If you got a chance to read on my blog yesterday you may have noticed that I posted my own Life List, online for the first time. While it is in my opinion far from complete, it is still much further ahead then many other people may be with their own. As such today I would like to share with you some tips to help you get your own Life List down on paper.

Of course the very first thing to remember is in regards to what follows. Yes this is a list of tips, and yes they are what I am suggesting as tips for creating you Life List, however that is all they are tips. They are not rules, or absolute’s, if you want to bend or twist a tip to work for you do it. The whole point of a Life List is what it should work for you, it doesn’t need to impress anyone but you.

Just Start Your List

Maybe this is the only one that is not so twistable or changeable if you don’t like. The fact of the matter is if you are looking for information about Life Lists, like the idea then you should just get started. Get a notepad, or a special book or even a diary, and start writing down some of the things you REALLY want to do or achieve in your life.

Length Does Not Matter

How long your list is and how many experiences are on your list does not matter to anyone but you. If all that you want on your list is 10 things, so be it. If you want 1000 things on your list that is your choice. The only thing that I would suggest keeping in mind is that what you can achieve in a day, is something you often overestimate, however what you can achieve in a lifetime is often underestimated.

Fixed List or Ever Evolving

You really have two options in creating your list. If you really want to work towards a single fixed list of goals, then that is ok. Some people do prefer having a fixed target in mind. However if like me you expect that things can change, you can be flexible in your Life List, it really just depends on your preference. I am planning to add to my list as I find experiences that really speak to me, that I really want to undertake, however I do not plan to remove anything.

There is only one Time Limit

The only time limit that should be place on anything on you list is within your lifetime. Don’t limit yourself to achieving an item at a specific event, unless you see that you can have control over achieving that goal.

For example right now setting a goal on your Life List to attend the 2012 London Olympic Games Opening ceremony, if you have no savings and have not booked the tickets would be very difficult to achieve, in the time frame you have available. A better goal to include would be to “Attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games” being a little more unspecific in year but still as specific in what you want to attend.

It Is About You, So Just get started

The whole concept of a Life List for each person, is as individual as you are. Creating the list all comes down to you, if you want to create a list there is no one that wants to do it more then you. So if you want to create your own Life List, now is the best time to get started. While on the other hand if you don’t, then just bookmark this page and come back to it when you feel a little more ready.

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away”

This quote is one of my favourite quotes of all time, and I think it sums up the whole idea of a Life List. A Life List is not about making a totally random list of goals that you of achieving just to impress others. A Life List really is a collection of goals that YOU want to achieve, for YOURSELF. A collection of amazing experiences, inspirational journeys and moments that take your breath away.

In saying this, you may look at my Life List, and the lists others have created in a similar way and ask how does this goal in particular translate to an amazing experience or inspirational journey? The simple answer is that goal does translate to something meaningful for them, but maybe not for you. Which is why everyone’s Life List will in some way be different. Everyone is unique and everyone’s Life List is unique.

A great way to show this is when I look at the Life List’s of others. A good example is from the Life List of <a href=”http://www.johngoddard.info/life_list.htm” title=”John Goddard Life List”>John Goddard</a>. His very first grouping is named Explore, and includes a number of the worlds longest rivers. Some of which he has explored from source to Sea. These were journeys he undertook and experiences that he wanted to be part of his life. However they are not Goals that I would aspire to, in fact probably things I would avoid entirely.

This however is what is special about creating your own Life List. You are able to choose the experiences that mean something to you! The journeys that give you butterflies just thinking about it. This is why you can search to find a Life List, and not come up with any ready made template. It just will not work for you, you need something that is created by you, just for you! A Life List that you feel compelled to Achieve!

Today I am posting for the first time the beginnings of my Life List. You can follow the link below to take a look what is included on my Life List. The primary thing that I must say up front though is that it is not finished. I have got it to this point working on it over the past 12 months. However it will be something that I will always be adding to.

Visit My Life List

Over the next few days I will also be sharing a few more posts which I have created to offer you a little more insight on creating your own Life List. Some tips to help you in creating your own list, along with some things that you may like to watch out for in creating your Life List.

Finally I would like to hope that the sharing of my Life List, has given you the inspiration to get started on your own. Create your list and achieve your dreams.

