Beyond Books: Beyond Lockdown

Hi all my Bookworms!

My name is Chiara and I am a Bookworm.

How are you all?

I’ve thought about writing a post similar to this for a long time but it never felt like the right time, but with lockdown and everything going on I’ve been thinking about my bucket list even more.

And a few weeks ago now the UK government announced its three steps towards getting us out of lockdown and I thought that there was no time like the present to talk about what I want to do after lockdown.

This isn’t quite my complete bucket list, it’s growing every time I see something cool, or interesting or wacky and amazing.

So here is my post-lockdown list:

1. Travel – I suffer from some major wanderlust.  You all might not think that suffer is the right word, but at times like this it really is suffer.  I love to travel, to see new places, to find old places, to know somewhere inside and out and being stuck at home is slightly torturous to this part of my soul.  I make up for it with regular ‘daily exercise’ which usually involves walking around the wooded areas close to my home and taking pictures.  The more photos I take and the more I know the place the happier I feel and the more my soul feel soothed.  There are many places I want to visit … this is but a short list…
   1. Seoul
   2. New York – mainly for broadway and my love of musicals!  But also the museums.
   3. New Orleans
   4. Portland / Seattle – they’re both in the same state I don’t see why I couldn’t see both in one trip.
   5. Rome
   6. Venice Carnival – but if I’m going to do Carnival I want to do it properly … the whole nine yards, the mask, the dress, the balls … everything.
   7. China – I though it better to just list China rather than all the cities I want to visit, though top of the list would be Chengdu (for the Pandas) and Shanghai.
   8. Japan – again, there’s so much of this country I want to see.  It has such a rich amazing culture and I really want to try some proper Ramen like it’s served there … and sushi.
   9. Hawaii – I think Oahu would be my favourite island to visit, though I’d like to see as many as I could and though those fancy hotels sound appealing with all their perks and spas and stuff, I wouldn’t be going their for sea and sand.  I would be all about the history and the culture.
   10. St Petersburg – again, for the history and the culture.  I have a minor obsession with the royal families of Europe, in that I like tracking their history, also St. Petersburg has the Bolshoi theatre and I really want to see a ballet there.
2. Go to YALC – I say YALC in particular because it’s in the UK and I hardly need an excuse to go to London.  (I would live in London if I could) But any book based convention would please me.  Actually I’d love to go to San Diego comic con.  That would be amazing!
3. Live in as many major cities as possible: London, Paris, New York.  I love busy city life.  The hustle and bustle is amazing.  Small town life holds nothing for me
4. Learn to ride a horse – I’ve been watching a lot of Heartland in lockdown and I long to know more about those beautiful animals.
5. Get better at Chinese and Korean – I speak a few languages.  A friend even once tried to call me a polyglot.  (I didn’t like that, I’m not fluent in most of them and I feel like you should be fluent if you are going to call yourself a polyglot)  But ever since I dropped out of university I have been trying to learn Chinese and Korean and my determination usually has a limited time before I get fed up with which ever learning method I’ve picked and give it up for something else.
6. Publish a book – I’ve been writing books and stories since I was 10 years old.  Most of them aren’t very good.  But in terms of career choice it’s the only thing that I ever keep coming back to.  I want to be better at them.  Ideas are constantly buzzing round my head that I just want to grasp and show to the world.
7. Read 100 books in a year – Last year I read 32 books, or I tracked that I read 32 books.  I want that number to go a lot higher this year. I am determined it will. Eventually, one year, I’d like to reach 100 books.
8. Watch a lot of musicals – I love musicals.  I have watch so many and there are still more that I want to watch.  The first stage musical I watched was beauty and the beast, in Manchester.  I can even tell you the date I watched it.  (The night my brother was born – my parents wanted me out of the way and occupied) I love musicals and since that night I can’t get enough of them.  Here is my current list of shows I want to see.
   1. Hamilton
   2. Phantom of the Opera
   3. Dear Evan Hansen
   4. Anastasia
   5. Les Miserables (again)
   6. Love Never Dies
9. Walk the Camino De Santiago from beginning to end – this is part on my bucket list and part on my mum’s.  She saw this on a tv program one year.  It is traditionally a pilgrimage, but we wouldn’t be doing for religious reasons.  There are many routes, the most popular being the Camino Frances (French way) which starts in a few major french cities, and heads through the pyrenees.  There are many places to start from but there are even way markers in Paris, in fact there was one just around the corner from where I lived in Paris.  The camino is so long though that we would have to walk it in parts.  But that doesn’t bother me at all.  More trips.  More travel.
10. Get my degree – This last one is the big one.  I dropped out of university due to my mental health and many other things a year and a half into my degree but I really want to finish my degree eventually.  I thought about doing it in Paris.  In fact I almost applied before everything with the coronavirus took place.  But now I want my degree, I just don’t know what I want my degree in, where I’m going to do it in the world and when.

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There are quite a few more things I could put here, but I’ll stick with this ten for now.  If lockdown goes on much longer I’ll look into sharing the rest of my list.

Do you have plans for post lockdown?  Do you have thing you want to achieve, things that being unable to leave you house has made you want to do even more?

Let me know in the comments what items are top of you bucket list.

Stay home.  Stay safe.

And, until next time, happy reading.