Travelin’ the globe is now a year old. Yes, it’s really been around since the spring of 2008, but this after-college version just turned one.

In honor of this day, I’ve compiled a list of 25 things I want to experience before I die.

I have been thinking about such a list for a month or so now, after reading a small book called “Life’s Little Instruction Book” by H. Jackson Brown Jr. This list is instruction No. 436, and the author suggests you carry this list in your wallet and refer to it often.

Now I could easily make a list of 25 travel destinations, but an experience is so much more to me than just a spot on the map. I listed a few of these in My Dream Trips, a post from March 2010. Since then, I have accomplished some things from my list of dream trips and some other things I did not know were on my list. These include the Colosseum in Rome and the redwoods of California and skiing the mountains of Utah, which I just did this past weekend.

As I learn more about the world I am introduced to more and more places and events and my list of places and experiences will always be evolving, so making this list was difficult. It was also easy to skip over other types of experiences than travel adventures, but then my list would be lacking.

So without further ado, my top 25 things to experience before I die:

1. A tour of Egypt with stops at Giza, the Sphinx and the Valley of the Kings
2. Seeing more of America, especially its national parks, such as
3. The Grand Canyon
4. Grand Teton National Park
5. The charm of the south in cities like Savannah, Ga. and
6. New Orleans
7. Auschwitz
8. Lake Nakuru, Kenya, covered in flamingos
9. Curling on a lake, preferably in my kilt
10. Cultural celebrations like Carnival in Venice
11. Holidays unique to a small area, like Krampus events in Austria
12. Living abroad learning a new language
13. Watching the Northern Lights in Norway
14. Haggling in a market in Morocco
15. Relaxing through Spain, Italy and France
16. Learning more about unfamiliar places, particularly in Central and South America
17. Dancing in the street to the songs of roving musicians
18. Trying more things that take me out of my comfort zone, like canyoneering
19. Being less resistant to new foods
20. Contributing to a worldly cause and making a difference
21. Doing what I love
22. Love, marriage and a family
23. Living with less
24. Writing a book
25. Living out my dreams