Everyone has a list of things they want to do, whether it be in their mind or written out on paper
- Visit these places
- Brussels, Belgium
- Naples, Italy
- Venice, Italy
- Rome, Italy and the Vatican
- Vienna, Austria
- Paris, France
- Lascaux, France — Check out the earliest known cave paintings.
- Sydney, Australia — Opera house and beachfront, Great Barrier Reef
- New Zealand
- Frankfurt, Germany — Try some delicious sausages!
Hanging Gardens of Babyloncan’t… they don’t exist anymore- Great Pyramids of Egypt
- Svalbard Global Seed Vault
- Boston, Massachusetts — Boston Harbor, MIT, attend a Red Sox game
- Toronto, Canada — Visit the CN Tower
- Antarctica — Visit a research station, hug a penguin, and possibly trek to the South Pole
- North Pole — Note to self: bring super-sensitive scale and see if I really weigh less than at the equator
- Roswell, New Mexico — See for myself what all this “alien conspiracy” stuff is about
- US. National Parks:
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park — For the cave, of course!
- Grand Teton National Park — For the scenic beauty ✅
- Arches National Park, Utah — Great photo opportunities here
- Badlands National Park — Excavate a dinosaur fossil (even if it’s just a tooth)
- Crater Lake National Park, Oregon — Always wanted to go there since I was a kid! ✅
- Everglades National Park, Florida — Wade through a swamp without getting eaten by a crocodile. Okay, maybe boat.
- Grand Canyon National Park ✅
- Yosemite National Park — Half Dome ✅
- Yellowstone National Park — Hiking, Old Faithful, hot spring bath ✅
- Hawaii Volcanoes
- Olympic National Park, Washington ✅
- Amazon Rainforest — A great photography opportunity!
- New York, New York — So good it had to be named twice!
- Carnegie Hall
- Avery Fisher Hall
- Lincoln Center
- Juilliard School
- Columbia University
- New York University
- Steinway piano factory
- Pizza place
- 9/11 Site
- Times Square (APPLE STORE!)
- MoMA
- JFK Airport
- Washington, DC
- Smithsonian Museum
- White House — Meet with the President
- Capitol Building — Listen in on a Congressional session and try not to fall asleep
- Supreme Court building — if I’m allowed
- Pentagon
- Washington Monument and Reflecting pond
- Viet Nam War Memorial, WWII Memorial
- Geneva, Switzerland — Mostly for CERN
- Chicago, Illinois — University of Chicago, The Loop, Willis Tower, Lake Michigan waterfront, O’Hare Airport ✅
- Go back to where I used to live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. See that city all over again ✅
- St. Louis, Missouri — See the Gateway Arch!
- Tokyo, Japan — See how busy it REALLY is
- Seoul, South Korea
- Garching, Germany — Visit the ESO Headquarters
- Houston, Texas — Visit Mission Control
- Orlando, Florida — SeaWorld and Kennedy Space Center. I would love to witness a spacecraft launch!
- Mediterranean Sea cruise!
- Greece
- University of Arizona (Biosphere 2) ✅
- Dubai — Definitely on my top 10 list! Go windsurfing on the beachfront, ride up the largest tower in the world, and check out the technological innovations
- Quebec, Quebec — How different does the French sound there from the French in France?
- Anchorage, Alaska — Check out the crab fishing scene, and see how the Inuits can build such awesome igloos
- Israel, once it’s safe to go there
- Jerusalem: Dome of the Rock, Weeping Wall
- Jordan River
- Bethlehem: Jesus’ Birthplace!
- Dead Sea (if it hasn’t died yet)
- Las Vegas — Walk around the Strip WITHOUT DRINKING ✅
- Route 66 ✅
- Sioux Indian Reservation — Get a glimpse of the culture that many of us don’t get to experience in America
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Amsterdam, The Netherlands — Check out the nice Dutch houses
- Warsaw, Poland — A nice cultural experience
- Moscow, Russia — Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Bolshoi Theatre
- London, U.K. — Climb up Big Ben, visit Piccadilly Circus, Westminster Palace, the reconstructed Globe Theatre
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Hong Kong — Check out the pirated media industry that my friend keeps rambling about
- Taiwan — My friends live there!
- Cape Town, South Africa — Stand on Table Mountain and watch the sunset
- Rwanda — Volunteer in one of the most impoverished nations in the world
- Cairo, Egypt — Ride a camel
- Fez, Morocco — Check out the market and try some delicious cockroaches
- African Savanna — See a giraffe up close, and avoid getting eaten by a hippo
- Ayers Rock, Australia — Is it okay if I climb up it?
- The Olympics, wherever it’s being held — Seen it on TV, and I would like to see it in person!
- Islands in Oceania — Scuba diving, windsurfing!
- Fiji
- Wallis and Futuna
- Guam
- Micronesia
- Samoa
- The Moon
- Apollo 11 Landing site
- Leisure activities
- Participate in a political protest
- Skydive off a plane
- Skydive off a mountain cliff
- Learn to windsurf
- Learn to fly an airplane (co-pilot)
- Invent something or improve an invention
- Build a house (in real life)
- Turn pages for a famous pianist
- Work with a back-stage crew on a play or musical
- Be on set for the filming of a movie
- Paint a mural
- Run a marathon
- Run a half-marathon
- Participate in the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure
- Try some exotic foods ✅
- Sled down the largest hill that I can find
- Ride the longest straight escalator in the world
- Ride the longest escalator in the world
- Ride the longest ski lift in the world
- Ride a hot-air balloon (extra points for the largest hot-air balloon in the world)
- Build an elaborate sculpture out of everyday things (playing cards, toothpicks, Fruit Loops, &c.)
- Volunteering:
- Animal hospital ✅
- Human hospital
- Music camp
- Science camp
- Competition (sports, music, just-for-fun)
- Humanitarian causes (Habitat for Humanity, Greenpeace, Peace Corps, Salvation Army) ✅
- Life goals
- Get more exercise more frequently
- Write an autobiography
- Catch up on classic novels