16Jun 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#23 Lesson] Keep Your Wits about Yourself When Travelling

[#23 Lesson] Keep Your Wits about Yourself When Travelling

BUCKET LIST, LESSON, TRAVEL
This life lesson relates to my previous blog post #23 Ride in a Gondola Boat in Venice. In my travels throughout the years I have experienced, and have been told about, many schemes where locals will try to hustle unsuspecting tourists. The sad truth is that you never know when it is going to happen until it is already in the process, or worse, it has already happen and you have been deceived. It doesn’t matter whether you have been travelling your whole life or whether you are on your first overseas adventure, everyone is susceptible to being hustled while travelling. One time when I was travelling in Cuba with my family we were on a tour and walked past a beggar. The beggar first asked where we were from…
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02Jun 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#23 Ride in a Gondola Boat in Venice

#23 Ride in a Gondola Boat in Venice

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was complete on 15th July 2016 in Venice, Italy. During the same skydiving holiday in Italy to Grand Turismo, mentioned in my previous post #90 Go to Pompeii, I had this bucket list item in my back pocket. My main purpose for the holiday was to jump out of airplanes as much as possible and I was successful at this by completing 104 jumps in three and a half weeks. The weather in Fano was ideal for jumping and consistent almost every day, which is how I was able to complete so many jumps. However, I had hung out around enough dropzones and knew enough about weather patterns to know it could not last forever. Or at least one side of me was hoping that would…
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19May 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#90 Lesson] Explored History

[#90 Lesson] Explored History

BUCKET LIST, LESSON, TRAVEL
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #90 Go to Pompeii. What class did I hate the most when I was a kid? History. What is one of my favourite aspects of travel, today? History. Did I just grow up and begin to like history? Definitely not! I don’t think there is any risk of me growing up any time soon. What changed was the way I learned the material. Instead of being told about it by my teacher or reading about it from a book, I was experiencing it firsthand. I call this explored history. I find explored history more interesting as you can form a connection with the material that you are learning. Explored history excites more of our senses, which helps to make more of an…
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05May 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#90 Go to Pompeii

#90 Go to Pompeii

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 3rd July 2016 in Pompeii, Italy. I started skydiving at the beginning of 2015, and by this point, I think it is safe to say that it was consuming my life (in a good way). I had just enjoyed an amazing summer of jumping, but winter was setting in and I wanted to keep jumping. That is when I found out about Grand Turismo. Grand Turismo is run by Fiona from Skydive Auckland and is branded as the ultimate skydiving holiday. Each July, Fiona takes a bunch of beginner/intermediate jumpers over to Fano, Italy to jump. The conditions are always good, and the wine is always flowing. It really is the ultimate skydiving holiday. I paid my registration fee and then began to…
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07Apr 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#36 Lesson] Accomplishing Life Goals Takes Commitment

[#36 Lesson] Accomplishing Life Goals Takes Commitment

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #36 Run a Half Marathon. As I said previously, this wasn’t the first time that I was stopped from achieving something from my bucket list and it certainly was not the last. This is only one of at least six times that I have nearly achieved a goal, only for it to be taken away from me. Sometimes it has been because of personal injury, while other times it has been the weather or circumstances beyond my control that have not worked out in my favour. Regardless of the obstacles that have stopped me previously, I am still passionate about these goals and they remain on my list. When I decided that I was going to run a half marathon, I found…
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24Mar 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
Interview with Matt Woodman – CTV News

Interview with Matt Woodman – CTV News

BUCKET LIST, GENERAL, TRAVEL
After completing #36 Run a Half Marathon, Jesse and I grabbed my truck and hit the road. We had already checked out of the hotel, so I just had to sit through the four-hour drive, coated in a thick layer of sweat. At this time, BucketLaunch didn’t exist. Instead, I just uploaded a photo of each completed item to a Facebook album. As Jesse drove home, I uploaded the photo that Jesse had taken of me, hanging over the handrail and gasping for dear life. It was definitely not my best photo, but it portrayed the physical exertion that I went through to complete this item. And that is why I love this photo. Before reaching home, I received a message from a friend, Matt Woodman, via Facebook. Matt was…
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10Mar 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#36 Run a Half Marathon

#36 Run a Half Marathon

BUCKET LIST
This bucket list item was completed on 26th June 2016 in Wellington, New Zealand. Although I completed this in 2016, the story starts back in 2013. This was a big year for my bucket list because I managed to cross eight items off the list. I was riding that high towards the end of the year and wanted to see if there was something else that I could cross off the list to maintain my momentum. Having just settled into New Plymouth, with a new flat and my first engineering job, I realised that almost everyone has some sort of outdoor hobby in New Plymouth. There were a few keen runners at work, and it was them, who gave me the inspiration to go after #36. I started researching half…
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24Feb 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#39 Join the Mile High Club

#39 Join the Mile High Club

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was complete on 20th June 2015 en route to Fiji. A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell. This one seems a bit too personal for an elaborate story to be posted on the internet so here is what you need to know: Yes – I actually did it. Yes – It was on a commercial flight. No – We did not get caught. No – There is not a lot of room in there. The lesson learned here is that you do not have to own your own airline to pull this one off. In your face Richard Branson! Want to be notified when new blog posts are uploaded? Subscribe below.
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10Feb 2021 by Dave Macleod 1 Comment
[#11 Lesson] The Grass is Greener Effect

[#11 Lesson] The Grass is Greener Effect

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #11 Go Surfing in Australia. Those who know me know that surfing is one of the activities that I am most passionate about. I learned how to surf in Nova Scotia, while I was going through university. I met a classmate, Jesse, who learned how to surf on the Great Lakes of Canada and moved to Nova Scotia to study and surf. Jesse didn’t have a car in university and I didn’t have surfing ability. We hashed out a mutually beneficial deal where I would drive Jesse to the surf, and in return, he would teach me how to surf. The deal formed a friendship that has gone on ever since. Jesse and I now both live in the same small town…
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27Jan 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#11 Go Surfing in Australia

#11 Go Surfing in Australia

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 29th April 2015 in Collangatta, Australia. This blog post picks up where #66 Hug a Koala Bear left off. After Spending most of the day at Australia Zoo, we were back on the road to keep making progress towards Sydney. We only had two nights left at this point and we were still north of Brisbane. The Gold Coast was on the way and I had heard a lot about it from my kiwi friends, so we made a pit stop in there for some dinner. We checked out one of the burger restaurants along the main strip and then walked through the Ripley’s Museum to get our fix of tourist activity. The Gold Coast seemed like a cool place and reminded me…
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