After hearing of the visit by the Queen Mary 2 to Sydney on Valentines Day, I was very happy to hear that just two days after visiting Sydney, Brisbane would get it’s turn.

As such on my way to work today I decided to take a little side trip across the river to Pinkenba where it is told the best view would be. I can tell you that myself along with hundreds of other people were not disappointed.

While the location Luggage Point (near the waste water treatment plant of all places) is not really close to very much. It is a twenty minute drive from the motorway along a two lane road that is also trying to handle a reasonable quantity of trucks and other industrial traffic. Almost the only thing worse is the parking arrangements when you get there, which are actually non existent. Of course there is place to park, but it is through a rough and bumpy patch of dirt, grass, water and trees that you crawl along looking for any space to pull your car into.

The driving and the parking aside, this was pretty much the most perfect day to go cruise ship spotting. The sun was out shining brightly, there was just a spattering of clouds, and just a little wind to take the hot temperature out of the air. It was in these conditions that on the sands near the entrance to the Brisbane River, I as able to gaze across at the Queen Mary 2.

Queen Mary 2 docked in Brisbane at Fisherman's Island Grain Wharf

While Queen Mary 2 ranks at #4 for the largest cruise ship in the world, it is actually #7 with some spots holding multiple vessels of the same size. However at 151,400 Gross Tonnes, it is the largest ever to visit Australian Ports.

The berth at the Port of Brisbane Grain Wharf, I believe provided a fantastic unobstructed view of Queen Mary 2 and I was able to get some great photo’s of the ship, still adorned with a heart for Valentines Day along side the name under the smoke stack.

Queen Mary 2 in Brisbane with Valentines Day Heart

Not a bad little side trip on the way to work, however I found out later just after starting work that another cruise ship had just left from the cruise terminal and if I had known I would have been able to get some photos of that as well. Anyhow next time I will be better prepared.

Ever since I watched the movie “The Bucket List”, which was released in 2007, I have wanted to get to and put together my own list. It was not an instant thing either, there was some delay between seeing the movie and actually making the effort to start on my list.

The motivation to get started was one thing, but actually working on the list is something that I have been doing now for probably close to two years. While the movie to some extent glamorises the idea of a bucket list, by picking out some of the most amazing and expensive things possible. I see that the list should really consist of things that you really want to do in your life.

Why Life List, Not Bucket List?

It basically comes down to how I think about the two terms and I really do like the Life List term better. It really is an interchangeable term though. To me though the term bucket list has some negative connotations.

I would prefer to think of this in terms of a Life List, which is the things I wish to see, do and experience in my life. While a Bucket List on the other hand is a list of things I hope to do before I kick the bucket (or die). It really comes down I want to see a list of things I have achieved, rather then a list of what I managed to fit in.

History of the Life List

While the 2007 movie may have made the idea a little more popular and visible to modern culture. Plus while I am sure that it has been around for a very long time in many different forms. The one instance that I like the best and that I think essentially is one of the greatest highlights of a life list is that of John Goddard.

One rainy afternoon an inspired 15-year old boy named John Goddard sat down at his kitchen table in Los Angeles and wrote three words at the top of a yellow pad, "My Life List." Under that heading he wrote down 127 goals.

While I could go on about all the achievements I believe the best way for you to find out about John Goddard is through the website that outlines it all. http://www.johngoddard.info/index.htm

Length Of My Life List

The length of the list is really just as long as you like. I mean there is no point in having a minimum number of goals on your life list as this can be limiting in that there is a chance you will try and come up with frivolous goals to try and fill it up. While there is also no point having a maximum either as no matter what is your list or how long it is there is potential to achieve all that you desire in the space of a lifetime.

Many people over estimate what they can achieve in a day, while under estimating what they can achieve in a year.

So my overall thoughts are why limit the potential in either direction. At this point my list has 81 different items on it. Although I expect that this will grow by at least a few in the next couple of weeks, and one thing that I will never rule out is adding to the list.

Why A Life List On A Travel Blog?

This will likely become a lot more self evident once I publish the list (by the end of February 2012). The fact is that for a majority of people, when you actually stop and think about the things that you want to see, do and experience in your life, many of them require travel.

