Juggling 3 Balls

Learning to juggle is like learning to ride a bicycle. Once you've got the basic move, you can't unlearn it. I can safely say I can keep three balls in the air, but only for just over a minute or so, on average, before I drop one. Here's a bit of proof:

I started learning to juggle about two or three years ago, but after a couple of weeks I stopped practicing and then have picked away at it in fits and starts. Kind of poor that this is the extent of my ability in all that time, but then, I never was a rapid study. Also, I've realized that, as with learning to ride a bike, there's this steep learning curve in the beginning and then there's this long plateau where you just can't get rid of the training wheels for what seems like eons. In terms of juggling, that seems to be the one minute mark.

Get rich, and see the world

According to an article published earlier this year in The Daily Mail, most of the dreams and wishes on people's bucket lists involve travel or some kind of adventure activity. The top 10 items, in order:

1. Become a millionaire
2. Travel the world
3. See the northern lights
4. Trek the Great Wall of China
5. Be mortgage free
6. Walk the Inca Trail
7. See the seven wonders of the world
8. Visit the Egyptian pyramids
9. Invent something that changes lives (like an iPhone?)
10. Visit Antarctica

Unfortunately, the study (a survey done by Helly Hansen of 2,000 people) also found that most people will only fulfill five of their dreams. If travelling is such a popular dream for so many, why don't more people pack a bag and get on with it, then?

If this survey is any indication, human beings think getting the most out of life means seeing the world and having a big bank balance. Maybe that's just because getting rich means having the means to travel? Thing is, though, you don't need a lot of money to go walkabout. Here is a great article from Verge Magazine about how to travel cheap or even free. I particularly like the last suggestion – enter contests. If you don't enter, you can't win, and if you do enter, you've got nothing to lose; so why not?

If I won the Biggest, Baddest Bucket List contest, which is a really great marketing campaign by MyDestination.com, I'd basically be living the ultimate dream and getting a taste of what it's like to cross off the top two fantasy items on most people's lists: get rich and see the world.

I'd also potentially get to cross off a few of my own bucket list items, all within six months:

#17 - raft down a world-class river
#27 - drive the Autobahn
#29 - ride a camel through a desert
#32 - ride a helicopter and a hot air balloon
#61 - go dog sledding
#65 - visit St. Peter's Basilica
#79 - best suite at a five-star hotel
#85 - kickboxing in Thailand
#86 - experience a dude ranch
#93 - see the Aurora Borealis
#96 - sky diving

...and I'd be a lot closer to #14 - visit every country!

Why travel?

This is Robin Esrock. He's been to 107 countries since 2005.

A few weeks ago I met this guy and his lovely wife Anna at a house party. We got chatting, and I asked him about the hat he was wearing. It looked like a faded old Australian outback hat that he said had been all around the world with him and that it was time to let it go because it had seen better days.

Anna is due to give birth to their first child imminently, and the hat wasn't exactly clean (and had even picked up some radiation at Chernobyl). So, like any good adventurer, he took it out to the backyard to give it the only respectful end a good hat can have – with a ceremonial burning. I'm sure either hairspray or lighter fluid was used to speed things along, but it sure did go up in a blaze of glory.

Back inside, we formally introduced ourselves and I learned his name is Robin Esrock. The Robin Esrock. As in moderngonzo.com and the TV series World Travels, seen in more than 100 countries in 21 languages. He's led an incredible life, and yet he really does seem to be just like anybody else. I really enjoyed what he had to say about where he's been and where he's at now. When he told me he and Anna live in Burnaby the lightbulb went off, and I thought, hey, I could write a feature about this guy for the paper I'm working at. So I did. You can read it here.

Sometimes being a journalist working for the mass media really is the (second) best job in the world, and a serendipitous job to have when you get the opportunity to interview one of the last great travel writers working today.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Well, it was a bit of a rush job to get it in by the deadline, but I've submitted my entry for the Biggest, Baddest Bucket List contest. Man, that was fun!!

I had a moment Sunday afternoon, when I hadn't had anything to eat yet, and I was sitting at my kitchen table in my sweat pants, furiously editing the video, thinking, why bother, I'll never get this in on time and I'm not taking advantage of this gorgeous sunny Easter Sunday... but then, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? At least now there's a chance, whereas if I hadn't given it a shot, it would be impossible.

As my mom once told me, "If you don't take any chances, you won't have an interesting life."

Making this video, I've realized travel videos are more challenging to make than I would have expected, and yet it's reinforced that yes, making videos is what I want to do all day, every day. If I actually did win this contest (or any like it), I would be obviously be ecstatic, not only because it would mean travelling, but because I would get paid to blog and take pictures and make movies. Hell, they can keep the fifty grand, I'll do this gig for free! But, shhh, don't tell that to the good folks at mydestination.com.