26. Have a photo taken with a major celebrity

I figured I keep you guys waiting on this one as I only achieved it very close to my 30^th and wanted to keep it a surprise.  I haven’t fully ticked the item, but I think this is more than sufficient to say my list is complete.

This is Britney Spears, the bonafide, real, womanizing, global popstar who is known across the world for hits such as Baby One More Time and Toxic as well as her rather turbulent personal life of 14 hour marriages, shaving her hair off for no reason and rehab for alcohol abuse. 

Does she count as a major celebrity, hell yes!  Did I get my photo with her….well yes in a roundabout way…I was with her when I took the photo (her security were being rather strict about it all so made it quite difficult to get in the photo with her).

How did I achieve this one, in the end, despite a couple of planned attempts (the photo to the right is Daniel Radcliffe on one of these attempts), completely by chance.  I was due to work from my company’s Oxford Street office (i.e. not my usual location) and decided to walk in from Great Portland Street station.  On my walk down Great Portland Street I noticed a crowd just off it so peered around to see if I could see what it was and noticed the Radio 1 sign, smartphone out, Google Radio 1 breakfast show and saw Britney’s name and, with only a small hesitation, decided that this was an opportunity not to let pass.  15 mins later the star appears and photos snapped and off I went to work.

I’ve done the list, I’ve bloody done the list, with only a couple of swapsies and a minor tweak to this final one!

Thank you to every person who’s helped me along the way – in no particular order: Alex for the movies, Sarah for the west end stage, Jamie for the opera, Abby and Mark for the balloon ride, Kate for the magic trick and the skydive, Duschanca for the dolphins, my big sister Jo for the helicopter, Grand Canyon, hotel, gambling and hotel, Graeme for the Eiffel Tower, Graham and Kirsty for the horseriding, mum and dad for parliament, Holly and Duschanca for champagning with me at the Oxo, Caroline for the three peaks, Chris and Denise for the winetasting, the people at Timeout for letting me contribute and to everyone who has given me moral support and encouragement to get these things done along the way.  Thank you all!!

28. Memorise every country name and capital city

I’m going to try and make this post as un-dull as possible.  I’ve learnt the countries and their capitals.  The american spiritual song sang I've got the whole world in my hands....well, I've got the world in my head.

I’ve been tested thoroughly by my colleagues at work over the past few days (including at the pub tonight after a few drinks) and have managed to answer their queries (my old school teachers would be proud!)  If anybody does a history search on my laptop you’ll see the number of times I’ve played a variety of Sporcle Geography games and the results from these practices.  Photographic evidence of this feat isn’t really possible so you’ll all just have to take my word for it (and continue to grill me – lets see how long these things stick).

Highlights of this experience are :

1. A capital is defined as a country’s legislative, administrative and political centre.  In some countries this is different cities (e.g. Bolivia has 2 capitals - La Paz and Sucre, South Africa 3 - Pretoria, Capetown and Bloemfontein)
2. a greater understanding of where certain countries are.  Togo is in Africa (not in the Pacific as I thought) and East Timor is in Asia just south of Indonesia (not in Africa). 
3. Many of the Caribbean Islands are countries, many of the Pacific Islands are not (they are territories)

In learning the countries and capitals in particular, I found interesting ways to remember names.  Notable ones are Venezuela’s Caracas and North Korea’s Pyongyang – much to my sister’s entertainment as we drove across SW USA.

I also developed favourites, my number one capital city is Burkina Faso’s Ouagadougou – I mean c’mon, that’s just an awesome place to pronounce

This leaves me with the 1 that I always knew was going to be a hard one.  2 days until I turn 30…..

12. Buying shares is boring so I’m swapping it…12 is now ‘Get in a magazine’

Buying shares was a really boring one to have on my list and just required me not to procrastinate and it was a rubbish one to have left at the end (I'll probably do this one anyway, it's just boring to blog about).

Instead, rewind 15 years (i.e. almost half the time I’ve been on this planet) to the late 1990s when boybands ruled the charts and Smash Hits was the UK teen magazine to subscribe to.  At that point in time, my goal in life was to be editor of Smash Hits (probably more because I wanted to meet said boybands rather than the writing side), this is not where I've got to, partly because Smash Hits went downhill as boybands and pop died a small death in the noughties.

I was close to being offered a job at D.C.Thomson on my gap year to write for their ‘Girl’ magazine, but as they were looking for a long term commitment which I wasn't able or willing to give, I instead went to Chile to volunteer and then to study management at university.  I never really went back to the idea of magazine writing…..until about 2 months ago when Time Out London put out a call for contributors to its reader takeover edition (for those not familiar with the publication, it is a weekly free publication that summarises the hot things to do across London whether it be events, museums, music, comedy, dance, drag, movies or theatre.) I thought why not, I love London and tend to use the magazine and website on a regular basis so let's see what I can offer.

I duly submitted an online application which involved me having to write about something I love about London (I genuinely can’t remember what I wrote).  Having totally forgotten about it I got a note to say I’d been shortlisted to write for the Things to Do section.  I was asked to write a short column for the section entitled The Perfect Weekend, with the instruction to theme the piece and ensure it featured museums, parks, places, events etc which are always on in London and can be enjoyed at any time.

