New year, new goals

I have travelled a fair bit in the past few years so people often ask me where I am going to next. If I don’t have a trip planned, then they ask if I am feeling ok! As a teacher, I am limited to the school holiday times and it is hard to get away to a far-flung destination when I only have 2 weeks’ holiday. But before I make plans, I like to set goals.

New Year is always an exciting time as I consider new goals, which I divide into those specific to the year and those that are added to a lifelong bucket list.

My current goals for 2018 are broken down into 3 categories: Physical, Travel and Home.

Physical

• Surgery recovery
• Half-marathon

Travel

• More local destinations
• A white Christmas

Home

• House extension
• More renovation

One of my physical goals is to fully recover from spinal fusion surgery, which I had in November 2017. It has been a painful and frustrating journey to date, but I am working towards being able to complete the Point to Pinnacle race in Hobart, Tasmania, which would be a great way to mark one year post-surgery. It is the world’s toughest half-marathon, starting at Wrest Point Casino and ending at the summit of Mount Wellington. I will only be walking as I am not yet the runner I want to be. I completed this race in 2015 in a pretty pathetic time but in my defence I was struggling with chronic back pain. I will work really hard on getting ready for this race and doing it in a slightly more acceptable time. Wish me luck.

One of my travel goals for 2018 is to visit Bruny Island in my home state of Tasmania. It amazes me that I have never been to this incredible part of the world when it is so close to home but I am committed to finally exploring it. I also want to see more of Western Australia and travel north to Cairns and Port Douglas. My major travel goal is to have a white Christmas, so I have been investigating house-sitting in the USA. I will report back on how I go with this as soon as I have made some positive progress. I would also love to find a travel-crazy family willing to host me there.

Home goals for 2018 include working on my house extension and renovating my lounge room. I have already completed three bedrooms and enjoy doing as much of the work as I can myself. I will write a post on my renovation journey soon and show lots of photos of the process.

My lifelong bucket list has a couple of new additions:

• More crazy hotels
• Flying in Hello Kitty planes

A few years ago, I made a list of weird and wonderful hotels I’d like to stay in and I am proud to say I have been working through them. I developed the list after seeing so many amazing and sometimes silly hotels on travel shows, in travel magazines and also my own research. I have managed to cross off a few so far and I am committed to eventually visiting all of them. Some of those on my list:

• Ice Hotel Sweden https://www.icehotel.com/
• Marina Bay Sands http://www.marinabaysands.com/ (tick)
• Liberty Hotel Boston https://libertyhotel.com
• Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort China
• Free Spirit Spheres http://freespiritspheres.com/
• Kakslauttanen Hotel Finland http://www.kakslauttanen.fi/
• Bubble http://www.attrap-reves.com/en/ (tick)

One of my general life goals is to simply enjoy that feeling of being a kid again. With that in mind, I plan to fly on each of the Hello Kitty theme planes with Eva Air. I love all things Hello Kitty and can’t imagine a more memorable flight than one with staff dressed up in Hello Kitty attire. You might be thinking this is odd for a woman who is thirty10 years old, but I’m comfortable being judged for my fascination. I will wear my Hello Kitty t-shirt and earrings proudly on those flights!

So, what are your goals for 2018? To where are you thinking of travelling? Let me know in the comments below. And make sure to update your bucket list and see where your goals can take you.