I used to think 40 was sooooo old, but now I’m here I feel like life is just starting.
After living 20 years of incredible travel experiences, that’s a pretty awesome future shining back at me.
It seems like yesterday I was sliding through the mud in the beer tents of the Durham beer festival in North Carolina for my 30th birthday. A lot has happened since then: two beautiful daughters, a devastating financial crisis, the creation of this travel blog, and the rebuilding of a broken life to one filled with fulfilment and joy.
The thirties was one chaotic vortex of change. It was when the world launched me out of the carefree times of my twenties and asked me to figure out who I really was and what the hell I came here for. It shook me around until I could find the space to settle within the skin of my true self.
I think that’s why a 40th birthday is such a huge occasion, especially for women.
It’s because the forties bring us back to ourselves. It’s a return to the youthful energy of your twenties – a little more playful, but with a lot more self-confidence and assuredness.
You’re cool with who you are and you’re ready to play again.
The thirties is the time you grew into your adult skin – work hard, focus on your career, have kids, do the settled thing.
Then you hit 40 and you realise this adult stuff is too serious and you’re over it. You want the freedom and playful adventure back!
It’s when you finally get to say to the Universe,
“It’s okay, I’ve sorted it out now. I know how this thing works and what I have to do. Let’s do it BUT with light-hearted ease and on MY terms.”
I think also that most women by the time they hit 40 have finished childbearing and their babies are at the more manageable age. The hard and exhausting parenting yards is now over (ha ha – who the hell am I kidding?).
You’ve got your body back and a little bit of your soul. You’ve got more space to breathe and reconnect with who you are.
I feel a great energetic shift with this move into the next decade.
I’m immensely grateful for my life and the absolute wonders I’ve experienced because of travel.
I’m also incredibly grateful for those low points in my life because they have taught me the most. I understand why they had to be so present during my thirties driving me to evolve better.
But, I’m so happy to walk into forty not needing them anymore.
To celebrate, I thought I’d share my personal bucket list. These are the travel moments that shaped me as a person and that I can still recall with clarity and a deep surging of love and joy (and an attack of the giggles).
That’s why we travel – to be able to look back, stand the hairs to attention, and think
“Geez, what a life! It’s been an honour and a privilege to experience it.”
And I’m not even half way through it yet!
Here’s a song to fire you up so you can live your life and sing this at the end of it
Don’t put off those dreams.
Don’t think you can’t have a bucket list like this because you don’t have the money or the time. I never had either, yet I surged forward anyway.
Let life unfold for you as you move towards purposeful living and whatever sets your soul alight.
40 travel experiences to have before you turn 40
- Live in London
- Eurovan tour – i.e. Travel around Europe in a campervan (that you paint) with friends
- Dance in the streets at the Running of the Bulls, Pamplona
- Prost at the Oktoberfest, Munich
- Sit with the gorillas, Uganda (and get charged by a silverback!)
- White water raft the Nile River
- Have Christmas at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
- Party at Hogmanay (New Years in Edinburgh)
- Teach English in a foreign country
- Work in a pub in Dublin
- Go horseriding in Bryce Canyon
- Backpack through Africa for five months
- Road trip across the US
- Travel around Australia with your kids (there’s bucket lists within bucket lists there!)
- Create your dream lifestyle around travel (or your own passion)
- Party the summer away on Ios Island, Greece
- Hike the Grand Canyon (north and south)
- Hike Tiger Leaping Gorge, China
- Cross the road in Saigon
- Hike Mt Fansipan, Sapa Vietnam
- Visit Uluru
- Bike ride around Rottnest Island
- Work on a pearl farm in Broome, Western Australia
- Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
- Go on a safari in Africa (make that multiple)
- Climb Sossusvlei sand dunes, Namibia for sunrise
- See sunrise over Mt Bromo, Indonesia
- Spend days swinging on a hammock in Thailand
- Jungle trek to see the Orangutans in Sumatra (and narrowly miss meeting a tiger!)
- Have Ben Harper sing just to you
- Be captivated by Cape Town
- Eat pizza and gelato in Italy
- Rock climb at Railey Bay, Thailand
- Attend a wine festival in Bordeaux
- Watch your country play in your favourite sporting match in another country
- Attend the Olympics
- Attend a college football game in the US and then gate crash the frat party afterwards
- Spend ANZAC Day in Gallipoli
- Attend a Jack Johnson concert in a forest by the lake
- Find your soul home
Forty is starting off deep in the wonder, awe and gratitude of life.
I can’t wait to see how my new bucket list unfolds. I better get started writing down some ideas because I’m ready for more adventure.
Want to see how the 40th birthday party celebrations went? Read about it here (with awesome pics!)
Our 22 years of travel in podcast
Get inspired to make travel your lifestyle. Based on 22 years of experience, we show you HOW to make travel your priority no matter your lifestyle or budget. We did it without loads of money and, often, little savings.
- Episode 1: Solo Travel and Working Abroad before we met
- Episode 2: Our 5 year honeymoon living and traveling the world
- Episode 3: The Dark times and Birth of the girls and travel blog
- Episode 4: Embracing Family Travel and our 18 month Australian road trip
- Episode 5: Getting a green card and traveling the US (our dream realized)
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Share with me your tips for my new bucket list. If you’ve reached 40, let me know how your bucket list looks and if you feel 40 has a kind of magical energy to it?!
