10 travel dreams

There has been a blog challenge going round in the finnish travel blogs, about ten travel dreams in different categories. I saw it and got excited, but as I write this blog in english, I translated the categories from finnish to english. The original challenge is from the blog: https://kohteenamaailma.fi/matkailu/kymmenen-reissu-unelmaa/ . Here are my 10 travel dreams at the moment (there are so many more of course, but this is a good bucket list to start dreaming with). 

1. Place

The summer cottage. The family summer cottage is a zen place for me.  It is situated on an island in the lake Kallajärvi in Kuopio. The island is called Sauna island, and descriptive of the popularity of the finnish sauna culture is that there are several other islands with the same name on the lake. Our summer cottage is not a crazy work camp like some finnish cottages tend to be but a chance to slow down the pace of life and connect to nature. The day is filled with sleeping, reading, eating, heating the sauna and swimming.

2. Event

Travel and improv have become quite entwined for me in the past year. To go to great improv events and to connect with like minded people and learn new stuff you have to travel to where the buzz is. Plus you get to explore cities that you might have other wise not thought about visiting. 

3. Destination in your home country

When I was a teenager my mum talked about how she made a bike trip with her best friend to the Åland islands when she was young. I was inspired and wanted to go and have a similar adventure myself. So me and my mum's friend's daughter started planning a bike trip to an island. We ended up going to a smaller island, that was closer to home. Hailuoto is a lovely island to visit, with a beautiful village road, amazing nature and sandy beaches, but at some point I would love to still do my version of the Åland islands adventures. 

4. City

Even though I really enjoy history and culture, I notice that picking the city that I dream of visiting is the most difficult part. I am going to say New York, because it is definetely a city that should be visited at least once in a life time and I want to explore it. Also any city with quirky cool roads and alleys and interesting history would make me very happy.

5. Country

The nature in Iceland looks so calming and soul cleansing that I really want to explore the country and experience the chills in Iceland myself.

6. Island

Ever since seeing a picture in a book of New Zealand with mountains, palm trees and a lake in the same landscape I have had a passionate dream about travelling to the country one day. This is one of my big travel dreams, and requires a lot of money and time to come true, but one day I really want to call New Zealand my travel home for a few months.

7. Extreme

Back in 2010 my sister and I came up with a crazy idea that we would do a skydive in 10 years. We have been reminding each other about it regularly and counting the years and laughing about it. As it is 2019 already the time is soon approaching and the smiles are starting to fade and this promise is becoming reality. I am not a fan of heights, but I think doing a sky dive is an increadible opportunity to feel... something.. not quite sure what the feeling will be until I finally do the jump, but I am very curious to face my fears and experience it. 

8. Accommodation

I had the perfect idea two days ago. To cut down living costs and make life more simple I should renovate a living space at the back of a van. I have been ridiculously obsessed about this idea ever since, googling vans for sale, experiences of van life  etc. I started watching van life videos in youtube and fell in love with susicruzz and other van life vloggers. I called my dad excited about the idea but he thought that it would not actually be a comfortable lifestyle and he really hoped I would not go in that direction. I understand his point, and have been googling  and thinking about down sides of van life as well. But honestly, I think a van life lifestyle would fit me very well. I could travel to interesting improv events and explore the amazing nature places in between. Also I just had a couple of weeks of bathroom reno this spring, and had to use a bucket for a toilet during that time. It was fine. One thing to figure out would be what to do for a (remote) job whilst travelling. If you have ideas of jobs, hit me up. :)

9. Nature destination

Norway's coast line is breathtakingly beautiful. I plan on visiting it this summer with my sister. So this trip is hopefully happening in a few weeks time. 

10. Food & Drink

My food pallette is quite traditional: I love Italian comfort food. Nothing beats a good pasta, pizza or venetian ice cream.

I notice that a lot of my travel dreams are to do with nature and especially islands: (There's Sauna island, Iceland, New Zealand, the Åland islands...). I am a little surprised at how much I actually have a yearning for visiting nature destinations. I live in a suburb of the city and I enjoy city life, but still my bigger travel dreams are all related to nature. Maybe I am more of a nature girl than I previously though. Doing this challenge was really fun, and it has actually clarified a few of my dreams for the future. I think I will actually start actively pursuing some of them now.

What are your travel dreams? Do we have any in common?