The result you can see below – the Great Time Out Takeover was published on 24^th September so for those of you who saw it but didn’t see me, you didn’t look closely enough.  I got my photo published on page 3 (no jokes please, I was fully clothed throughout) as well as getting my section (and a teeny tiny photo) in the ‘Things To Do’ part of the mag.  

I’ve now got two left….I’m almost there with my countries and capitals…just working out how best to evidence it…but will the celebrity item upstage me…only time will tell!!

22. Gamble 100 frivolously

Normally what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, but the one piece of my trip to Vegas I do have to share is the fact that I have ticked off item 22 of my list...Gamble 100 frivolously.

Why have this on my list? Well, because I am what the personality-trait analysers would label 'risk averse', I would say I'm cautious when it comes to money.  Gambling is not something I've ever really dabbled in or had any interest in - just ask my ex-colleagues when they tried to get me involved in lottery syndicates and rugby sweepstakes.  This item therefore was always going to make me extremely uncomfortable and perhaps why I've postponed doing this as long as possible.

On my last night in Vegas, with my sister's primary school teaching colleagues in tow, I put down $100 worth of chips in one go across a set of roulette numbers on a table in Caesar's Palace.  My sister's colleagues (having only met me about an hour earlier) even commented how awkward and uncomfortable I looked....yup, they were 100% correct.  I did it though - totally frivolous....!

Thank you kindly to Jan-Marie for taking the photos and to Jo, Rachel, Matt, Deb, Erin and Jan-Marie for the positive encouragement on this one!

1 week until my 30th ....3 left to tick off.....

21. Stay in a really posh hotel

At the end of my latest travels, I treated my sister and I to a Tower Suite at the Encore hotel in Vegas (the Encore is the mirror image of the Wynn hotel).  The bathroom alone was bigger than my bedroom in London and included a large shower and separate bath.  The room was split in two with a sleeping area and a living area.  Service was impeccable and, ignoring the issue of the club downstairs (folks if you choose to stay here, you have the choice of a great view and no sleep or no view but a great sleep), it was a lovely place to splash out on for a night.

4. Helicopter ride & 20. Visit Grand Canyon

A week ago the prospect of seeing the Grand Canyon was looking a little shaky as the arguing among the kids in Congress led a US Federal Government shutdown, closing all the National Parks, Monuments and Museums across the US, including the Grand Canyon National Park.  However, luck was on our side that the chopper flights across the great scar were still running and we duly booked ourselves in with Papillon helicopters, in doing so allowing me to cross two items off my list in one go.

As me and my sister approached the helicopter the 'boarding manager' pointed us to our seats - I wasn't quite sure how I was going to fit in as there was only about 2 inches of a seat left after a rather large couple were seated in the right and middle seats.  I managed to squeeze myself into the small space and moments later there was lift off.

For those who've not been to see the Grand Canyon, I totally recommend getting a helicopter flight over it! I don't have a comparison from the ground because the park was closed, but I reckon that a helicopter flight over it really gives a sense of the flatness of the plateau around it and how stark the scar in the earth is.  It's called Grand for a damn good reason.....it's huge!!!

3. Balloon ride

Ever since I saw my dad go up in a Dolmio shaped balloon for a birthday trip many moons ago when living in Belgium, I've thought that I should give it a whirl which was why it went on my list.  The Pixar movie 'Up' only made me want to do it more!  I'll be honest and say it was one that I put on the list at the time thinking that surely I wouldn't be single for too long and it would be something that a new man would arrange for me in a romantic setting, but life doesn't work that way.  Instead this trip came about when a kind friend sent through a Wowcher advertising email that had a deal for a Kent-based balloon company with a note to say give it a go.

As those of you who have booked a balloon flight will know, it is very much weather dependent so in a country like the UK where the weather changes hourly I knew that it might take a few attempts to get up there.  Lo and behold though I was quite lucky and only had to re-book once.  On Tuesday afternoon,  after playing an integral role in the set up of the balloon (ballast for the basket), I went up up and away in a balloon with my good friends Abby & Mark into the skies of the Garden of England (Kent).  No cute boy scout kid like in the movie 'Up' but good company from 9 others also enjoying the experience for the first time.  Basking in the glorious sunshine, we sailed up to about 3,000 ft (about 1,000m for my fellow metric friends) and then back down again on a very smooth landing.  A massive thank you to Abby and Mark for sharing the experience with me - will be very sad when you return to the other side of the Atlantic!

I've been rather jammy with my up in the air experiences on this list - skydive weather was amazing last year and now my balloon weather was probably the nicest day we've had in September (so far) so fingers crossed I have the same for the helicopter ride and Grand Canyon experiences that are pending.

Exactly 1 month until my birthday and 7 left to go!  Will I do it.....?  That damn celebrity one may stump me....and I've still got Africa and the Pacific Islands to get through before I've got there with every country and capital, but over the next 2 weeks I've got plenty of down time to bore my sister with reciting countries and capitals! Bring it on!