A Non-Prescriptive, Non-Binding List of Stuff to Do

I’m sitting on my couch in Boston on my penultimate night in the States before leaving for the big adventure. All of my belongings are in one of three places:

  1. In a suitcase
  2. In my basement, boxed up
  3. Awaiting the nice couple who are renting my fully-furnished condo

One thing I didn’t plan: I had my mattress steam cleaned for my renters, and I can’t sleep on it tonight, so the couch surfing has started a little earlier than I expected. But all the other preparations are done. I got a pre-flight haircut (much too short); I am fully packed (with a newfound love for compression cubes and vacuum bags); my condo is ready for some new folks to move in.

Planning this trip has been incredibly different from any trip I’ve planned in the past. When I travel, I tend to think about how to maximize all of the things I could do, often to a fault. Planning for 10 months, though, is an entirely different animal. I know that I’ll be working most days of the week, and with long stints in many areas, I don’t feel that typical pressure to pack each day with diverse activities. I fact, I know that overplanning will likely lead to fatigue, and my main goal is to live this experience, which requires downtime, a little laziness, and room for spontaneity.

But, there are definitely experiences that I’m really looking forward to, so I figured that I would write them down. And, there are vague ideas I have that I want to prioritize but can’t be encapsulated by making any specific plans. So, here’s my stab at a sabbatical bucket list. It is subject to change at any moment, and I won’t feel like a failure if many of these boxes go unchecked. They are listed in no particular order and grouped into rough categories.

In Nature

  • Dive with whales
  • See the eclipse in Spain
  • Hike the Pyrenees
  • Hike a volcano
  • Climb outdoors
  • Take a long car/scooter trip
  • Sleep under the stars on three different continents

In Town

  • Run a half marathon (maybe even another full, but then again, maybe not)
  • Explore cities without using any powered mode of transportation (running, walking, biking)
  • Try a local delicacy in each city
  • Try the street food in each city
  • Learn to cook something new, taught to me by a local
  • Stay with locals/new friends
  • Meet up with old friends
  • Play board/card games without speaking any English

Other?

  • Send a postcard every week (or at least write one)
  • Take a photo I’m proud of each week
  • Write a ton of great puzzles (@parrotspuzzles on Instagram, Parrot’s Puzzles on Patreon), hopefully inspired by the places I’m going
  • Document the experience however I can
  • Get a new tattoo
  • Feel truly comfortable speaking French
  • Love a place so much that I go back

A few of these experiences are already planned. I registered for a nighttime half marathon in Bilbao; I’ve booked some dives off the Azores through a whale conservation program; I’m meeting up with old friends in Lisbon; I’m seeing my parents in Italy, followed by 10 days in Morocco with just my mom; I have a loose plan to camp out in northern Spain for the eclipse. But a lot of this will only happen if and when I make it happen. So, I’m eager to revisit this list ten months from today; maybe I’ll even write a “reverse” bucket list after-the-fact: The things I didn’t know I wanted to do and did.

One thing I’m planning not to do is a ton of shopping. Simply put, I don’t have the luggage space. That’s why I want to be really smart about documenting the journey as it goes - to enshrine memories in writing, photos, puzzles, new WhatsApp contacts, maybe a new tattoo or several.

I’ve overused the word “planning” in this post, which makes sense if you know me well. Planning the trip has the strange effect of both creating and easing the anxiety it gives me; I’ve purposefully limited myself to only making crucial bookings (i.e. making sure I’m in Italy in time to meet up with my parents). The last thing I want is to pass on an amazing opportunity that presents itself spontaneously because my nervous brain needed a serotonin hit from filling in calendar squares in my little book. So, most of the book is blank right now, and that’s honestly the cool part. I don’t presently have a flight out of the Azores - I don’t know if I want to stay on one island, do multiple islands, etc. Most of the month of November is a series of question marks. Hopefully they turn into a lot of exclamation points.

The next time I write, it will be from Toulouse. I hope everyone reading this is happy, healthy, and eager to follow along.

À très vite,

Ethan

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