This is true even for items on your list that many not actually require travel, items that you can be pretty close to home even. While I may not have to travel it could be something that is still really a travel experience, and if you look back there are a couple such posts I have made already, under the area of local tourist.

The List, The Updates & More

Over the coming weeks, I will be finalising the list for publication anyway. The delay in publishing the list right now is that I still want to be sure that what I have listed actually makes sense when it is read. As such I will maybe need to add some extra information to some of the Life List items, to ensure that everyone will understand.

The updates will all be a part of this blog as time goes by. While some of the items on the list will just come up and be achieved without much thought being put into. Others will require planning and such to get to, so the updates will be a mixture of achievement, planning and I suppose in some cases defeat.

So feel free to comment, and share about your own experiences, life list, or anything else that you feel might be relevant. Also the space I will be setting up for the life list, I want to share some links to other people working on their own life lists, so please leave a comment if you would like to be included.

Over the past week or so, I have been busy looking at and booking some hotels and transport for the first stages of my upcoming trip to Europe. While some of it is all done, there are still some challenges that I am facing in getting things sorted out.

The Good

I can confirm that I have booked hotels and flights for everything in stage 1 in Europe. This covers the first 14 nights, which means at least I know where I am sleeping and how I am getting there for the first two weeks.

For this first stage the confirmed stops will be Berlin an Vienna. While I am sure that you will be able to think of some of the things that I may do while in these stops, and I do have some plans. I also want to keep anything more at least a little bit of a secret, otherwise where would the fun and anticipation be for you to keep an eye on the blog?

The Not So Good

It has been a problem in the past and it seems to have come back to haunt me again. However the challenge of finding the hotels that sound good in the description, offer the things that I want and also seem to have at least reasonable reviews, is challenging.

I had previously in my mind decided that I would not let reviews impact my decision to much and would be more flexible in just choosing a hotel. Well that has not really happened. It has taken me days of looking and deciding just to book 3 hotels.

The Bad

The problem above has not really improved much with my move to looking at hotels in the US for stage two of my journey. Although I must admit that on this part of the trip, it is not so much problems with choosing the hotels, but the number of days and the way the price changes per day by extending the stay.

This was something I had not expected and never really had seen before at all. In one case the price per day was $228 per night for three nights. The same hotel, with the same room for five nights was $264. A jump of $36 dollars. I could understand if this was the average price as some rooms are more expensive on different nights of the week. However the site showed prices for each individual night.

So this has caused a problem of some sorts in organising where I want to be for how long. Which makes it difficult deciding what to do, whether I spend the extra for the more time or just try and fit in what I want to do in the shorter amount of time.

Outcomes

Ideally I want to get stage two fully booked and sorted within the next week. Preferably by the end of the weekend. This will at least give me some reprieve in knowing that I have plenty of time to look at stages four and five before leaving home. Also it will allow me the time to sit down and have a good look at the tours offered for the cruise and the destinations I will be in before the cruise.

Anyway you can expect to see another update in the near future, and hopefully it will be to confirm bookings to the end of stage three. So feel free to comment or ask any questions you may have below and I will get back to you soon. When it comes time for the trip, besides the daily updates I will endeavour to make here at the blog, there may be some other smaller details that I will share via the Facebook Group  for my travels feel free to join here http://www.facebook.com/groups/joeltravels/

When you think about travel there are so many different ways to think about it. You might see it as a plan, like you draw up a plan for a house, you can create a plan for your travel. Maybe you see your travel’s as a Board game, where you do not plan, and each new step along the path is like a roll of the dice to see where to next. Of course no matter how you see it everyone has their own way of seeing their travel.

It was just today though that I heard the analogy that I feel best suits the way that I put together my own travel. It was actually something my mum said but it really does fit quite well. That my travel is like a jigsaw puzzle, I take all the pieces and put them altogether.

This is really how I actually do see my travels, but had never thought of it in terms of a jigsaw puzzle before. I generally start with some idea of what I want to achieve, and start grabbing the pieces that I find and trying to get them to fit together.

What are the Pieces

The pieces as I have come to see them are the cities I will visit, the transport that I will take and the activities that I will participate in. The pieces start out quite big, like you might expect to find in a puzzle for 1-3 year olds. This is because it is countries and how to get to the countries. So my upcoming Europe trip started with just 4 puzzle pieces, which included Europe, USA, Cruise, Fly.

