna S E Lundberg 2 Comments

This week on Facebook has seen a proliferation of travel maps, tool from Matador Network that lets you see how many countries you’ve been to. A lot of my friends have shared theirs, with little comment except: “Must do more.”

I myself have “Visit 100 countries” on my bucket list, in addition to visiting specific countries and places like Mongolia, Tibet, the Great Wall of China. When my friend and I had two weeks in Central America, we raced across four countries; last year in South America, I covered eight countries in three months.

So what is it that makes us feel that we should visit more countries? Chris Guillebeau, who started his blog around his experiences of travelling to every single country in the world – 193 countries over 11 years – called his journey a Quest. We’re looking for adventure, for physical challenges; to see natural and manmade wonders like the Grand Canyon and the Taj Mahal; to learn a language, discover new cultures, taste different food; sometimes we’re looking for escape, from a painful break-up or a redundancy; and we’re simply looking for a change.

There are some, of course, who prefer to spend more time in one country, getting to know a place and its people. I have a friend who goes to Thailand at every opportunity, my mum loves nothing more than going back to the same resort once a year, and all those with sailboats and holiday homes spend a lot of time there rather than going somewhere new. It means you know what you’re getting, you can hit the ground running and be sure to have a great holiday. I even sat next to a guy on the plane this summer who said he much preferred staying at home.

At the other extreme, the manic urge to see more countries can come at the expense of truly experiencing each one. Counting a business trip on which you never left the conference centre, or spending a day or two in a country just to tick it off your list, is hardly doing it justice. My worst crime was in Liechtenstein: intending to have lunch there (ideally in the restaurant frequented by the richest prince in the world), I had driven through this tiny country in minutes. In the end, I had to stretch my leg out of the car at the crossing into Austria so that my foot could touch Liechtenstein soil. Yes, it counts! But, yes, it’s a little bit cheating…

I don’t feel rushed, though. I think I’ve developed the perfect pace, for me, when I’m travelling. I go to bed when I’m tired, I wake up naturally without an alarm clock; I plan a few excursions each day, some days more action packed than others; I have time to sit in a park with a notebook or stroll along the river with my camera; and I don’t give myself a hard time when all I want is a latte and some Wi-Fi. I feel like I’m making the most of my trip without rushing through a list of must-see attractions.

Looking at my friends’ maps, it’s interesting to consider the choices that have led to their particular configuration of countries. Often, we’ve travelled to the other side of the world but ignored our own backyard. I was shocked the other day to hear that my Australian friend had never been to New Zealand – but, then, I’ve never been to Ireland, despite spending 20 years of my life in the UK (an anomaly that I will correct next year!). Another friend in Brazil has similarly not explored the rest of South America.

It also depends on what you’re after: beaches and surfing? Mountains and hiking? Museums and temples? Adventure or relaxation? What languages do you speak? Are you comfortable travelling alone or do you need to go somewhere your friend or partner also wants to go? Where do you have friends that you can visit? My choice of destination is the result of an algorithm taking into account the time of year, the cost of flights and, of course, my bucket list.

So, here we are, my own travel map. I’ve been to 51 countries so I’m just past halfway to my goal of 100 countries. I plan to visit at least two new countries every year – this year it was Malta and Malaysia. In fact, it’s getting harder to cross countries off, with few nearby countries left to explore. In addition to Ireland, I’m quite tempted by Iceland next year (I seem to be going by the alphabet); and maybe Canada, a little further afield. Small countries help you tick off more on your list, but the countries with large surface areas look more impressive on a map! So I’m thinking Canada as well as Greenland and Russia…

Anna Lundberg’s Travel Map

Anna Lundberg has been to: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican. Get your own travel map from Matador Network.

What does your travel map look like? Where have you focused your attention so far? Where are you going next? Share your bucket list in the comments below!

Filed Under: Bucket List, Life, Travel Tagged With: bucket list, chris guillebeau, matador network, travel, travel list, travel map, travelstoke, why do we travel

Another birthday, another show

7 October, 2014 By Anna S E Lundberg 5 Comments

And so another year has passed, the fastest yet. Is this how it’s going to be now, each year passing more quickly, as we race towards middle, and ultimately old, age?

The fact is that a year is no longer a large and significant portion of my life. A year is one of many that I have already lived, and, I hope, one of many that I have still ahead of me. It’s 20 years since the Macarena, 19 years since Oasis released Wonderwall, 17 years since I watched Titanic five times at the cinema, 14 years since I graduated from high school, 10 years since Friends and Sex and the City ended…

So a lot has happened in 32 years, and a lot has changed, from MS-DOS to iPhones and iPads, from school discos to late night clubbing, from handwritten essays to PowerPoint presentations, from break-ups to weddings, from funerals to births. And it’s no wonder. Go back 32 years from my birth and you end up in 1950, the year that President Truman ordered the development of the hydrogen bomb, Disney released Cinderella, and the Korean War began. Yikes.

Time is relative, though. A year can pass quickly, while an hour can be agonisingly slow. Usually, of course, time slows down when you’re doing something unpleasant. My favourite Shakespeare quote from Macbeth is one that I clung on to as I endured hours and hours of school and university exams:

Come what come may,
Time and the hour run through the roughest day.

Of course the problem was that you couldn’t just sit and wait for time to pass, you had to actually concentrate and actively participate in the exam that lay ahead.

When you’re at school, you want time to pass quickly. You say that you’re 12 and three-quarters because it’s so important that you’re almost 13, which is so much older than 12. You plan your birthday party months in advance. You read magazines that are aimed at older teenagers. And you can’t wait to be a grown-up, when you can do what you want, when you have your driving licence and no homework or teachers telling you what to do.

Even as adults we want time to go quickly. We complain about Mondays and count the minutes until the weekend comes around. Then we count the weeks until our next holiday. And so time and the hour run through all days, until we shrivel up and to dust we will return.

Maybe that’s why I’m so seemingly obsessed with bucket lists, with travelling to new countries, learning languages, spending time with friends and family. I want to make sure that I’m using the time I have wisely, that I won’t have regrets. And, so far at least, each year has been better than the one before. I don’t long for my twenties or my teens, or even for the sweet innocence of childhood. Thank goodness for that, as I’m pretty sure that no one has invented time travel as yet.

So no looking back. Onwards and upwards! Here’s to another fabulous year, my 33rd. It’s going be a good one! The best to date, in fact.

“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”
– C. S. Lewis

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: bucket list, C S Lewis quote time, getting older, Macbeth quote time

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Anna Lundberg is a success coach and business strategist who helps experienced corporate professionals reimagine success outside of the 9 to 5.

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