Bucket List: 225 Things to Do Before You Die

16. Vacation in Igloo Village

Igloo Village in Kakslauttanen, FinlandThose who love winter (well, that, several feet of snow, and holy-crap-I-can’t-feel-my-legs-anymore! temps) are likely to find the Kakslauttanen, Finland Igloo Village right up their alley. In addition to rows-and-rows of heated, glass-dome igloos (keyword: HEATED) outfitted with beds, restrooms, and kitchens, the Village also boasts authentic igloos (for the most hardcore winter enthusiast) that never reach above freezing inside. Now, I’m as huge a fan of bitterly cold, snow-covered and consumed places as the next guy <smirk>, but I’m still taking the glass-dome-igloo route!

17. Get in the Guinness Book of World Records

Shortest man next to woman with longest legsReally, it’s not as hard as you may think. The best part? Some (perhaps unsightly) bodily abnormality or superhuman ability isn’t even needed to qualify for many entries! Have the largest collection of troll dolls (yep, it’s in there!), whiskey bottles, or vinyl records. Be the fastest runner on Earth. Pull a CC-177 Globemaster III aircraft (416,000 pounds) more than 28 feet (8.8m). Whatever you choose, make sure it’s the heaviest, lightest, thinnest, farthest, ugliest, biggest, shortest or longest (and so on and so forth) in the world before you bother the good folks at the Guinness World Records.

18. Join the Peace Corps

peace corps“X served as a distinguished, honorable member of the U.S. Peace Corps from 2011-xx”: Imagine being designated as such a honorable person—tens-of-thousands of Peace Corps members worldwide already have. And besides the possible ego trip that you’ll get every time you walk by that engraved plaque on the wall, you’ll feel great about contributing to Earth’s less privileged, more disenfranchised peoples. And hey, a Peace Corps tour (or two, or three) could also make a good impression on the ole’ resume and/or autobiography!

19. Learn to Sail

Sailing yachtAs the late, great Mark Twain put it, “Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Learn all you can about sailing; learn the lingo—e.g. jib, jibsheet, mainsheet, gunwale—and, most importantly, learn how to sail. When your inner-Jacques Cousteau is ready, make the leap to that first practice run. Oh, and it’s probably a great idea to bring along a compass and satellite-operated phone. Just sayin’!