Really each of these larger pieces is made up of a number of smaller pieces. When you take a look at the Europe piece of the puzzle, I am of course visiting a number of different places in Europe. So when you look closer at the Europe piece, it is made up of pieces for Berlin, Vienna, Reykjavik, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Nice, along with pieces for travel between each.

Not like a Traditional Jigsaw

This whole process of course is not entirely like a traditional jigsaw, as you really cannot see the complete picture before you begin. You just have a rough idea at the beginning and define what the final picture will be as you better connect the pieces.

Putting the pieces together though is is pretty similar to a traditional jigsaw puzzle. Although you tend to discard a lot of pieces that will never fit into your puzzle. For example the Europe piece of my puzzle, had thousands of potential options, what with all the different countries, cities and different options for transport. However as you can see from above, I discarded a lot of pieces to come down to about a dozen or so pieces including transport.

How does your jigsaw look

Have you got a travel jigsaw that you have been working on. How are your pieces coming together?

So here we are at the tail end of my longest journey yet. This last stage is just eight nights between Canada and the USA. With stops in three cities.

This is not so much like the other stages of this journey in that my time in Canada will be spent with a friend and time in the USA will be more so filling in time leading up to the flight home.

The Stops

Toronto, Canada – This is where I will spend some time with my friend whom I met on the Transpacific cruise I completed in Late 2011, and also spent a week in Melbourne in November 2011. This is likely to be a good fun few days, and will let me see some more of Toronto after spending just 48 hours here in November 2010.

Chicago, USA – A city that I have wanted to visit for a little while now as it seems to be a place that many people recommend stopping to see. However being that it is one of the last stops it is still open to change and I am not certain on this choice yet. We will see it is just two days so we will see.

Los Angeles, USA – I am fairly sure that I have seen just about all that I want to here, and really don’t have a huge attachment to the city. Just one night before my flight home is down for LA, and most of that is what I am using as a buffer, in case there happens to be some problem with flights or such.

Sight Seeing

There may not be a lot of sign seeing in this particular stage of the trip, however you just never know what you will see and what you may be doing. In Toronto my time will be mostly spent with a friend, while I am sure we will get out and see some things around Toronto, this is not really somewhere I will have to put a lot of thought into, hopefully my friend will have some ideas about what and where we will see.

With the limited time in Chicago I will make the most of seeing what I can around the city. Although I will likely opt for a tour or something here, just to make the most efficient use of my time. We will see, it is not something I have to decide on just yet. Los Angeles, will just be catching up with myself and being ready for the flight home. I cannot think of much if anything that I really want to see in Los Angeles that I have not already seen.

That is the Trip

So that is the trip in a nut shell. While that rounds out all the details of the trip, I will be sharing other bits and pieces along the way while I am booking hotels, trains, flights, rental cars and tours. So be sure to keep an eye here on my blog for more updates soon.

As always please feel free to comment or share your own experience below, I would love to here your thoughts.

The one thing that often makes travel a challenge for people is the idea of tacking the Airport Security Checkpoint. If there is one thing that you tend to learn from taking over twenty flight through over a dozen different airports is how to handle passing the security check point without any problems.

How I Started Out

The first few times that I went through airport security were my worst nightmares come true. I would have my bags all packed perfect, knowing what was where and then you would have to pull them open to get to your laptop to put separate, along with liquids and such.

I can remember multiple times when I was not prepared at all, pulling my laptop out. Then fishing through my pockets for phone, keys, wallet, coins, and the watch off my arm. It is easy enough to pull everything out in a matter of seconds and throw it in the tray. But then on top of that you need to remember your belt (with the metal buckle) and shoes (some have a metal brace).

The hardest part is trying to get it all back together once you are through the security check point, and making sure you have everything. All while a whole lot of other people are coming through behind you all trying to do the same.

How I Handle Security Now (plus a few tips)

Depending on the line of people I can have security handled in a very short time now. I literally am at the point where I can walk to security, open bag and place laptop in a tray, close bag and put on conveyer, walk through the gate, return laptop to bag and walk away. With the only additional step take off and put on shoes where required.

