Where Would You Go if You Could Only Take One Trip

So where would you go if you could only take just one more trip (no, a six-month around the world trip doesn't count)? Or where would you have one last meal at a restaurant? What would be the last drink of whiskey you have? Or your last adventure? I posed this question at dinner this week, and again to the broader online world on Trippy, and it’s gotten me thinking, what would be the “last” of my favorite things. It’s my last day of 31. And for a lot of people, birthdays are just another day. But not for this guy. Presidents get a day. Employees get a day. Lovers get a day. So if I’m going to get a day, I’m going to damn well take it, and especially since Valentine’s Day, falling the day after, often rains on my parade.

My birthday is my New Year’s. It started a few years ago when I spent it living and traveling around Central America. Then I started a one-year life/bucket list to do 30 things I had never done but always wanted to do. And then last year it was ending that list by doing one of the things I’ve wanted to always do the most: Go to the airport with no plane ticket and nothing but a carry-on to go to a destination I’ve never visited.

That theme of travel has continued on this birthday, as I find myself in Whistler, British Columbia for the first time. And I’ve treated both this trip, and my last day of 31, as if I’ll never have this chance again. Today I woke up and wrote a postcard, followed by several hours snowboarding (that included seeing a deer, and snowboarding moguls, by accident), a glass of whiskey, a few swimming, laps, a hot tub plunge, a sauna visit, and a nice dinner. The following days include my first winter ziptrek, first bobsled ride, first skeleton ride, and first time sabering a champagne bottle (yeah, I didn’t know that was a thing either!).

But I don’t tell you always things to rub it in your face. It’s more of a statement about this last year. Each of the last few years have had a different theme to them. One year, was to travel the world and to see it with the wonder that I had as a child. Another was to start a new home life in the states, moving 3,000 miles across America. Another was to do as many new things as possible. And the theme this year has seemed to be to continue to push the envelope of what I thought was possible. The by-product of the 30 at 30 List was a list without an expiration date to take a risk, undertake a challenge, or try something new at least once per month.

If there’s something that I want to do, no matter how crazy and far-flung it may be, I wanted to try it. This year that’s ranged from brewing my own batch of beer to getting published in one of my favorite magazines to being published in a major daily newspaper to getting cast for an episode of a television show to losing a pound for every year of my life.

This isn’t a bucket list. It’s no dream board. It’s simply how I’ve decided to approach life. I’m 31 just one time. I may only go to Whistler one time. I may only get a phone call about a television show one time. I may only get an approved assignment from my favorite magazine once. So if that’s the case, I’m going to do so as if it’s my first and last time doing it. I want everyone to have the very best of me. Because one day, there’ll come a day when it is my last trip, my last drink, my last meal, my last adventure, and I want to know that I approached life with a sense of urgency and priority long before I knew my days were numbered. We only get one shot, but once is enough if we do it right.

So, where would you go?