Achieving this all comes down to how you prepare for the trip through security. Which I hope the tips below will help you make this trip a lot easier.

• The first thing is be prepared. Find a place, you feel comfortable and transfer everything from your pockets and body that you would normally put in the tray to your carry on bag. This would mean your wallet, phone, keys, watch, jewellery, Ipod, camera, notebook, pens, and anything else that creates a bulge or is made of metal. This should include your Belt and money belt if carrying one. You can leave your belt to take off at the checkpoint if you really need it to keep your clothes where they should be.
• Pack your laptop close to the top or in an easy to get to place in your carry on luggage. The number of times I have watched someone having to go digging to find their laptop, so keep it easy to get to.
• Carry On Liquids are almost NEVER permitted through the security check point. This means no cans of soft drink, no bottled water, no liquor or any other liquids over 3oz in size. For Liquids of 3oz or smaller they generally MUST be in a clear zip lock bag of approximately 20x20cm. In addition in some cases approved duty free packaging may allow you to carry larger quantities. HOWEVER IT IS ADVISED TO CHECK WHAT IS AND IS NOT ALLOWED TO GO THROUGH SECURITY WITH THE AIRPORT YOU ARE TRAVELLING THROUGH. Medication is generally ok, as long as you follow the correct procedure, but otherwise err on the side of caution and leave it behind.
• There is a fairly common range of items that are not allowed through security at all. These include items such as any form of blade, firearms, nail clippers, scissors, explosives, ect. Most airports will post this limitations in a lot of different locations well before security. while some of them are common sense not to take with you for a flight, others you may not think about. If In doubt, LEAVE IT AT HOME.
• Finally in many airports you need to show some form of id and your boarding pass to security. Rather then trying to fumble around and put this away in the proper place or someone different to where you normally put it. I have never had a problem carrying these through the security gate.

These are pretty much all the things that I keep in mind when going through security. Keep in mind though that some airports may be different and can have higher or lower levels of security. The one thing that you should always remember is to use common sense, and don’t argue with the security officer. While some rules are bendable by discretion, you will find it more difficult if you raise your voice or get on the offensive right away.

Keeping these things in mind will generally make your time in the security area at any airport just a bit easier. Unfortunately the one thing that we cannot change is how other people handle this process. Even though you may be ready most other people will be very much unprepared for this so unfortunately patience is still needed.

Just remember that it the officer’s may be a little abrupt or rude at times, but think about it if you had to repeat the same thing to every person all day and argue over the same items that are not allowed constantly. You would probably be pulling your hair out by the end of the day, so if you make their job a little easier and be patient things should be much more smoothly for you.

Since Europe is the whole focus of this journey then it makes sense that most of my time is spent in Europe itself. Which is the case when you combine the two stages in Europe with the many ports which make up the cruise.

This second stop in Europe is going to take me to another four countries and multiple different cities. At this stage most of this stage has not been really that closely looked at or planned as it is still a fair way off and even if I left it another few weeks I would still have a good two months buffer.

This being said this stop is a few days longer then my first stop coming in at 16 Nights. However there are a few extra stops in this stage, and the travel between the cities is just as much part of things this time.

The Stops

Stops in this stage are a little more in order, following a path then before, unlike my first stage in Europe which required kind of looping back on itself. This will definitely make for easier transport between destinations, and save on transport that kind of back tracks on it self to get to the final destination.

Nice, France – This seems to be a fairly nice area from my understanding and actually does get me pretty close to see some other area’s as well. So a few days here is pretty much a definite.

Paris, France – It would really be hard to go to Europe as a whole without spending a few days in Paris and seeing the famous landmarks of the city.

Brussels, Belgium – There is from what I can tell quite a lot to see in Brussels, not least some of the fantastic older architecture. While I do not have a lot of time in the city, I have found the best use will likely be with a Brussels Card. I also have a friend near by so hopefully will get to spend some time with them.

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Amsterdam is somewhere different, here there are many unique aspects and while I am not interested in experiencing any of the maybe more off beat things here. I am interested to see what a city built around this has to offer. One thing here will be giving it a go getting around on bikes, which is by far it seems the favourite mode of transportation.

Reykjavik, Iceland – Originally this was suppose to be purely a transit stop, however it did not take long to realise that even just 2 or 3 days here could be well worth the time.

Even though this will round out my time in Europe it definitely will not conclude the time that I spend in Europe. There will not be any more time in this trip to see some of the other places in Europe that I still have a wish to see.

Sight Seeing

Like the first stage in Europe I believe that I will predominantly look at taking tours to see the main sights. However in saying that there are a couple of areas that I will likely look at seeing by hiring a car.

The other part of this stage is that I plan to do most of the transit between cities by train, which will allow me to see quite a bit more of the countryside, and for the most part will not actually be that much different to the time it might take at airports and flying.

I really cannot elaborate here to much as I am still to start doing much research on any of these cities except for Paris, so will leave most of this side of things for the daily updates or if I find that it will be helpful some posts with more detailed research on each city I am heading for.

One More Stage

So there is just one more stage to come in outlining this trip which is Canada and USA. This will round out the journey and you will have some idea of what to expect along the way.

As usual please feel free to make any comments or suggestions on my chosen stops, because if you can suggest something better especially on these stops it will be the easier end of the journey to change. I look forward to your comments below.

When I was first planning my travel to visit Europe, I had a complete around the world plan. While the round the world plan is still in place it is noticeably different today then it was going to be last August.

Last August I was looking at flying from Brisbane to Rome, spending almost three months in Europe before flying to the USA, with just a few days before joining a Transpacific cruise from San Diego to Sydney. While I moved the flight for my Europe trip to March, the Transpacific Cruise stayed in place.

While on the Transpacific cruise, I made a decision to book a Transatlantic cruise, which kind of threw the flights that were already booked into a little bit of a mess, however, it is all but sorted out now and at least the major flights all but in place.

It did not take a lot though to realise that this Transatlantic Cruise is going to be the major feature of my journey this time. At 29 Days it is the largest single block of time in one place, even if the ship itself is moving, I still don’t need to change hotels for this time.

The Cruise

As an Overview this cruise is a total of 29 days. Of those days 11 are spent at sea, which includes the seven day Atlantic crossing. Ports in five different countries make up the 16 ports which are visited, with two overnight ports. All together one nice little cruise, which will be my longest cruise to date if only by one day.

Probably the best thing about this cruise is the variety of ports that are included across five different European Countries. Countries which include Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Croatia.

Portugal – The first two ports in Portugal, are the islands of Horta and Ponta Delgada, before an overnight stop in Lisbon, and a day in Portimao.

Spain – Three ports in Spain include, Cadiz (Seville), Malaga, and finally Barcelona.

Italy – Livorno (Florence/Pisa) is the first stop in Italy, before heading south to Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples and Catania. With Venice being the final port after visiting Greece and Croatia.

Greece – Nafplion, Katakolon and Kerkira, make up the three ports in Greece over three days.

Croatia – Dubrovnik is the one and only port in Croatia.

All put together I think the range of ports and the places that I will get to see will possibly make this my most memorable cruise. While ticking off a good number of the places that I would have otherwise done by land, in probably much lower quality accommodation, or at a much greater expense.

Sight Seeing

Being with a cruise for sightseeing often can be quite an easy way to escape much of the need to do planning. Although it often is hard not to get stuck into finding out more about the places that you will be visiting.

To date I have taken one of two choice when visiting a port with a cruise. I have either taken a suitable shore excursion to see the highlights of the port, or chosen to walk the town and see what is there with others from the cruise.

There is of course a third option to privately organise a tour, however this does come with some risks, especially on tours that go any great distance from the ship. These tours can often be better because they are more flexible and generally consist of small groups rather then the sometimes 50-60 people on a shore excursion from the ship. However they have the negative aspect that should something happen you miss the ship leaving port, you will have to find your own way to the next port to re-join the ship.

At this stage I am still happy with what I am finding as part of the shore excursions offered by the ship, however I may find that this changes at some point in the future, but can only tell with time.

More to Come

There are just two stages of the trip left for me to share some information about. Which is the second stage in Europe, and the final stage in Canada and the USA. While not maybe as exciting as the cruise there are some great stops planned for these final two stages as well.

As usual please feel free to share anything about the places that I am going to be visiting, and if you have any questions about cruising feel free to share them, I am always more than happy to share some of my experiences.